Game Marketing Tips, Analysis, and News


Thursday, November 19, 2009

Sales Up And Sales Down

The report is in, and the sales data continue to look grim for the electronic game market. Sales dropped 19% from last year, continuing a string of lower sales since early 2009. OK, there was one exception... September sales were flat compared to last year, only rising 1%... and this in a month when Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft all cut their console prices. It's gonna be a grim Christmas for electronic game companies.

At the same time, according to ICV2, sales are up in the 32d quarter for hobby games, and Magic The Gathering is red-hot. Looks like price is an issue here... the entertainment value of many of the paper games is far higher than many electronic titles when you look at the number of hours of play you can get for your dollars.

What's a marketer to do? In many cases, long term strategies are dialed in months in advance. If you have any flexibility in delivering your marketing message, try to stress the high entertainment value of your title. Gamers are looking to maximize their fun for the shrinking amount of dollars they have to spend, so make sure they understand how good a value your game is.

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