From what I've been reading, it's becoming very clear to the experts that the USA is entering a recession, which will last for an unknown amount of time. Read the links at the end of this post if you want to find out more.
What I am wondering is, will this affect sales of consoles and games? Many say that the gaming market is quite recession-proof, as people always spend money on entertainment. However, it doesn't seem inconceivable to think that certain things may be affected. Some examples of potential effects:
- people who want to buy GTA IV and don't have a console yet could sway to the 360 in order to save money.
- more expensive games with peripherals (for example Wii Fit) could have lower sales than expected.
- folks who lose their jobs and/or want to keep more money on their acounts could sell their used consoles and not rebuy them for a few months (or even longer). This would decrease sales of new consoles as people take advantage of deals on used consoles.
- sales of HDTVs could suffer as they're seen as luxury items, which would diminish the effect of Blu-Ray's victory for the PS3.
I'm sure you can think of many more possibilities. Do you think those (and other) things will happen due to this recession? Do you have any stories about people who are changing their gaming purchases due to the effects of the recession? Are you feeling the impact of this problem on your own skin?
Some links:
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080405/economy.html
http://www.hattiesburgamerican.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080405/NEWS01/804050304/1002
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recession_of_2008
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