Retail video game industry sales slid 13 percent in May

[Shawn Knight]

The US retail video game industry suffered yet another depressing month. Despite solid showings from titles like The Witcher 3: The Wild Hunt, Mortal Kombat X and Grand Theft Auto V, overall sales last month slid 13 percent year-over-year to $507.6 million according to a new report from industry analytics firm The NPD Group.

On an individual basis, software sales generated $204.7 million, down 25 percent from the $273.9 million generated in May 2014. Sales of hardware, meanwhile, dropped 18 percent to $153.6 million. Gaming accessories like Nintendo’s amiibos were the saving grace for the industry, bringing in $149.3 million. That’s up 20 percent compared to the year-ago period.

NPD analyst Liam Callahan said the decline in May 2015 is attributed to poor comparisons to a strong release slate in May 2014, specifically the launches of Mario Kart 8 and Watch Dogs.

In the heated next-gen console war, it was Sony’s PlayStation 4 that came out victorious over Microsoft's Xbox One for the month of May.

As always, it’s worth pointing out that NPD only tracks new physical games sold at retailers in the US meaning it excludes used games, digital downloads, mobile games and titles of any kind sold outside of the states. That said, the report is still quite insightful as it gives a pretty good snapshot of a particular market in the US.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/60977-retail-video-game-industry-sales-slid-13-percent.html

 

[wastedkill]

It only suffered another depressing sales dip because the games devs are being pathetic and bringing out the same crap year on end, bring something new out and we might be inclined to buy it.

 

[noel24]

Maybe because both GTA5 and Witcher 3 and PCARS are +100 hour games and avid gamers that started playing them had no time to play something else?

 

[Nobina]

Yeah and if GTA5 hasn't been released yet it would probably be much high drop.

 

[Guest]

What everyone is surprised that hardware sales dropped just before a major release from intel and amd...... I am guessing aug and sept will show growth.

Summer sale just started for steam... get on it

 

[yRaz]

Everyone is most likely holding off their money to see what's going on at E3

 

[Guest]

Keep bringing the DLC and season pass......

 

[WangDangDoodle]

I don't think I've bought a retail game since WoW (vanilla). A friend of mine recently told me still buys all his games retail because he likes collecting boxes. I laughed because I thought he was kidding. I don't even have optical drives in my computers anymore. I guess it's a bit different for console people.

 

[darkzelda]

Maybe because both GTA5 and Witcher 3 and PCARS are +100 hour games and avid gamers that started playing them had no time to play something else?

You might right, I'm playing The Witcher 3 and I don't see myself playing anything else for the coming weeks or even months.

 

[Guest]

"(...) it excludes used games, digital downloads, mobile games and titles of any kind sold outside of the states"
So the report isn't very credible, at least for PC gaming. The only physical games I've bought during last 5-6 years (except for ones coming with the CD-Action magazine) are collector's editions. And I see the same trend in other people's behaviour.

 

[Experimentongod]

Even on console, people are starting to buy more digitally, so this information is not really useful.

 

[amstech]

I just got a NIB Xbox One for $220 (buddy won it on Spiceworks but didn't want it) and I am liking it so far, game library is decent now but it still needs more quality titles.

 

[Puiu]

I haven't bought physical discs with games in over a decade. this report should not be taken seriously.

 

[deemon]

Sorry, not buying anymore fresh games. Will wait 1-2 years until they give us "final full game" with director's cut and redux and GotY version or whatever. Have got burned oh too many times by buying too early. Some bad developer practices that I VERY MUCH DISLIKE:
1) Skyrim ... at some point later they do something called "Skyrim - Legendary Edition". Problem: they never gave us "Season Pass" or "Legendary Edition upgrade" options. Had to buy the game TWICE.
2) Metro 2033/Last Light => Redux versions ... wtf? THEY ARE PATCHES, not separate games.
3) Bindings of Isaac => *.*: Rebirth ... same thing as with Metro. Even worse... the Rebirth version got a lot of additional updates and patches and stuff whereas the first never got them... basically had to buy same game second time because developer decided that "I had to fix so many bugs that it's new game now". NO!
4) Deus Ex: Human Revolution ... + DLC the missing link => Director's Cut version... would they upgrade it for people who had all the previous (and/or give at least some really cheap upgrade option)? OFC NOT! BUY AGAIN the entire thing.

seriously sick of this... never again!

 

[Forebode]

"As always, it’s worth pointing out that NPD only tracks new physical games sold at retailers in the US meaning it excludes used games, digital downloads, mobile games and titles of any kind sold outside of the states. That said, the report is still quite insightful as it gives a pretty good snapshot of a particular market in the US."

I disagree. With Steam, GoG, App stores, etc... that's like saying looking strictly at CD sales- "is still quite insightful as it gives a pretty good snapshot of a particular market in the US."

 

[Forebode]

Bah can't edit previous.
Computer virus infections are down this year compared to last year. Yay! (disclaimer: we aren't comparing those systems connected to the internet).

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