NPD: Games as gift demand will be down 5% this holiday

NPD has issued a report stating that shoppers planning to buy a videogame as a gift will be down 5 percent this season over last year.

According to a study conducted by the marketing research firm, of the 2,000 US respondents polled only 15 percent planned to purchase a game as a gift this holiday shopping season. Last year, 20 percent planned to give the gift of gaming for Christmas.

NPD's 2010 gift chart ranked games 8 out of 10, falling one above food and one below accessories on the chart. Clothing took the top spot with toys, movies or DVDs, books, and electronics following. Music was in ninth place with fragrances following it.

The drop in game purchasing is bit surprising considering big hitters like Call of Duty: Black Ops, Gran Turismo 5, and World of Warcraft: Cataclysm and quite a few others will be ripe for the taking.

Likely, it has to do with consumer planning, because according to NPD, 62 percent of spenders plan to research products a bit more before laying money on the counter, and 44 percent plan to do a bit of comparison shopping first.

Circular ads will play a part as well, with 37 percent planning to look through those first, while 33 percent plan to compare prices online to those found in those strange square things with doors and shiny displays with Feliz Navidad coming through the store speakers and on constant repeat.

Thanks, Gamespot.