Canadian video game sales dip for first time since 2002

Oh, Canada...

Blame Canada!

thats cause there aint dick all in terms of good new games yet.

never fails for you lovely americans to make the same old tired jokes whenever canada is mentioned, the ironic thing is your country is currently more of a joke then canada is , but whatever makes you feel better

Of course, it can't possibly have anything to do with the fact that they raised the prices of new games in February. Even the DSi is like $200 here. I mean, that's not why I've bought a grand total of one new game in the past three months, right? No, of course not. It's because Killzone 2 and Resident Evil 5 and Street Fighter IV aren't blockbustery enough.

So every year since 2002 until now video game sales here have been growing?

That's pretty impressive actually.

Canada eh?

its more or less because all the good games that are coming out is being sold at 70$ instead of 60$ original price.i think same thing goes for U.S, 50$ to 60$ now. its bullshit for all of us.

Weird, I've bought more games in the last couple of months then all of last year. New games, mostly on Steam (at least 9) but a couple of Xbox games and a couple of PS3. My daughter even bought a game for her DS. I bet Steam games are not in the stats.

You can't write a story about Canada without making a moose hunting, or hockey joke? It's 2009. Grow the F up, stop embarrasing yourselves.

I hope sales keep sliding untill the price becomes reasonable again. $79.99 for the UFC game? Retailers can go pound sand up their a-holes untill that's fixed.

What's the deal with the lame Canadian jokes? I mean I understand it's a joke but come on, it's really ignorant. This is one of the most culturaly diverse countries in the world with more ethnicities and culutural groups living in it's boarders then anywhere else in the world. We have several cities listed as the best in the world to live in. Many in the music industry consider Montreal and Toronto the places to be for the indie music scene (with Americans actually moving to Canada not the other way around for a change.) A lion's share of film and television production is done here in Canada and many of the top game developers are based out of Canada or have development houses here (Eidos, Bioware, EA, Silicone Knights, Ubisoft, etc.)

Canada isn't perfect and believe me there are places in the states that are far more often but saying lame cracks about a country like the moose and hunting b.s. just comes off as ignorant and obnoxious and it doesn't help some of the cracks that are made during the podcast about Quebec when the topic comes up.

Any how, I like the site, I like the people who write for it as I know you're not actually anti-Canadian it just feels very insulting.

I spent the most in gaming in 2009 since 2005. I just got a PS3, an extra controller, 3 PS3 games and a PC game just within the last 3 months. I guess people are not spending like me these days.

Even though game prices are higher, I got a lot of those games when they were on sale.

Brawl was a 2007 game?

Good to know...

The price of new console games boggles my mind. I haven't bought a new game for a long time, 70 dollars has officially stepped over the line. I've gotten into a cycle of just catching up with a game several months later when the price comes down, or in some cases just beating them during a rental period.

You're complaining about jokes about Canada? Please, it's old hat and not even remotely ignorant. It's a JOKE, you do remember what they are, right? And yeah, I Am Canadian. ;)

As for the sharp decline in game sales... It might have something to do with the sharp increase in game prices. 70 bucks for a new game is a little on the high side. I'll bet there is an increase in the used game sales though. It's pretty bad when a used game is priced the same as what a new game used to cost.

I wonder if Steam purchases count as Canadian or US purchases...

See unclejesse I'm not upset really and it's not even Joystiq alone. It's kind of a media in general (this is just the most ready example that is in my life on a daily basis.) It's like EVERY post about Canada contains a similar crack. Yeah I know, every time they talk about South Africa on the podcast it's "Ludwig is dodging lions and living in a dirt hut" but it's kind of like he's South African. They are friends, it's between these friends with a relationship that's built up that makes it ok. When every article that discusses Canada has a crack about Hockey, moose, hunting or something like that it gets old real fast especialy since the people who are making them are living in the states.

As I said, it's not just Joystiq, American media has a big habit of this. Some of the crazy crap that comes out of How I Met Your Mother for example. I enjoy the show but the Canadian jokes make me cringe because they are that little bit too far over the top. And I know, if I had a blog where I was making cracks about Americans I'd get eviscerated.

I guess finaly it comes down to the same thing as when I was in a burlesque troupe. We did a lot of sort of plays, they were hour and a half to two hour comedic plays with strip tease numbers and boobies. It was fun, but we had this sort of rule. You couldn't touch something without some one there who was a part of it. We had a some bi and homosexuals of all stripes, swingers, jewish people, and a Native American. When we made jokes on these topics and ethnicities it was mitigated by the fact that we knew we were inclusive. It was a making fun of the stereotype from the inside. For example, we wanted to do an Anime/Japan show but since we had no asians we felt it wouldn't be cool.

Any how, I'm not saying don't make cracks at Canada. We're fair game. Our best humour more often then not is self deprecatory but not EVERY article. Not EVERY time it's mentioned in a podcast. And you know, this isn't the first time I've felt this way. I've been getting increasingly uncomfortable over the last while reading and listening. So it's not just a knee jerk reaction it's more of a cumulative effect. Any how, otherwise I'm happy with Joystiq. I'm glad it's out there and I hope they keep up the good work.

Why would I bother with a moose hunting game, when I can do the real thing oot mee back yard eh? And besides, It's more fun shooting at americans in a Battlefield game anyhoo ;-)

Lower the damn prices on games and maybe you'll sell more.

"It's the economy stupid!"

Wait until Nintendo release DSi in Canada.