Video Games Sales Drop Continues. Even Madden Sales Fall

Posted on September 20, 2009

The WSJ reports that data from the NPD Group shows video game sales plunged again in August for the sixth straight month.

Market research firm NPD Group said overall sales fell 16% to $908.7 million last month from August 2008. Of that, hardware sales fell 25% to $297.6 million and software sales fell 15% to $470.3 million. "The back four months of the year would have to be up 14% in aggregate for 2009 to come in flat in comparison to 2008 sales," said NPD analyst Anita Frazier in a statement.

Sales are even down for Electronic Arts' Madden NFL 10 game.

But he also indicated that the industry continued to have a tough time in August as demand has slowed dramatically. "This week, market research for August will show that year over year, the industry was down in North America � and that August sales of Madden NFL 10 are down with that trend," Riccitiello wrote.

Madden NFL has been a hit year after year so falling Madden sales indicate that the recession is probably pulling video game sales down. People are likely buying less titles than before and being more selective about the games they buy. Early hopes in late 2008 that video game would be recession proof have been annihilated by sales results in 2009.