Game sales down by 18%

Cliff fall

Last week we had the USA October sales statistics from NPD showing game sales of $573 million, down from $698 million last year. So are we in trouble? Is gaming on a downwards spiral? Are people finding better things to do with their time and money?

The answer is no, and here’s why:

So there we have it, the whole industry doesn’t need to go on a burger flipping course just yet.

4 Comments


  1. Very interesting post again Bruce. I wish you’d post more often. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I also think that this year wasn’t the biggest one in terms of Pre-Q4 blockbuster. Last year saw GTAIV in April and MGS4 in June, which sold like hot pockets.

    2010 should be interesting in that regards as a few important titles (I.E. Heavy Rain) are getting out in Q1. Anyway, numbers are numbers, I wholeheartedly agree with your analysis of them. MW2 pushed a lot of titles back in 2010.


  2. Hi Bruce,

    Just to clarify I was referring to the quality of marketing v marketing spend. Apologies if this was unclear

    The original link suggested that marketing budget was the most important factor. Personally I’d hate this to be the case as it’s likely to encourage “lazy” marketing – chucking money at advertising etc without thinking about the most effective and appropriate marketing activity….

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