2008 game sales figures in - PSP down in the dumps
Unfortunately for Sony, the game sales for 2008 are in, and Sony didn’t do very well. Granted they did fine for a platform, scoring very notable games sales figures, but come on, when you’re up against the Nintendo DS, you don’t stand a chance any more. Are we seeing the end of Sony’s chances for even putting up a fight?
2008 saw sales of consoles grow hugely. The value of the gaming sector for 2008 was a whopping £4 billion in the United Kingdom alone, a figure that is up 23 per cent from the previous year. Game sales increased steadily along with that expansion rate.
The success of Nintendo over the past couple of years has been hard to avoid, and easy to pick up games such as Wii Sports (which they even give you free with your copy of the Wii) has proven to be a major success. It seems as though the public loves to pick up a game and just have fun with it. It seems like the days of hard core gaming being the only way forward are behind us…it’s time to pick up your Wii Golf Club and have a swing instead.
However, the Sony PSP games sales didn’t have such a handsome 2008, as they performed only slightly better than PC games sales (when was the last time you bought one of them?). Sony have been hopeful in the battle against the Nintendo DS; they were here before the DS, they should have had the market locked up before the DS arrived on the scene, but instead something clearly went wrong and the PSP got shunned to the back of the shelf in favour of the Nintendo DS – its touch screen nemesis.
Maybe the Nintendo DS’s and the Wii’s success can be marked down to how easily accessible and playable the consoles are to people of any age. Parents are playing with their children’s Nintendo DS’ and families are gathering around the TV to play on the Wii. Even retirement homes have been using the Wii to keep fitness levels up and Brain Training on the DS has proved a huge success to those of us that want to get our brains working.
“Gaming has been traditionally frowned upon by parents. However it is now considered “family time” for many people aged between 26 and 42. Although interest declines after the age of 40 this could change as a generation of gamers grows up,” claimed the head of technology at Deloitte, Jolyon Barker.
Game sales of the PSP dropped by 27 per cent against 2007 – a huge drop by any standards not just in the gaming community. Sales of the PSP games were 4.1 million through 2008, however in 2007 the sales of the PSP games were 5.6 million. Compared to the Nintendo DS, these figures show that Sony are fighting a losing battle as Nintendo sold 19.1 million DS games in 2008, a 28 per cent raise from 2007s figures.
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