Support NeoGAF

[Kon Tiki]

Sales of video game hardware and software dropped slightly in the first half of 2004, a new study has shown.

Industry dollar sales declined to $3.4 billion in the first two quarters of 2004, compared with $3.5 billion in the same period last year, according to figures released Thursday by The NPD Group. This represents a fall of 2.5 percent for hardware, software and accessories. However, overall unit sales went up by 1 percent, the market researcher said.

Richard Ow, senior video games analyst at NPD, said price reductions on Microsoft's Xbox and Sony's PlayStation 2 helped offset the loss somewhat. Both companies have trimmed prices to boost sales of both hardware and software in preparation for follow-on machines.

"The reduced price points for Microsoft's Xbox and Sony's PlayStation 2 helped to stabilize industry sales during the first half of the year," Ow said in a statement. "While the first quarter of 2004 was showing double-digit losses in console hardware unit sales, with the help of lower price points for the Xbox and PS2 during the second quarter of 2004, the industry actually saw double-digit increases in unit sales for the entire second quarter of the year."

Console hardware, portable hardware and portable software recorded sales drops of 17 percent, 10 percent and 12 percent, respectively. But software revenue jumped 4 percent, and accessory revenue was up 8 percent.

While the fortunes of the traditional game industry fluctuate, online games are fast gaining ground, particularly multiplayer online games. This is reflected in the rise in accessory sales in the first half of 2004. NPD said sales of accessories--Internet components and specialty controllers--rose by 120 percent and 184 percent, respectively.

http://news.com.com/Study:+Game+industry+sales+slip/2100-1043_3-5280059.html

I searched. :/

 

[Kon Tiki]

Microsoft earnings paint mixed picture

....

The Home and Entertainment unit, which includes Xbox, was the only unit to see its quarterly loss widen, growing to $339 million from $245 million a year ago. Sales increased 3 percent, to reach $499 million.

Investing in Xbox
Microsoft separately reported that total Xbox sales are now up to 15.5 million units since the console's launch three years ago, at the high end of company estimates. Xbox continued to gain market share in North America, now accounting for a third of the market. Globally and in North America, that market continues to be dominated by Sony's PlayStation 2.

Robbie Bach, senior vice president in Microsoft's Xbox division, attributed the gains to a strong selection of games, a recent price cut and growing support for the Xbox Live online gaming service, which recently hit 1 million subscribers.

Microsoft expects to ship another 5 million Xbox units during the new fiscal year. Upcoming releases of several high-profile games--including the November launch of the sequel to all-time Xbox top-seller "Halo"--are expected to buoy sales.

"What you have to factor in is how much of a cultural phenomenon 'Halo 2' will become," Bach said. "It's our belief this is going to be one of those entertainment properties that get out into the marketplace in a broad way."

The earnings report also highlights Microsoft's continuing subsidizing of Xbox hardware, a situation Bach said nobody's in a hurry to change. "We've been in an investment mode, where we sell consoles at a loss," he said. "We can be profitable soon if we want to, but we'd have to slow the rate of customer acquisition down a bit, and that is not the way we want to go now."

http://news.com.com/Microsoft+earnings+paint+mixed+picture/2100-7343_3-5280372.html

 

[Deg]

In before:

"OMG the US developers are now irrelevant. Its all over."