Big week for games
While the launch of Halo: Reach saw long queues and (probably) a lot of sick days feigned, analysts predict the launch of PlayStation's Move this Friday together with other releases will give the gaming industry a much needed boost.
According to The FT, the US games industry suffered its worst sales in four years, plunging 10 percent compared with August 2009 to reap $819m and 2009 wasn't a great year either as sales were 14 percent lower than in 2008!
Analysts at Wedbush Morgan Securities reportedly said: "The August sales results were, in a word, shocking," and blamed a weak economy, pricey consoles and growing popularity of online gaming services for the dismal figures.
They believe services like Xbox Live actually encourage people to hold off purchasing everything but the best titles, especially as people can often try before they buy.
But many hope the launch of Halo: Reach and a raft of products due to hit the shops in time for Christmas could help reverse the industry's fortunes, at least for now.
So far the Halo Xbox franchise has reportedly pulled in impressive revenues of around $2bn and while Halo 3 sold over 8m copies and collected $300m in its first week on sale, Halo: Reach is on course to smash its predecessors' record.
IT Portal reported Halo: Reach has broken the record for the largest number of Xbox Live users playing it at the same time, which isn't bad as the news was announced just over one day since the game's launch. The record was last held by Modern Warfare 2 with more than 2m people playing simultaneously at some point in November 2009.
Predictably, Halo: Reach has topped the UK's gaming charts but it is also believed that the game is also making Microsoft extra money as people are forking out for Xbox Live credits and the console itself.
Analysts told The FT they expect subscriptions to the Xbox Live Gold service to soar, while limited edition hardware like controllers could cash in on the launch too.
Anita Frazier, an analyst at NPD told the newspaper: "If hardware sales react in a similar fashion to what was experienced when Halo 3 was launched in September 2007, September could be a huge sales month for Xbox 360 hardware."
However, Halo: Reach has got some catching up to do as the Call of Duty franchise is the most popular first person shooter and is set to consolidate its lead when Call of Duty: Black Ops is unleashed across all consoles in November, unlike Halo which is exclusive to the Xbox 360.
