The gaming industry has not avoided the economic downturn, with the latest research showing that sales of software and hardware in July was down by 29 per cent.
Although people are spending more time at home, it appears that they are content to stick to their own games library rather than updating to the latest blockbusters, according to NPD figures.
That, allied to a weak month for big titles, brings figures of a 26 per cent slide in gaming sales.
Hard(ware) times
Perhaps more worrying for the industry was a 37 per cent fall in hardware sales year on year.
Although Nintendo's Wii is still top of the sales tree, the most encouraging news continues to be from the Xbox 360, with the Microsoft console showing unit sales increase on July of 2008 – the only product to do so.
Sony's PlayStation 3 is still the third best seller, ahead of its older brother the PS2, which is still an attractive proposition to the game on a budget.
Year to date sales in the industry are 14 per cent down, piling pressure on games like The Beatles: Rock Band and Halo ODST which are arriving ahead of the Christmas period.
Via Reuters