Video Game Sales Go Up

The video game industry has suffered significant losses though the course of 2009. Game consoles and video game titles have seen a fall in sales since the recession hit the third quarter of 2008. Up to last month, there has been a major decline in video game sales. For November to December, however, forecast says video game sales is about to recover thanks to some famous titles.

According to NPD Group, console sales for last month fell down to 23% and 18% down for video game software. Permanent discount prices for the XBOX 360 and Playstation 3 did little help to boost the entire video game hardware sales. It is now estimated that a total of $20bn to $21bn will be generated this year compared to last year’s $21.3bn.

The slump in sales have caused numerous job-losses and have been felt by employees from several video game developers and dealers such as Electronic Arts and Gamestop. Video game retailer Gamestop said they are expecting a decline in sales of up to 11% and has also been detached from Goldman Sachs’ conviction buy list and EA declared it will lay-off some 1,500 jobs but the matter of when remains to be seen.

Total sales for the PS3, XBOX360, and WII have been changing due to competitive price cuts and exclusivity of highly anticipated game titles. The PS3 has reported a rise in sales in Japan and Europe because of the 0 price cut Sony had issued and they are hoping to get more sales next year on both hardware and software with the release of God of War III. On the other hand, their PSPGo has not seen any considerable boost in sales since its launch last October 2009 in the US.

The good news for this month comes as Activision’s release of the highly anticipated “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2,” sequel to the successful “Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.” Several titles from other developers and publishers are also expected to boost title sales for the month of November with Ubisoft’s “Assassin’s Creed 2” and Wii’s “New Super Mario Bros.”

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has given Activision its record sales for November 2009 with profits totaling up to $310 million in the United Kingdom and North America. Activision reported that they sold about 4.7 million copies for within only 24 hours after its first release date.

The game is expected to overtake the success of Take Two Interactive’s “Grand Theft Auto 4” where it sold 3.6 million copies globally, much less than the number of CoD:MW2 copies sold in just the US and the UK. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 costs $60 or £36.55.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 simulates real-life warfare of present time and players can choose to play in single player or multiplayer mode online. It is available on ether PC Windows, Playstation 3 and XBOX 360.