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The retail sales of the software industry, accessories and the bigger content market have dwindled during the second month of 2012 in the U.S. The collapse of the Playstation 3 and the Xbox 360 software markets are the primary factors in the U.S. software sales decline. But prior to this malady, the Wii of Nintendo and the music games industry have also experienced the same scenario leading also to the decline in sales.
The software revenue for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 has a combined sales margin of 13 percent in the second month of 2012 according to an analyst. The Wii is down 50% so far in 2012 which is almost congruent to the hardware sales of the provider. The high sales revenue for high definition consoles were also down by double digits in February 2012 which is the second time for the HD market.
Half of the overall software revenue from January to February 2012 is made up of Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, so when the Wii and the games music has started its decline, any change to sales will greatly affect the whole industry. The sales decline in the Wii still affects the revenue problems in the industry as well as the decline in the high definition console software. The high definition console software is considered as the pedestal of growth today or at least for 2012, but the manifestation of weakness in the foundation will question its ability to gain some growth in 2012. But there is still hope for the industry due to the upcoming release of Mass Effect 3, Max Payne 3 and Ghost Recon which will serve as potential support to the dwindling high definition consoles industry.
But despite the upcoming support, there are analysts who are still unconfident due to several factors which affect the industry like the weakness in demand for high definition console software. Major titles purchased by casual gamers several months after their release have less or no impact at all to the overall market revenue. An example is the sales of the Modern Warfare installment of Call of Duty has experienced 50% decline in February compared to its Black Ops predecessor despite being the number one selling game for the month.
A present, there are several high definition consoles providers and other parties which supply software in a continuous stream, but the question is can they really keep the trend up for a long time? It is better that there are HD console providers who help in the recovery of the battered industry.
In general, the whole industry is treading water when it comes to retail trade. There is the potential that a major shift to almost all of contents which are distributed digitally will happen in this depressed market situation which may lead to the cease of contracting in the retail industry. When this happened, the entire industry might be pulled up by the digital economy’s growth as a whole and not just simply backing up the retail sales that are lost.
