No signs of recession for Activision's Guitar Hero as gamers snap up $190 video game
biz.yahoo.com
NEW YORK (AP) -- Hollywood movies were popular during the Great Depression, drawing huge crowds looking to escape the financial gloom. Will video games be the escape of choice for a 21st century recession?
Certainly, Santa Monica, Calif.-based Activision Blizzard Inc., the maker of popular titles like World of Warcraft and Guitar Hero, hopes so. And the company got some good news from a Citi Investment Research analyst Wednesday.
Despite seemingly ceaseless reports of layoffs and cutbacks, analyst Brent Thill told investors in a research note Wednesday that based on his checks with traditional and Internet retailers, that consumers continue to snap up Guitar Hero World Tour packages -- priced at $190 each.
The title comes with an unusual amount of hardware -- plastic guitars and drum sets that make for particularly animated living room scenes. Gamers play along with rock classics like Aerosmith's "Dream On."
Last month, an NPD Group report on video games showed disappointing sales last month in the music genre. Thill said sales of the Guitar Hero package are below expectations, but online retailers like GameStop.com, Amazon.com and Walmart.com have all sold out with seven weeks to go before Christmas and sales at traditional retail stores look pretty good too.
Great Britain, also staring at a potentially steep recession, is showing a healthy appetite for the game as well, selling out Amazon's U.K. site. There, bundles are going for $225.
Thill noted figures from the sales monitor Chart-Track showing that video game sales last week in Britain were the eighth highest ever, helped by Guitar Hero and Activision's Call of Duty. |
