German Game Industry Continues Growth Despite Economic Fears

Amid uncertainty surrounding fiscal policy and economic growth across Europe and the United States, Germany's game industry continues to show growth, according to the country's Federal Association for Interactive Entertainment Software. Alongside Cologne's Gamescom show, the association told Reuters that sales of German game software, including online revenues, grew 1 percent year-over-year in the first half of 2011, to 793 million euros ($1.14 billion) overall. Association managing director Olaf Wolters told Reuters he expects that rate to rise to 3 percent growth for the entirety of 2011. U.S. sales of new, retail video game hardware and software in the United States are down 3.7 percent year-over-year through July, according to data from tracking firm NPD. However, NPD also shows an increase in purely digital sales in the U.S. helped offset that decline for the first quarter of the year. Germany, which was hit much less severely than its European neighbors in the recent recession, is well-insulated from potential sales impact of further economic slowdown in the U.S., according to some observers. "We have a momentum that is given by the economic situation in Germany," Microsoft Germany consumer and channel group Oliver Kaltner told Reuters. "So far people don't spend less, but they spend more time in making the right decision before they make a purchase."