Analysts Cautiously Bullish On U.S. Holiday Season

Analysts recently polled about holiday U.S. game sales by industry website GameDAILY had some cautiously optimistic things to say about prospects for publishers this Christmas. In particular, it was suggested that this year's game sales may revolve around fewer titles, compared to 2003's more balanced, 'killer app'-free line-up, with Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas and Halo 2 heading up the likely breakouts for the holiday 2004 period. DFC Intelligence's David Cole argued that overall unit sales for videogames in the United States this Christmas may increase marginally. However, he expressed concern that revenue might decrease by a small amount, due to lower price points on some games as the industry nears the end of this hardware cycle. However, David Riley of the NPD Group refused to be drawn, saying it was 'too early to make projections' for this holiday season's revenue.