Video Game Sales Modestly Higher in Q1; Digital Games Lead
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Video game stocks are trading a little lower Monday morning following recent data from NPD showing a slightly uptick in first-quarter revenue.
NPD said overall spending on video gaming equipment, software, and accessories during the last quarter increased 1.5 percent to $5.9 billion.
The four main catalysts attributable to the increase include digital game downloads, mobile games, downloadable content, and social networking games.
New forms of gaming media added $1.85 billion to revs in the first quarter.
One of the bigger factors is game prices. Recent data suggests new games for Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) Xbox and Sony's (NYSE: SNE) PlayStation 3 can be made for $50 to $60 each. Comparably, digital games sell for a fraction of the cost of traditional formats.
Wedbush is expecting June sales to be down about 6 percent, as this year is suffering from tougher comps on lighter releases.
The news is a boon for Zynga, which filed a $1 billion IPO just ahead of the Independence Day holiday weekend in U.S. markets. Zynga is the creator of popular Internet games like FarmVille and Mafia Wars.
Manufacturers seeing pressure this morning on the results include Take-Two Interactive (Nasdaq: TTWO), Electronic Arts (Nasdaq: ERTS), and Activision Blizzard (Nasdaq: ATVI).
NPD said overall spending on video gaming equipment, software, and accessories during the last quarter increased 1.5 percent to $5.9 billion.
The four main catalysts attributable to the increase include digital game downloads, mobile games, downloadable content, and social networking games.
New forms of gaming media added $1.85 billion to revs in the first quarter.
One of the bigger factors is game prices. Recent data suggests new games for Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) Xbox and Sony's (NYSE: SNE) PlayStation 3 can be made for $50 to $60 each. Comparably, digital games sell for a fraction of the cost of traditional formats.
Wedbush is expecting June sales to be down about 6 percent, as this year is suffering from tougher comps on lighter releases.
The news is a boon for Zynga, which filed a $1 billion IPO just ahead of the Independence Day holiday weekend in U.S. markets. Zynga is the creator of popular Internet games like FarmVille and Mafia Wars.
Manufacturers seeing pressure this morning on the results include Take-Two Interactive (Nasdaq: TTWO), Electronic Arts (Nasdaq: ERTS), and Activision Blizzard (Nasdaq: ATVI).
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