Industry analyst Michael Pachter is concerned about the state of things in the world of gaming. Recent NPD statistics for the month of May have led him to a new conclusion about the state of the industry.
Pachter stated that “the video game industry is in a state of persistent secular decline”, pointing out that some key games – Alan Wake, Prince of Persia, Blur, Shrek, Lost Planet 2, Iron Man 2 and Skate 3 – all sold less than 200,000 copies last month. He said that this could be due to the fact that “publishers and developers of games have created more robust multiplayer content in recent years that has resulted in core gamers playing the same games for much longer, on average, than they did in the past, leading to lower sales of new games”.
However, this could be a sign of the decline of packaged goods, according to Pachter: “The packaged goods business is in a state of decline, and that packaged products will continue to compete with alternative interactive entertainment experiences such as Facebook games and iPhone games.”
Is this true? Are packaged games on their way out? Also, does DLC hurt new game sales? Or are these numbers simply a result of the economic slump? Sound off below!
