Video games sales soar in July
By Staff -- Playthings, 8/27/2007 8:12:00 AM
NEW YORK—Total video game industry sales were $925.5 million in July, up 37 percent year-over-year, and they’re not slowing down, according to The NPD Group.
Hardware sales saw stellar growth, rising 77.4 percent to $380.8 million. Nintendo was the sales leader among hardware producers, with both its Wii (425,000 units) and DS (405,000 units) easily pacing competition from Microsoft's Xbox 360 (170,000 units) and Sony's PS3 (159,000 units), PlayStation 2 (222,000) or PlayStation Portable (214,000).
According to NPD industry analyst Anita Frazier, it was not just the price cuts for what are by now well-established systems that contributed to the sales burst. “Price cuts definitely played a part in hardware sales increases because we know there are price-sensitive consumers out there that were looking for reductions in order to make their purchases. Price is one [motivator], but certainly not the only one. By far the most significant purchase motivator is the availability of desired content and that will play into hardware sales more than anything else,” said Frazier.
Reflecting this sentiment, total software sales were up 11 percent to $419.2 million. Big winners included NCAA Football 08, Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s and Wii Play (278,000 units sold).
And this is just the beginning of the video game business' 2007. “The industry is continuing to follow similar patterns as it has for the first half of the year, and really the only question to me now is 'How big can it get?' Based on July year-to-date figures, the industry looks like it will end up realizing somewhere north of $16 billion for the year, perhaps even closer to $18 billion,” Frazier speculates.
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