Year-over-year, the PlayStation 3 has been regarded as the premiere gaming console to own thanks to certain exclusive releases in those respective years, such as Metal Gear Solid 4 in 2008, Uncharted 2 in 2009, and God of War 3 in 2010. While the exclusives only get better with time, as of late, the dwindling economy has taken its toll on the PS3 sales. Despite the troubling time at the moment for the PS3 and current PS3 owners, 2011 is looking better than previous years for Sony’s flagship console.
In the United States, the gaming industry has seen its first significant increase in growth in both hardware and software. Even with the PlayStation Network down in the last two weeks of the previous month, April 2011 PS3 sales saw a 13 percent increase in sales over April 2010 and a 40 percent increase in software over the same period. The software side comes off as the biggest surprise as 2010 saw the releases of heavy hitters such as Heavy Rain and God of War 3 right before the month of April. The software sales spike, however, can most likely be attributed to the releases of Portal 2, Mortal Kombat, and even Crysis 2 for the PS3 right before the PlayStation Network was taken down.
Regardless, it is clear that economical circumstances between 2010 and 2011 are obvious influences between the two years as the entire gaming industry, even the PS3’s competition, saw similar increases in hardware and software. The PSN downtime (thank god it’s over) is undoubtedly impacting PS3 numbers of 2011 possibly even in the millions and has already missed out on large amount of potential sales numbers. All in all, it just goes to show that, contrary to popular belief, the gaming industry is not impervious to the national economical condition.
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