April NPD Numbers Will Likely Show Decline

April 2009 will likely not be a good month for videogames. The most reputable industry analysts are saying that a 17% decline in the numbers posted, when compared with April 2008, should not be ruled out as the NPD Group is preparing to unveil its figures.

The main reason of the year over year decline is that fact that April 2008 was a very good year, namely because of the launch of Grand Theft Auto IV, which went on to become one of the best sellers of 2008, and the release of Mario Kart Wii from Nintendo, which is still featured in videogame sales charts.

This year, there are no such well-known titles released in April and the best seller could be games that did well in March, like Capcom's Resident Evil 5.

Jesse Divnich, who is an analyst with EEDAR, says that “We believe that April’s low sales are mostly the result of a weaker release schedule and is not likely an indication that the industry is contracting.”

Michael Patcher from Wedbush Morgan adds that “Notwithstanding that sales will likely be tracking down 5 percent through April, we believe that the decline is more attributable to difficult year-over-year comparisons (which improve after July) than to overall weakness in the economy.”

It seems that this April will have more videogames that are mildly successful, selling more than 100,000 units and no blockbusters (games that go over the 1 million barrier). The sweet spot for videogame sales is above the value of 550 million dollars, which would indicate the fact that the recession is not that tough on the industry.

If sales dip below 510 million, then it could be an indication that, as the year unfolds, less and less people will have enough money to buy videogames.