Video game sales drop 16%
Boom! Not even John Madden and his trademark expressions could avert the crash in video game sales in August, which fell 16% from last year.
The drop was the industry’s sixth consecutive monthly decline, according to a report released Thursday by market research firm NPD Group Inc.
That means sales of games and game consoles must grow 14% in the last four months of the year for 2009 sales to be flat with 2008, NPD analyst Anita Frazier said.
Even sales of Madden NFL 10, a football simulation game developed by Electronic Arts Inc., were down last month from a year earlier. “It is discouraging that one of our highest-rated and best-marketed Madden titles in years is facing strong head winds,” EA Chief Executive John Riccitiello said.
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