Ahead of the Bell: Video game sales

U.S. video games likely declined in May when compared with a year earlier, analysts say, in large part due to the lack of hit games that had boosted sales in the year-ago period.

Market researcher NPD Group is scheduled to report U.S. retail sales of video game hardware, software and accessories after the closing bell Thursday.

Last year's launch of Nintendo Co.'s "Wii Fit" exercise game and Take Two Interactive Software Inc.'s blockbuster "Grand Theft Auto IV" contributed "$141 million and 26 percent of May 2008 total sales, posing another difficult comparison," said Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter in a note to investors.

He expects software sales to show a year-over-year decline of 17 percent, to $450 million. Janco Partners analyst Mike Hickey, meanwhile, estimates a 7 percent decline in May software sales, compared with a 41 percent increase in May 2008.

Weak sales in May "might be viewed as a signal that the recession is upon us," Pachter said.

But, he added, looking at the planned game launches for the rest of the year, "we are confident that the hard core consumer (who never left) will continue to buy games, and we think that a more robust offering of casual games, coupled with the introduction of Wii Motion Plus and a slew of new content designed for the Wii, will lure the more casual consumer off of the couch and into retail stores."

Summer tends to be a slow period for video game companies, which make the bulk of their money during the Christmas holiday season.