Videogame revenue was down across the board in April 2010, compared to the same time last year. While the factors contributing to the decline are many, it would appear the handheld segment of the market was the real culprit.
“The portable side of the industry contributed more than its fair share to the industry decline,” according to NPD analyst Anita Frazier. “The portable business across hardware, software and accessories accounted for 25% of total industry dollar sales in April but declines in portable sales compared to April ’09 accounted for 61% of the total industry decrease”.
In April 2009, the Nintendo DS sold over a million units of hardware. In April 2010, of all the platforms that declined compared to last year, the DS accounts for 71% of the overall hardware decline. Meanwhile, the PSP suffered an equally great drop in hardware sales, down from 116K units in April ’09 to 65.5K units in 2010.
An important point to note here, however, is that the NPD group don’t track iPhone and iPad sales in their report, both of which certainly count as portable platforms for gaming.
Published: May 16, 2010 03:14 pm