US console sales peak reached - Analyst
A new report from market analyst group US Bancorp Piper Jaffray suggests that the current generation of hardware has seen its sales peak in the USA this year, and predicts a small decline in the 2004 figures.
A new report from market analyst group US Bancorp Piper Jaffray suggests that the current generation of hardware has seen its sales peak in the USA this year, and predicts a small decline in the 2004 figures.
The forecast from the analysts suggests that this years final figure for hardware shipments in the USA will hit 22.3 million units, up from last years figure of 21.1 million, but that the figure will slide to 20.3 million units in 2004 due to market saturation.
That's particularly bad news for Microsoft and Nintendo, who would have hoped that growth in sales of their more up to date Xbox and GameCube hardware platforms could plug the gap left by declining sales of the aging PlayStation 2.
"We believe spring 2003 marked the midpoint of the current video game cycle, in terms of the product life cycle of current generation video game hardware," according to the firm's senior leisure and entertainment analyst, Tony Gikas. "In addition, we expect 2003 will be the peak year for unit sales of current generation hardware sales."
US Bancorp Piper Jaffray's analysis is for North America only, and the same level of decline is unlikely to apply to Europe - where the consoles are running several months behind on their life cycles, and sales of the PS2 have continued to increase over the past year, rather than declining as they have in the USA and Japan.
Further Reading: [Toy & Video Game Industry Primer - US Bancorp Piper Jaffray]