The U.S. games industry in May failed to bounce back in the way many thought it would, and a large part of that is the dominance of Red Dead Redemption and Super Mario Galaxy 2. Consumers flocked to these two great titles, leaving many other very good titles collecting dust on store shelves.
While NPD doesn't release much beyond the unit sales for the top five best-selling games these days, Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter noted that several high-profile games all failed to hit 200K in unit sales. These include the following: Alan Wake, Prince of Persia, Blur, Shrek, Lost Planet, SKATE and Iron Man. Additionally, UFC 2010 saw sales down 60% compared to the 2009 version, and Galaxy 2 performed "well below" the first Galaxy game.
"The May lineup was indeed stacked in favor of dramatic growth," Pachter noted, but with the software sales up only a sliver and overall industry sales down, investors won't be looking too kindly at game companies. "We expect investors to remain spooked by the May results, as they are beginning to reinforce the notion that the video game industry is in a state of persistent secular decline," he cautioned.
4 Comments
July 2, 2010
I bought Alan Wake that month but that's it. The game is kind of repetitive though. You feel like you're constantly running through the woods all the time. It's fun at times but it just seems like as soon as you get a daytime break you're right back to the night. I like the presentation of the story not that I fully understood it but..yeah I liked the game. I'm actually glad those ubisoft, activision, Sega and THQ titles didn't perform as well. I'm fine with anyone supporting Online Pass not getting great sales for their products.
July 2, 2010
I also bought Alan Wake and I'm disappointed that more people didn't buy it. I'll agree on the notion that is does get a bit repetitive but the story is fantastic and the presentation is top notch. I can't wait for the first DLC releasing later this month.
If games weren't so expensive I would have also bought Prince of Persia and UFC 2010 in May but as it stands now I will just wait for them to reach a lower price point.
July 3, 2010
I bought Alan Wake,Red Dead & Split Second and i can honestly say i enjoyed Alan Wake the most a lot of people are missing out a definite 9 out of ten and it is the only game to ever actually make me jump
July 5, 2010
Hey Linlin whats with the metalink spam?