By Allan Maurer

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC—Video game sales plummeted 16 percent year-over-year in August, the sixth monthly decline in sales for an industry that once appeared recession proof. The cause, says Alexander Macris, president and a founding member of the Triangle Game Initiative, the trade association for the Raleigh-Durham, N.C. interactive entertainment industry, may be the explosion of gaming into mainstream households via platforms from Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony such as the Wii, Xbox and PS2.

“The industry is less recession-resistant than it used to be in the past,” says Macris. “While the explosion of gaming into mainstream households through platforms like the Wii is unquestionably a good thing, it has exposed the game industry to mainstream spending patterns.”

Macris explains, “This is the first recession where game industry revenues have derived primarily from casual users rather than hardcore users, and casual users – by definition – are not as likely to continue to buy games when their overall consumer spending levels decrease.”

Instead of buying $60 premium console games, Macris suggests, “They are playing value-priced PC titles, iPhone games, used games, free online games, and so on.”

Hardware sales of gaming platforms fell 25 percent in August, although all but those of Sony’s PS2 gained over July numbers, with price cuts aiding sales of PSf3 and Xbox platforms.

Better days for the industry are ahead, Macris predicts.

“In the short term the decline in sales will be over by Q1 2010 as a host of new releases floods the market. But long term, game industry growth is going to have to come in ways that address the needs of its more mainstream consumer base,” he says.

The Triangle Game Initiative, a non-profit trade association for the Raleigh-Durham, N.C. interactive entertainment industry, recently named its 2009 slate of officers. They represent a who’s who in the regional gaming industry.

They are:
President: Alexander Macris (CEO and President, Themis Group, Inc.)
Vice President: John Austin (Vice President, Emergent Game Technologies)
Secretary: Emily Carter (Production Manager, Themis Group, Inc.)
Treasurer: Dana Cowley (Public Relations Manager, Epic Games, Inc.)
Research Director: R. Michael Young (Associate Professor of Computer Science, North Carolina State University)
Communications Director: Christine Hall (Senior Account Executive, Capstrat)
Creative Director: Juan Benito (Founder, Cooperative Entertainment)
Government Relations Director: Wayne Watkins (Project Manager, Wake County Economic Development)
Student Programming Director: Walter Rotenberry (Simulation and Game Facilitator, Wake Technical Community College)
Serious Games Programming Director: Troy Knight (Director of Design and Media, Vaco Design).

Online: www.trianglegameinitiative.org

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