Multiplayer Gaming Blamed for US Sales Decline
Software sales have decline for the fourth month in a row, and Michael Pachter is blaming online multiplayer capabilities as the culprit.
Talking head and industry analyst Michael Pachter is attributing the majority of the decline in US-base software sales to multiplayer gaming. The analysis came after a recent NPD sales report revealed a staggering 15-percent decline in software sales for the month of June--the fourth month in a row to experience a drop in overall sales.
Part of the blame rests on Nintendo's shoulders, as the company is currently bundling two games with the Wii console. Another factor adding to the overall decline is the sale of cheap "clearance" games, racking in only a small percentage of revenue when compared to their original launch prices.
But the biggest culprit to the decline is apparently games like Halo 3 and Call of Duty--those with high replay value. Gamers are purchasing these titles and spending most of their time playing the multiplayer portions rather than going out and buying new games.
"We estimate that a total of 12 million consumers are playing Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 for an average of 10 hours per week on the two platforms' respective networks, and the continued enjoyment of this game (along with an estimated 6 million Halo online players, 3 million EA Sports players, and 5 million players playing other games, such as Battlefield, Red Dead Redemption, Left 4 Dead and Grand Theft Auto) has sucked the available time away from what otherwise would be spent playing newly purchased games," he said.
Pachter said that the problem will continue, and that publishers should start charging for online play--starting with Activision's Call of Duty Black Ops.
"We think that it is incumbent upon Activision, with the most popular multiplayer game, to take the first step to address monetization of multiplayer," he said. "It is too early to tell whether that will be a monthly subscription, tournament entry fees, microtransaction fees, or a combination of all three, but we expect to see the company take some action by year-end, when Call of Duty Black Ops launches."
Honestly, there seems to be something wrong with this picture. Where are the numbers showing that gamers are spending their cash on downloaded content? While they may be focusing their time on certain titles, they're also purchasing the content associated with the games. Of course, this extra revenue may not equal to the full amount of another game, but it lifts the currently purchased title to an overall higher price point than its original launch price.
Perhaps then the decline in software sales isn't indicative of the amount of time gamers focus on certain titles, but rather the current crop of new games sitting on the shelf. If they're not appealing, then they're not going home with the customer.
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$60 a game in the U.S. and even more expensive in Europe+ Australia(poor Aussies get raped), why would i spend another $60 for another 10 hour campaign when i can spend $60 for 100hr+ multiplayer.
"Perhaps then the decline in software sales isn't indicative of the amount of time gamers focus on certain titles, but rather the current crop of new games sitting on the shelf. If they're not appealing, then they're not going home with the customer."
BINGO.
Or maybe because it's july?
How are they going to pull off charging for an online game already being charged for with Xbox Live? Microsoft will definitely have something to say about this. They won't take this lying down with the publishers trying to charge for gaming on their network.
How much worse can Activision get? Charge for online play when they don't even host servers? What the heck!? Crazy fools!
"We think that it is incumbent upon Activision, with the most popular multiplayer game, to take the first step to address monetization of multiplayer,"....
Why? to help another companies profit margin? Activision is likely making plenty of money, why should they start charging more to help other companies sell -their- games?
Lets see, too much piracy on the pc...so focus on the consoles. Crap, people arent buying enough games on the console...lets charge for updates that were free for pc (dlc). Crap, thats not working either...lets start charging a fee for multiplayer on top of the internet fee, the fee to access the service online (ala xbox live), and the cost of the game.
Make good games, stop releasing crap that isnt done, and charging us for the content that should have been included in the first place, and mabye your sales numbers will go up.
First its the charge for buying a used game. Then they try to screw you over with the always online when playing single player. Now potentially charging for online play?
Way to make the customers happy. Maybe these factors are part of the reason in decline of sales.
damn, well I guess I'm not buying black ops either. I was looking forward to playing CoD again too. :\
You know, just maybe, some of us go outside and enjoy the summer?
so, you have to pay more for something which should be included as a feature of the game? That's dumb as shit, they might as well release it exclusively as crappy sigle player or allow people to buy the multiplayer only on PSN or XBox live...
Actvision are fools, this kind of behaviour will never be tolerated and I hope, that if they do charge more for the multiplayer, that gamers will see the light and not buy it...
