Rad from VGC:
“Right now my most optimistic outlook is down about 2%,” Piscatella said. “If you start looking a little bit on the more pessimistic side, you’re looking at down about 10%. If things really go sideways, you’re looking at a little bit more.
“There’s so much uncertainty when you look at the sales data or look to project this year. There’s uncertainty around the hardware. There’s uncertainty about the content. Who the hell’s making the games?”
“The uncertainty level this year is probably the highest I can recall – and I’ve been around since 2005 – with the uncertainty of what’s going to get us to the finish line because we don’t have those big games announced that we know. When people are saying ‘our slate’s going to be light this year,’ that’s not something that usually happens.”
Circana predicted that it could be a particularly tough year for games retailers, with Nintendo’s expected new hardware not arriving, and the push to digital continuing.
“Retail’s had to get really clever, and on the physical side of the business it continues to decline,” Piscatella said.
“With no new Nintendo hardware this year, it’s going to accelerate because Nintendo is right at the 50-50 cusp when it comes to physical/digital, but everyone else is way digital. So retail still relies on Nintendo much more than they do other platforms.”
“Right now my most optimistic outlook is down about 2%,” Piscatella said. “If you start looking a little bit on the more pessimistic side, you’re looking at down about 10%. If things really go sideways, you’re looking at a little bit more.
“There’s so much uncertainty when you look at the sales data or look to project this year. There’s uncertainty around the hardware. There’s uncertainty about the content. Who the hell’s making the games?”
“The uncertainty level this year is probably the highest I can recall – and I’ve been around since 2005 – with the uncertainty of what’s going to get us to the finish line because we don’t have those big games announced that we know. When people are saying ‘our slate’s going to be light this year,’ that’s not something that usually happens.”
Circana predicted that it could be a particularly tough year for games retailers, with Nintendo’s expected new hardware not arriving, and the push to digital continuing.
“Retail’s had to get really clever, and on the physical side of the business it continues to decline,” Piscatella said.
“With no new Nintendo hardware this year, it’s going to accelerate because Nintendo is right at the 50-50 cusp when it comes to physical/digital, but everyone else is way digital. So retail still relies on Nintendo much more than they do other platforms.”
