Video game sales may show decline once again in February, due in part to weak music game genre

more images

more images

Ahead of the Bell: Video Game Sales

NEW YORK — U.S. video game sales could likely show a decline Thursday when the NPD Group releases its February sales figures after the market closes.

Software sales have declined for much of the past year when compared with 2008 and even early 2009, because of the economic downturn and fewer launches of hit games.

Analysts also blame a weakness in the music game genre, as new versions of “Guitar Hero” and “Rock Band” didn’t do as well as anticipated.

Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter said he expects game software sales to decline once again. He is forecasting sales of $665 million in the month, down 10 percent from last February’s $737 million.

He attributes the expected drop to “slightly below expected results” for big February game launches such as “BioShock 2″ from Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., “Dante’s Inferno” from Electronic Arts Inc. and “Heavy Rain” from Sony Corp. A bigger reason, however, is a “precipitous decline in music genre sales to around $20 million compared to $75 million last February,” he said.

Hardware sales will also likely show a drop, with Nintendo’s Wii showing the largest decline from a year earlier, to about 455,000 units, the analyst estimates. Nintendo has said supply constraints have hurt Wii sales.