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Before the arrival of a new generation of video game consoles, the market declined sharply. This prediction is reflected in the figures. The French market was down 9% over the first five months of the year to 758 million euros, according to figures released Tuesday by research firm GfK distributors.

But on the whole of 2011, physical sales are expected to decline by 4% to 8% to 2.44 billion euros. The video game market is expected to be saved by the digital distribution of programs, for consoles, smartphones, Internet tablets and games for social networks. "The dematerialization of video games as an opportunity than a threat," says Pierre Cuilleret, the President of Micromania, in the bosom of the distributor Gamestop.In April, Gamestop said that $ 290 million were realized by the sale of games dematerialized, up 61% year on year credit score.

Improvement expected by year-end

For two and a half months, Micromania advises its customers to purchase in its stores codes for games on the Xbox Live network. This prevents users to leave their credit card details online. This reassures them after the theft of bank details of millions of users of Sony network.

The video games industry should see an upturn later this year, between October and November, with the launch of many games. In addition, the market should be supported by the arrival of the handheld console Sony PlayStation Vita around Christmas and a catalog provided more games for the Nintendo 3DS.Microsoft should continue to score points with its accessory Kinect.

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