Top iPad Music Apps (a/o May 23rd):
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Bronfman wants a bigger piece of the music-related gaming pie. But what exactly is happening to the pie?
Gaming
sales are declining after a period of explosive growth, though
music-related games are in a tailspin. Wedbush Securities analyst
Michael Pachter recently counted a 50 percent decline in US-based
music-related games in 2009, down from a year-2008 peak of roughly $1.4
billion. That 'saturation for the music genre,' in Pachter's words,
now includes a glut of plastic guitars, drums, and other paraphernalia
from Guitar Hero, Rock Band, DJ Hero and related titles.
Soon thereafter, NPD Group outlined a 46 percent drop in music-focused games in 2009, specifically to $1.06 billion. NPD pointed to a December gain of 4 percent for the broader gaming sector, though annualized sales dipped 8 percent to $19.7 billion.
The drop-off has been harsh for The Beatles: Rock Band, released well into the decline. NPD pointed to cumulative stateside sales of 1.18 million, though Pachter counted just 800,000. "There isn't a game that we would expect to have more widespread appeal than that," Pachter relayed. "And yet with the installed base of music game owners at around 20 million, it boggles the mind that only 800,000 bought The Beatles: Rock Band."
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