Scary Numbers NPD: October 2012 Full Videogame Figures and Analysis

There's no October surprises as videogame hardware sales fall 37% and software falls 25% over last year, as reported by The NPD Group.

Not a simple retreat of numbers, analyst Peter Skerritt takes us through them to see what they mean. Full analysis and understanding within...

[SolidDuck]

Ya but the Black Friday week numbers were up, so who cares.

[kneon]

A strong black friday doesn't necessarily mean there will be a good 4th quarter. A lot of the black friday business is just pulled forward from later in the quarter as people try to get the best deal

[darkride66]

Black Friday sales numbers weren't up. They were down year over year as far as videogames and consoles were concerned. Well, except for one console. Overall, the videogame industry in general continued the decline over Black Friday that we've been seeing all year long.

[The_Klank]

Hardware sales are always going to slow down on the tail end of a generation so there's nothing to worrisome about that.

Software sale numbers from Npd or any other non 1st party source is scetchy at best. I can guaranty digital sales have increased dramatically in the last 2 years. Plus now that Sony (at least until Microsoft catch up) have Day and Date digital releases only strenghten that point.

[kopicha]

Actually when one with the right mind should know it is normal for hardware sales go decline over time. Good momentum should usually be within the first 3-4 years. By then the number should start dropping. As long as it is not a drastic drop. An average in differences of 10-30% depending on the time of the year is a normal sign for a hardware that is already on shelve for over 6 years imo. Regardless how the hardware is being refresh, it is still ultimately the same piece of hardware that does the same thing and play the same software. With most people who actually play games should have gotten theirs in the first few years during the life cycle. So obviously the adoption rate would slowly decline. Whats important should be the software sales which should be growing. If software sales drop as well, then that is really something to worry about. Since it does not make sense for that much hardware sold and software are not moving.