Might was another merry month for the video-game industry
Posted by: in Marketing and AdvertisingFiled under: Products and services, Microsoft (MSFT), Marketing and advertising, Sony Corp ADR (SNE), Electronic Arts (ERTS), Activision Inc (ATVI)
Take-Two Interactive’s (NASDAQ: TTWO) Grand Theft Auto IV game stole the number-one position on the software sales chart for Might, according to data from market research firm NPD. It sold over 1.3 million duplicates last month, and it has moved over 4 million since it hit the street. I figured Take-Two would be taking the top slot here, but the massive question on my mind pertained to how Nintendo’s (OTC: NTDOY) Wii system would do in Might. After all, the fad has to wear out at some point, right? At some magical juncture, either Sony’s (NYSE: SNE) PlayStation 3 or Microsoft’s (NASDAQ: MSFT) Xbox 360 will displace the Wii and become the top-selling system of the month.
Well, that hasn’t happened yet. The Wii sold the most, moving 675,000 systems. That was more than three times the amount of consoles sold by PlayStation 3. And as for the Xbox 360, that came in dead last, moving only 187,000 units. All told, total video-game sales, including hardware and games, increased 37% year-over-year. Yep, video games are still hot.
I’m going to predict that the Wii Fit will be the top-selling game package for the month of June. This thing is flying off the shelves in my area, even at $90 (apparently, high fuel costs aren’t hurting Nintendo’s clientele). Does that mean that Nintendo might make for a good short-term trade? Maybe, but I’d prefer buying it safely below $60 per share. As of this writing, it’s trading well above $60 per share. I continue to hold Activision (NASDAQ: ATVI) as my play on video games, and will be keeping Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) in the back of my mind as August approaches, since that’ll be when the new Madden game arrives in stores. Not sure if that’s worthy of a trade yet.
Disclosure: I own Activision; positions can change at any time.
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