If the country is on the verge of falling into a recession or currently experiencing one, and the answer to that will vary depending on who you ask, then it’s pretty clear that, for whatever reason, the game industry hasn’t gotten the memo. Something that can’t be spun by even the most gifted of spin masters is the fact that the good old US of A is, without a doubt, experiencing hard economic times and the effects of this are being felt in enough places for it to not be taken lightly. It has forced many people to rightly cut back on some expenses wherever possible and what transpires as a result is an obvious sign of decreased consumer spending at retail. The signs are there alright. Even the holiday 2007 shopping period wasn’t enough to turn the tide. So why, in spite of this, does the videogame industry continue experiencing stronger sales than ever?

To say that things have been going well over at the house that Mario built would be an understatement. Or in Microsoft’s case I’m sure they would prefer to have that house be referred to as the house that Master Chief built. Or maybe it’s Sony who truly holds the deed to the house. Well one thing’s for certain at least, the house is crowded and in between a few likely physical altercations or two, I’m sure there must also be quite a bit of celebrating that goes on because, let’s face it, business has been good despite the dwindling state of the economy so one can’t help but wonder about the type of money that would be spent on videogames if the economy were in a better state.

It makes no sense to be talking about the state of the economy and not bother to state what’s actually wrong with it. So, to start off, the credit card debt of Americans jumped by 6.7% during the first quarter of 2008 and now stands at $957.2 billion. In Atlanta alone, debtors recorded an average of $29,300 in unsecured debt, majority of which was on credit cards. That represents an increase from the original $25,700 average in 2007. For all you know we might potentially have found one of our main culprits for the majority of those incredible videogame sales. I can’t speak for anyone else, but it would definitely be fair to say that a good share of the games I own have been purchased through the magical piece of plastic that conveniently fits in my wallet. Next we have food prices which received a 1% increase due to inflation in a single month (from last April to the end of March) effectively making that the absolute largest raise in food prices that the country has seen in 18 years. The reason for that is linked directly to a constantly ballooning Oil Price. The higher the price on oil goes, the more expensive gas at the pump becomes and as a result prices are raised on food to account for their transportation. If it’s costing more and more money simply to get around and transport the food then sooner or later they are going to have to start looking to get back some of the money they are losing somewhere else and that’s when food prices start going up to help balance out the losses.