Piper Sees 'Opportunity' In Lower Video Game Software Sales

With video game software sales sinking 21 percent in August according to reports Thursday, a sector analyst smelled a "buying opportunity." Piper Jaffray's Michael J. Olson said Friday a raft of new releases slated for later this year should spark renewed sales growth, even as the industry faced difficult August comparisons from a year ago. Electronic Arts Inc.

fell 2.4 percent Friday while Take-Two Interactive Software Inc.

was off nearly 3 percent. Activision Blizzard Inc.

slid 2.5 percent. The market research concern NPD Group Inc. said Thursday that video game software sales fell 21 percent in August to $231.6 million, even as related hardware sales doubled in the same period. Olson reiterated Overweight ratings on companies he follows in the sector and said recent slow growth for video game software sector stemmed from a dearth of recent titles. In afternoon trading Friday. Electronic Arts lost $0.94 cents a share, trading at $37.10; Take Two was down $0.72 cents to $23.47, Activision was off $0.62 cents to $23.25 a share and GameStop Corp.

lost $0.37 cents and was trading at $43.59 a share.