March Video Game Sales Slump More Than Expected

While analysts widely expected game sales to slow, the month’s double-digit decline was larger than most estimates, which forecast software sales to come in flat to down slightly.

Americans bought fewer video games and fewer systems to play them on in March, a month that also saw overall retail sales fall unexpectedly. The Commerce Department said earlier this week that retail sales slid 1.1 percent during the month, well below the 0.3 percent increase that analysts expected.

The video games industry has grown accustomed to performing better than the overall market, but the latest results show it’s far from immune to the recession.