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Codebreaker

Video game sales plummet

John Moe Jul 13, 2012

It’s a weird time to be in the video game business. On today’s Tech Report, we tell you about Ouya, a not-yet-built console that raised a million bucks in just eight hours on Kickstarter and has raised over four million bucks overall, promising an open environment for game developers. So people do like games.

That fondness is not reflected in new sales figures, however, that show game sales tumbling a whopping 29 percent in June. 29? Yes! WHAT? I know.

Among losers, Microsoft was the winner, says Bloomberg:

Microsoft Corp. said U.S. retailers sold 257,000 Xbox 360 game consoles in June, giving the company more than 40 percent market share for the 18th straight month. A year ago, Microsoft sold 507,000 of the consoles.

If I’m a video game executive, I’m bumming. But I’m not a video game executive. I’m a dad and I think this news is actually good news. It means that in the first month of summer, kids might be going outside instead. GO OUTSIDE, KIDS! YAY! BIKES! POOLS! YAY!

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