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Gaming Wins in Tough Economic Times
Despite the grim economic news, game manufacturers are reportedly cautiously optimistic as they look ahead to the holiday season.
Sony games chief Kazuo Hirai told The Wall Street Journal that the company actually expects to do very well in the coming months. "I wouldn't go so far as to say we're recession-proof," Hirai said, "but we expect to be hit much less than an auto company, for example."
Analysts suggest that consumers may turn to electronic forms of entertainment that are generally less expensive than midwinter trips. And until recently, at least, gaming revenues were driven in large part by hard-core gamers, who are less concerned about economics when new titles are released. It will be interesting to see if that remains true in an economy taking an increasing number of critical hits.
"Looking back historically, we have not seen any correlation between economic conditions and the revenues of the video-games industry," said Anita Frazier, an analyst for the NPD Group. "So far the industry is up 30 percent this year and we've been in a difficult economic climate for some time now. That said, in recent weeks the economy has certainly been far more rocky than earlier in the year, but given we don't have any history of seeing an impact from the economy on video-game industry sales, it's impossible to predict what will be happening this holiday."
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