14 DAY TRIAL // In 2009, the videogame industry in the United States, taking into account both hardware and software, is set to reach 20 billion dollars. The increase in value should be of 6.7% by the estimates presented by Mike Hickey, an analyst working with Janco Partners.
Hickey stated that “We continue to believe video games offer an exceedingly strong value proposition for consumers in the current economic malaise, and should continue to over index other forms of entertainment. Continued success of the Wii and DS platforms are critical for CY09 growth, in our view.”
Software will be the crucial element in the overall increase in value of the videogame industry. Janco Partners estimates that sales will go up by more than 15%, while hardware sales are set to drop by more than 5%. The main reason for this shift in the hardware trend is the fact that price cuts, like the one Microsoft announced for the Xbox 360 in September 2008, are likely to be more common, keeping the overall value of sales down. Also, the world wide economic crisis should lead to a reduction in the number of consoles sold.
The predictions says that the Nintendo Wii will outsell its handheld cousin, the DS, while the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360 will sell combined, this entire year, less than the Nintendo home console.
Janco Partners also released a list of games set to be the big performers of 2009. See if you can identify them all (we surely couldn't): Guitar Hero: Metallica, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Guitar Hero V, Wolfenstein, Godfather II, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Burnout, Mass Effect 2, The Beatles, Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned, GTA: Chinatown Wars, Bioshock 2, Mafia II, UFC 2009 Undisputed, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction, Red Steel 2, Assassin’s Creed 2, F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin, Street Fighter IV, Killzone 2, Halo Wars, Resident Evil 5, Halo 3: ODST, God of War III and Punch-Out. The main publishers that should make a profit in 2009 are Electronic Arts, Activision and Take Two.