14 DAY TRIAL // The video game industry has experienced a long decline during the last year, as shown by the NPD Group figures for monthly sales on the United States market, but at least one video game company leader is sure that a new generation of consoles, coming in 2013, will be able to reverse the trend.
John Riccitiello, the chief executive officer at Electronic Arts, states, “A major catalyst going forward, and the most important catalyst going forward is visibility on next-generation console, because that NPD data – that minus 10-25% that you’ve been seeing – that can and should be reversed out and some point, probably starting next year.”
Basically, Riccitiello is sure that the NPD Group will track sales for next-generation home consoles during 2013 in the United States.
Of course, the Electronic Arts executive can only be referring to the Nintendo Wii U, the home console that will be launched before the end of this year.
But it’s probable that Riccitiello is also referring to the much-rumored Xbox 720 and the PlayStation 4, which industry watchers are expecting to be announced later during this year or at E3 2013 before getting launches later next year.
The current decline of the video game industry is linked to the general slowdown seen in the hardware space, where the Nintendo Wii is no longer attracting buyers while Sony and Microsoft are selling good numbers of their own devices but for smaller prices.
A lot of players are also eagerly awaiting information about a new generation of home consoles and they are not willing to spend any money on older devices at the moment, regardless of the games launched for them or any price cuts that might be introduced.
Nintendo is continuing to withhold an exact launch date or a clear price from the gaming community.