Video Game Hardware Summer Sales Slumping

i almost never buy anything for video games during the summer. i meanly spend my money on skateboards and skateboard parts....

there's no good games during summer, i don't see why ppl are amazed at this.

DSi sells strong. I just bought one. I went to the store a week before buying it and saw more than 10, when I picked mine up it was the last of 3. Those suckers sell crazy good although yeah I know it is a low end system and PSP is much better lol. Look at PSP sales, that is odd since PSP has better games coming out for it.

yeah, most titles come out in fall-winter. Just look at when COD4, COD5, MW2, Crysis, and Far Cry 2 ALL came out. August-December is usually when the most game titles come out. Aka, when there is a better reason to buy a console/ gaming hardware.

Maybe everyone is watching the PC gaming market and waiting for DX11 hardware. Consoles suck anyways

I agree with brendano257, but I think it could also be because of the age of the hardware at this point. Most people that want a console have a console by now and aren't going to buy another unless the one they own now breaks. Now if they upgraded the hardware of these systems I think we'd see sells jump significantly, but that won't happen until the next gen of gaming consoles

What deltatux and brendano257 said.

Moar games on the way towards christmas shopping time. Happens every year.

The current consoles are all nearly 3+ years old (PSP, DS, Wii, XBox 360, PS3). The DSi doesn't have better gaming capability, just a camera and microphone. Why would hardware sales be increasing when there's nothing new to buy?

Why do you think car companies come out with new and updated models every few years? If they didn't give consumers something newer and shinier, people would just stick with their old cars till they stopped running. Hell, Wii sales would probably increase again if Nintendo just released the black version here in the U.S. It doesn't even need better hardware, its just something new, and an excuse for many people to spend money. People like spending money, they just need better excuses in these tougher economic times.

The sales will go up, before christmas they gonna find some trick to attract people to buy their console, like a cupholder or something.

The turning point is just around the corner for PS3, i expect Christmas
or the first half of next year to be the point of a switch in sales power to the Playstation. The original Xbox got of to a stronger start too and then fizzled, i expect the same with the PS3. I'm going to laugh when it happens, but not for the reasons people might think. I'm going to laugh at the hand full of developers that don't want to produce games for the PS3 right now, because their going to get the cold shoulder once the tide turns.

well of course sales are slipping.. need to release good games for someone to want to buy the system, other then a select few games in early may/june there has been nothing, cause everyone releases there games in oct/nov and force you to choose between like 10 games, i freaking hate it..

The systems have been out a while. Of course the sales are dropping.

the only system that i sell consistently at work is the DS. whether is a slow day or a busy day. but what i notice is the amount of casual aka mostly uniformed customers that i have had since i work at future shop (canada's version best buy, they even own future shop). they way i look at it is most informed consumers in the video game market already own at LEAST one of the the current gen consoles and most of the numbers we see here represent people who are buying their first console or people that are late to the party. so i don't think it has to do much with the amount of good or bad titles that are out, at least from my point of view. is just the consoles' regular life cycle, they already hit that plateau where they wont see any more growth in terms of market share against one another. its all downhill from here until the next gen. most people won't buy a ps3 slim to replace their $400+ ps3, specially if it has less features (like the death of backwards ps2 compatibility).

After having two Xbox 360's die on me and deciding that my Wii is a worthless joke compared to what Nintendo used to put out before the horrid GameCube. I also decided that Sony has lost their minds, so I'm out on that as well. I'm not interested in paying $59.99 for a crappy game that will last me 10 hours or less when I used to be able to spend $20-50 and play for 50+ hours if not hundreds upon hundreds of hours. I'll stick to my other forms of entertainment until games return to what Bioware was originally intent on making them: works of art. Jade Empire, KOTOR I and II, and games of that sort were incredible. Then crap like Too Human, Mass Effect, and Tom Clancy's Generic Shooter 4 came out and gaming's been full of steaming turds that lose their luster after just one afternoon of playing.

console games (almost) all suck. console users are retards.

I would think it has a lot to do with people anticipating holiday price drops and waiting for better buys.

Dont count on Holiday spending this year, if you owe money on a credit card (any brand) and you havent got your notice yet, it will be coming soon, and you may be shocked at the present the issuer is going to give you. People with good standing accounts will now have a minimum 25.89% interest rate. People who have missed a payment date will have a penalty interest rate of up to 39.99%. This is on all money owed and new purchases. And be warned some banks are not going to send the notices until after Christmas.

The economic downturn in has probably had a big influence, combined with what many see as the prohibitive costs of ownership. I consider most games over-priced and usually end up buying them 2nd-hand only after I've read the reviews. The complete opposite of the 80's, where the likes of the ZX Spectrum home computer used to sell like hot cakes, and the games weren't as expensive especially when they were released as sets or re-distributed on budget labels. I miss those days.

ZX Spectrum...damn that's ol' skool.

I also buy most of my games used after they've been out a few months. There are some exceptions though. For me it's a "movie theatre price vs. wait to rent the dvd" sorta deal.

BTW. Who ever gave me a thumbs down for asking for a source about wacko interest rates needs to read this:

http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-C [...] 14690.html

I don't think calling someone out for making wild claims is negative.

Well, I'm through with this console crap, every 4 to 5 yrs. a new console comes out that pretty much does the same thing as the one before it, just better graphics and game play! What I'm interested in is virtual reality consoles, the one's where you put on a helmet or goggles and they immerse you into a 360 degree game environment and track you movements when you turn your head! I'm talking a complete first person perspective. I'm not buying another console, I want a totally different gaming experience!

Can't say this surprises me. There's been a real drought of good games lately. Also can't say any of the main consoles of this gen are something I want to buy. If the console isn't jumping out at me and grabbing me by the shirt and yelling "BUY ME!" then I'm not interested. Lets face it none of these have done that anywhere near like the ps2 and xbox did.

General consensus from the comments above sums it all up. Nothing worth buying a console has come out in the last few months, so there's no reason for new people to buy a system.

The $100 price cut will probably curb the slump a bit, if only temporarily.

And for PC gamers the Limited installs are killing the sales.I refuse to buy something that is designed to stop working.I pay money for things to work and keep working.
Does anyone have a list of pc game makers who still use the limited installs?