Gaming Industy Numbers Keep Sliding - So Why Isn't Everyone Panicking?

he latest numbers on the video game industry aren't encouraging. But don't worry, you can probably ignore them.

In a preview of its upcoming report, research firm NPD announced its November gaming numbers. The results? Despite strong sales for the top five titles (led by Call of Duty), the industry continues to slide. While November had "the smallest year-over-year decrease we have seen for dollar and unit sales so far this year," it was still a drop, and the last year has seen an overall 11% ebb from the previous 12 months.

According to some in the blogosphere, the sky is falling and gaming is in trouble.

They're wrong. You can now return to fighting redcoats in Assassins Creed. Here's why.

[Jek_Porkins]

Because you have to keep it in perspective. Obviously gaming is going to increase over the first four or five years as the consoles reach maximum saturation. This has been one of the longest generations ever, that tends to mean saturation and that means things will decline. That doesn't mean that gaming in general is on the decline, it just means the current hardware has pretty much been bought by the people that want it.

If you look at the first console that launched last get (Xbox 360) and gaming as a whole, the industry is actually up in every way with the latest console launch (Wii U). Now those up numbers aren't just from the new console, its by combining all the current consoles as well.

It's foolish to think that gaming is on the way out, back when the Sega Genesis and the Super Nintendo were out, they sold under 50 million units and people thought it was the best thing ever, now we have two consoles with over 70 million sold and one with almost 100 million sold. How is the industry going away?

[Anon1974]

Excellent points. I think something that's also a big factor was the dramatic rise and fall of the Wii. The Wii shot up so quickly in popularity it created a bubble, increasing spending on games systems and software all across the board, but the fall from being the "It" device was equally as dramatic. Add onto that the decline of the tremendously successful DS. These declines would have been felt more acutely if it hadn't been for Microsoft's Kinect and to a lesser extent, Sony's Move making a temporary splash that seems to have waned.

So now the industry is seeing a void left by the Wii that hasn't yet been filled by the Wii-U, a void left by the DS which hasn't yet been filled by the 3DS and a decrease in popularity of motion accessories at the same time consumer spending isn't at it's strongest due to a shaky global economy. Perhaps another device will capture the public's attention as the Wii did, but it doesn't really seem that likely at this point. New consoles might be able to offer improvements to core games that core gamers will appreciate, but how likely is it that we'll see any of the next gen spark the general public's interest like the Wii did when now most of them can't be bothered to look up from their smart phones?

The industry will endure, but I have my doubts we'll see another spark that ignites the general buying public's interest in videogames for some time. The Wii was the right product at the right time but the market has already moved on. The core audience isn't going anywhere but who knows what the next tech marvel will be that captures everyone's attention.

[joab777]

I have a short answer. The worlds economy has been imploding for years and no one is panicking. Why would we panic about video games? If we cant come to grips with the dire reality of europe and the US economy, why would we care about call of duty?

[jeeves86]

Actually, there are a few people panicking. Genres are changing, old games we used to love are turning into something they never were in an effort to achieve 'broader appeal.'

[SkullBlade169]

Keep calm and carry on gaming I guess.

[gamern4g]

Its problems for me to buy 70$ game.