It's official: the videogame industry is feeling the pain of the global recession, just like almost every other business in the world. Overall U.S. market was down 23% in the month of May compared to the previous year, according to the retail tracker, the NPD Group.

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Hardware unit sales are down on every system except the Xbox 360 and the Nintendo DS/DSi, and coupled with the Xbox 360 price cut from September 2008, hardware revenue is down 6% so far this year.

Software unit sales and corresponding prices are down, and as a result software revenue is off by 8% from the same time in 2009. Even accessories are down 5% year-on-year.

Below we'll cover the damage in more detail but also point out some solid reasons to temper the gloom that currently hangs over the industry.

Link Here

Wow! This is an awesome link, I think anyone seriously interested in sales should take a look. Its 5 pages but every word is both interesting and relevant.

I saw the word Pachter, which is not interesting or relevant. And "big-ticket"? What the hell? Is that even a word?

I dislike America = World mentality. So I give this article a 5.317/10.

EDIT: It would have been a 6.413 if he hadn't used "big-ticket". Now my small ticket feels insecure! I hope you're happy, Gamasutra!