Decline for this year might reach a quarter of 2011's revenue

Apr 11, 2012 21:41 GMT  ·  By

An analyst watching the United States video game industry believes that the NPD Group numbers that will be released later during the week will show a sharp decline in sales for both the hardware and the software sectors.

He thinks that long-term prospects are bleak as well despite the release of high-profile titles like Max Payne 3 and Diablo III.

Doug Creutz, an analyst working for Cowen and Co., believes that for the month of March the decline in video game sales will go down by 22 percent, which is pretty much the same picture as that painted by fellow analyst Michael Pachter.

This decline comes despite the launch of Mass Effect 3, the mix between role playing and action game that BioWare created and Electronic Arts published. It will be reflected in hardware sales, where the PlayStation Vita handheld will fail to sustain its launch momentum.

Creutz believes that March 2011 was a much better month for video games in the United States, with the launch of Dragon Age II, Homefront and Pokemon Black and White managing to push sales up.

The Cowen and Co. analyst says that April and May will continue to see declining sales, despite the fact that gamers will be able to buy and play Max Payne 3, the shooter from Rockstar and Take Two, and Diablo III, the Blizzard-made and much-delayed hack and slash.

When it comes to video game consoles, the Nintendo Wii will continue to see a big slow-down in sales while the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360 will remain flat at best.

When taking into account the entire year, Doug Creutz believes that the video game industry will see a decrease of about 24 percent in the sector of console game sales and 53% one for the PC retail space.