Best Buy: December Game Software Sales Down Over 2009

In announcing December sales numbers today, electronics retailer Best Buy said a significant sales drop in the entertainment software category sales was "driven primarily by a decrease in gaming." Soft sales in music and movies also contributed to the 15.4 percent year-over-year drop in comparable domestic store sales in the category, the company said, well behind a 5 percent domestic sales decline for the company as a whole during the important retail sales month. Sales in the consumer electronics category -- which includes video game hardware -- were also off 7.9 percent compared to December 2009, though Best Buy said this drop was due primarily to weakness in flat-screen TV sales. The company as a whole generated nearly $6.5 billion in domestic sales for December, down 3.2 percent from the same month in 2009. Best Buy's results come a day after disappointing holiday sales figures for major game retailer Gamestop and the revelation that video games were the weakest 2010 holiday sales category for Toys R Us.. Gaming also lagged behind expectations for Best Buy in the retailer's third 2010 fiscal quarter, which ended in late November. Sales of game software for that period were down 14 percent, year over year. In August, Best Buy started buying and re-selling used games at 600 stores nationwide.