Numbers can be deceiving. For instance, take the NPD sales figures for the past six months, which show total videogame sales to be down by 12%. But, Broadpoint AmTech analyst Ben Schachter looked closer at this figure and found that, in fact, core game sales are actually up. When omitting music titles and games released for Nintendo platforms, “core games” have experienced a 17% sales increase over the past half-year. Despite the fact that music games are down 52% and Nintendo games are down 11% over the past six months, Schachter is bullish for 2010, “2010 should see a return to growth, with packaged software growth driven by a strong core gamer pipeline, easier comparables in music and Nintendo, a boost from motion sensing peripherals, and likely further hardware price cuts. We expect to see overall packaged goods growth in calendar year 2010, and we believe that publishers with strong ‘core’ game pipelines are best positioned to benefit.”
