14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft reports that it has not experienced a slowdown in consumer spending related to its entertainment and devices division, which includes the Xbox 360 gaming console and the Zune player.
Robbie Bach, one of Microsoft's top executives, clearly stated that “We have not seen, on the consumer side of our business, a slowdown”. He went on to say that the economic situation in the United States has less impact on the computer entertainment business because the audience is more dedicated and because business cycles are less important than the release schedule for videogames.
The industry is now moving towards the fall release period and, beyond that, we have the holiday shopping season, which is always very profitable, both for the hardware and videogame segments.
For example, Rockstar and Take Two are planning to launch a new promotion campaign for their 10 million selling title GTA IV in the hope that the game will break new sales records in the coming months, while other developers are getting ready to launch blockbusters like Dead Space, Resistance 2, Mirror's Edge, Gears of War 2 or Resistance 2. With a big batch of good titles in the pipeline, sales for the gaming consoles will also rise as Christmas nears and more and more people buy consoles as gifts.
Earlier Microsoft announced that it was slashing the price of its line of gaming consoles, in an effort to boost sales. Now the Xbox 360 Arcade is slightly cheaper than the Nintendo Wii console and analysts expect the price cut to lead to a boost of around 20% in sales. Meanwhile, the PlayStation 3 is said to keep its price steady this year, with Sony betting that users will be more interested in a wide array of features than in a lower price.