The figures for video game sales in the month of May are starting to break, and the news is not good.

Compared to the same time last year, sales are down 28% (from $718.9 million to $516.5 million) overall. This is being attributed to a number of factors, including the advantage May had last year with Nintendo’s 3DS price drop, and the rise of online free to play games as possible reasons for this drop off.

What’s even more disturbing is the follow up by the Seattle Times that reveals that this is merely the latest entry in a six month tailspin of sales figures the video game industry has posted.

While most of the time I would dismiss these figures as this is traditionally accepted as the slow time of the year for games, and a big release like the next “GTA” or the equivalent would quickly turn these numbers around, its troubling that in a month that included highly anticipated sequels (“Diablo 3” and “Max Payne 3”) as well as exciting new projects (“Dragon’s Dogma”) that sales would still drop to such a degree.

The truly frightening part is that these numbers are following a weak E3 showing that was criticized for its lack of original properties and exciting ideas. If sales continue to plummet like this, we could be in for a long and frightening stretch of big developers playing it safe, and indie developers struggling for a chance, and the industry could begin to regress instead of using its unprecedented popularity as a platform to push forward on.

For the sake of all gamers, I hope that isn’t true.