Video Games Appear To Be Recession Proof
Sales of video games this holiday season were brisk. Sequels to games did especially well, like Grand Theft Auto IV, Gears of War 2 and Rock Band 2. One analyst predicts the popular Guitar Hero franchise will sell as much as $900 million globally this year.
RENEE MONTAGNE, host:
And today's last word in business is "recession proof." There aren't many things that are, except possibly sequels of videogames: games like "Grand Theft Auto IV," "Gears of War 2," and "Rock Band 2." One videogame analyst predicts the popular "Guitar Hero" franchise will sell as much as $900 million globally this year. Even when times are tough, it seems gamers will shell out the cash for titles they know will satisfy. Sid Schuman, a senior editor at GamePro Magazine, says, think of them as gaming comfort foods.
(Soundbite of music)
LINDA WERTHEIMER, host:
And that's the business news from NPR News. The supervisory engineer is Kevin Langley. Our technical director is Brian Jarboe. Audio engineers include Arthur Halide Laurent, Kevin Mayner, Gary Henderson, Stacy Abbott, Ted Mebane, Timmy Olmstead and Renee Pringle.
MONTAGNE: With Theo Mondle, Don Spaulding and Carlos Ascencio here at NPR West. Morning Edition's theme music was written by BJ Liederman and arranged by Jim Pew. I'm Renee Montagne.
WERTHEIMER: And I'm Linda Wertheimer.
Copyright © 2008 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.