Report: Sales Of Music Video Games Plummet In 2009
December 18, 2009, 15 years ago
Antony Bruno from Billboard is reporting:
What a difference a year makes.
The music-game category raked in $1.4 billion in revenue last year, according to Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst Michael Pachter, driven largely by sales of Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero World Tour. By the time 2009 comes to a close, Pachter expects the category to make half that - $700 million - despite such high-profile releases this fall as THE BEATLES: Rock Band, Guitar Hero 5, DJ Hero and Band Hero, not to mention Guitar Hero: VAN HALEN, which is due Tuesday (December 22).
According to data from market analyst NPD Group, sales of these games haven't met expectations. The Beatles game, while selling a respectable 800,000 units of its various versions so far, missed the 1 million mark analysts expected in just the first month after its September 9 debut. Guitar Hero 5 sold 500,000 units in its first month, compared with the 1.4 million Guitar Hero III moved two years ago in its first month.
DJ Hero, the game that was meant to expand the category into the hip-hop genre, moved 123,000 units in the first few days after its late-October release, and analysts at Cowen & Co. slashed their sales forecast for the game from 1.6 million this year to 600,000.
So what happened to this once-promising category, which so many in the music industry looked to for much-needed revenue? According to Pachter, the answer is: Too many games with too much music in too short a time.
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