Wall Street Worries Over Game Sales

Analysts in the US are showing continued concern over video games sales during the all-important Christmas season. In a survey of 20 Wal-Mart and 20 Electronics Boutique stores by J.P. Morgan Securities it was found that around half had too much inventory – although all those surveyed expected unit sales to be in excess of the same time last year. As a result of these concerns game shares were down on Monday, with Electronic Arts, Take-Two Interactive, Activision, THQ and Atari all affected by a decrease of between one and three percent. The stock of video games companies has been under pressure since early November, as mixed sales data, the lack of a major price cut on PS2 and Xbox hardware and concerns about the ability of the publishers to meet their forecasts have weighed on the shares.