As we near the end of this extremely protracted console cycle it's fitting that an industry that has been on the rise for quite some time would start to see a downward trend. Though sales are still strong for individual titles like Call of Duty or Mass Effect, the software sales sector as a whole is registered an unfortunate downward trajectory.

There are still plenty of exciting releases on the horizon from Halo 4 to Assassin's Creed 3, but neither of those have the kind of all encompassing wait that something like Grand Theft Auto 5. In fact, if Grand Theft Auto 5 were to release in 2012, most figure it has a very real chance of overthrowing Black Ops 2 as the highest selling game released this year.

Unfortunately, according to some business analysts, even the release of Grand Theft Auto 5 won't be enough to pull software sales into the black — and that's operating under the assumption that the game will release this year.

Since the game's launch trailer literally nothing has been shown of the game to give any indication how much progress Rockstar has made, and only recently did we get a hint that maybe Gamescom would be the place where more info is released.

Nevertheless Robert W. Baird & Co. analyst Colin Sebastian believes that even if Grand Theft Auto 5 were to be counted among 2012's releases, it wouldn't be enough to shift the downward trend of the market.

"I am not confident that it will be out this year, and even if it did, we would still likely see a modest decline in console software sales. Given the current momentum of the market, I doubt any major releases, even one of GTA V’s size, would push the physical markets back into the positives."

We are at an interesting crossroads of sorts, and will continue to move further and further into unknown territory as gamers anxiously await the announcement of Microsoft and Sony's next-gen consoles. There are plenty of releases were getting excited over in the coming years, from BioShock Infinite to The Last of Us, but apparently it will be a new set of platforms that really turns things around.

Do you think that Grand Theft Auto 5 will release this year? What title or event do you think has the best chance of putting software sales back in the black?

Source: Venture Beat