Piper Jaffray & Co. Senior Retail Analyst Jeff Klinefelter and a collaborative team of other senior research analysts recently released the results of the 11th bi-annual proprietary research survey on teen spending habits and retail brand perceptions, titled "Taking Stock With Teens." Klinefelter and team conducted mall research field trips with approximately 700 teens from 12 high schools in nine states across the country and Canada. Additionally, the team surveyed another 1,235 students across the country through a partnership with the national DECA organization in an online survey.

The industry has seen consistent drops in sales year over year for several quarters, with Wedbush Morgan expecting that to continue with an 18% game sales decrease this March from the same month last year. Publishers have generally pointed to the console generation shift as the primary instigator of the downward trend, which is reinforced by consumer reluctance to buy current-gen products in the wake of the Xbox 360's release. However, survey results such as these may indicate that part of the cause also lies with a significant gaming demographic showing less interest in a more general sense.