Game prices expected to drop after weak November sales

By Vladimir Cole

As expected, game sales data for November from NPD were weak, according to a research report from Susquehanna Financial Financial Group released today. Highlights (and lowlights) noted in the report include:

  • Activision's True Crime: New York City underperformed vs. expectations, perhaps because it faced
    competition this time around from 50 Cent: Bulletproof.

  • Current-gen software sales dropped 20% in November. (We bet that if Xbox 360s weren't so hard to find, they'd
    probably have dropped more.)

  • Sales of Call of Duty 2 for the Xbox 360 "signficantly exceeded" the projections of analysts Jason
    Kraft and Chris Kwak. It's a good game, it deserves it.

  • Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories contributed 27% of Take-Two's November revenue, but games from
    Take-Two label 2K Sports are underperforming.

The bottom line? Kraft and Kwak write, "We believe further price cuts (across the industry) are likely as the supply of next-gen consoles and variety of titles increases. In CY06, we believe only premiere franchises, such as GTA, Halo,
and Madden will command $50 prices on current-gen platforms."

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