Recession

Amazon pins slack results on games “slowdown”

Amazon’s blamed a “slowdown” in games sales as a primary factor in a Q2 profit drop. “You’re seeing an industry slowdown in videogames and consoles,” said CFO Tom Szkutak. The retailer’s upside dropped 14 percent in the three months running to June 30, down 10 percent to $142 million, or 32 cents per share. Sales […]

Recession headlines

  • GDC: Recession forcing creative revenue-hunting, says Scavio

    GDC boss Megan Scavio’s admitted that the global recession will cast a shadow over this week’s GDC, but that game developers are a creative lot that thrive on a crisis. “People are finding ways to make money with smaller budgets, and that takes creativity,” Scavio told the AP. “The thing about game developers is that […]

  • Reeves: Games trade is not recession-proof

    SCEE president David Reeves has said that the game industry is not recession-proof, and that it’s “difficult to explain” why PlayStation products are achieving European targets. “From our point of view which is in the videogames division, in PlayStation, it’s not recession-proof, of course,” he told Dutch TV station RTL. “I don’t think any industry […]

  • Financials woes won't harm games, says Blizzard

    Speaking to MTV, Blizzard design boss Rob Pardo has echoed the sentiments of many of late, saying that the current global financial situation is unlikely to harm the games industry in general. “Historically for us, the game industry hasn’t been affected by recessions like a lot of other businesses,” he said. “I think the reason […]

  • Games software sales are "highly recession-resistant," says Pachter

    In a research note this afternoon, Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter has added to a statement made by Kaz Harai over the weekend saying that the games trade is likely to fair better than most in the worsening economic climate. “Software sales growth has been extraordinary thus far in 2008, up 48% through July before […]

  • We'd rather cut back on food than games, say Americans

    Responding to an MSNBC column about how games are recession-proof in the US, readers have said they would rather have less food and clothes than less videogames. We hope you’re taking note of this, history. Improbably named contributor Michael A Ratajczyk, said, “During a recession, I’d probably buy more games and go out to the […]