The only thing that could really be done to charge for Multiplayer gaming is to split the Single and Multiplayer versions of games, Which is becoming almost a requirement in the case of disks for the 360.
People just aren't going to spend money on a game they may or may not want to play when they already have games they enjoy,.
Maybe because no good games came out in June?
This happens every year...
CoD Black Ops will come out in November and the so called "expert analysts" will be all "Video game sales jumped surprisingly in November..."
This guy must be high on crack for the fact that some games are made or expanded by multiplayer dramatically
We should all stop paying attention to Michael Pachter. He must be trying to be Activision's whore.
It's not usually the head that Pachter talks out of I wonder how much he gets paid to point out something completely obvious. Of course multiplayer's been around for years, FPS players have always stuck to one game for long periods of time. This wouldn't explain the decline in sales of genres that aren't so focused on the multiplayer.
Maybe the problem is that FPS gamers are the only people still playing, and that the other genres like Action/Adventure or RPG that used to be cash cows have been abandoned. Developers aren't making games to entertain anymore, they're making them to make money. They're more concerned with the box art than the gameplay. Give me games that I want to play into the ground and then I might come back and buy more, but when all I get is fluff that lasts me 10 hours, pretty soon I just stop bothering trying things out. The industry needs to get back to making quality games now, because people can get lousy games on smartphones for much cheaper.
The current titles SUCK! They are poorly done and way too costly.
Bring back some cool games like Mechwarror!
Finally someone saying something besides piracy is the reason for slow sales.
If they start charging Monthly fee's like MMO's im not playing they;re games.End of story.
I'd pay a monthly MMO fee for a FPS game, but in return I'd expect to be paying for all eras of mechanized warfare from WW1 to SciFi, all game types, hundreds of maps with more added monthly, a complete arsonel of weapons, dedicated servers, integrated voice and C&C, a continuously updated game engine with full destructable everything, weather, lighting, and vehicles, and finally the ability to set up custom persistant games/maps from 1vs1 grudge matches to multi-battle/location clan wars that involve at least 150ppl on each side. Of course single player, coop storyline mission, and some sort of general persistant MMO world to play in would be a must too.
The days of piecemeal sequels and revisiting the same game title over and over again would be over.
The first company that can do that, will own the entire FPS market forever.
I won't say piracy as that would be playing ignorance, but contributing factors i'd say Economy and Asking price for games, if they dropped the price to $35-45/£25-35, they would actually see a boost in sales.
How often have you walked into a store and wanted to buy a couple of new titles, you'd be less indignant about forking out $120/£90 for 3 new games than just for 2, i'd like to buy new, but being a low wage earner i look in both new and used, and have also boosted my library considerably with more used titles.
They'd get all round more sales in new games if they lowered the prices
After Halo3, Killzone2 and MW2 and now with Crysis2 and Killzone3 coming out, the bar has been set to a very high level. I don’t mind paying $50 or $60 for that level of quality.
"If they're not appealing, then they're not going home with the customer."
It's hard to look appealing when your competing with MW2 or Halo3.
Im thinking its because maybe there are too many developers and its time to weed some of these guys out. Like anyone working with Activision would be a good start.
Soooo...
First they charge 60 for a game, add internet, add the service, then add another charge?
People aren't buying games because current games suck - or people are playing the one or two games that are decent over and over.
Thats what happens every year. Everyone makes games for the holiday season and after that sales slow down.
Second half of the year I need to choose from crysis, mafia, zelda, portal, call of duty, rage, gears of war, killzone, gran turismo, medal of honor, halo, metroid, infamous, goldeneye, assassins creed......and im sure im missing a few more.
whats the last 4 month game list?...
I guess the bad economy has nothing to do with the decline...haha. This is just as bad as movie-people who say movie sales suffer because of piracy and not because the movies released are actually junk but then Avatar comes along and smashes movie sales EVER!...sheesh. Just another lame excuse IMO
Let me get this straight... They're blaming people for low sales because they're playing too much of a game?
If they think sales have are on decline now, just wait until they start charging you to play. Whatever. There business not mine.
No just no. Why should publishers start charging for playing multiplayer when the consumer pays enough as it is on the game itself?
$60 for a half-a**ed game, $15 for each "upgrade" (i.e dlc) and now they want me to pay for multiplayer?
No wonder pc sales are declining!
Thank god for Indie Devs. PC will be reborn!