By Renay San Miguel E-Commerce Times
07/18/08 11:28 AM PT
The rest of the economy might be on the road to ruin, but the video-game market is riding high, according to a report by NPD Group. Sales of game consoles shot up 54 percent in June, with Nintendo's Wii taking the top spot.
Is Your Website Killing Customer Confidence? Your Website's privacy policy can be a key factor in a customer's decision to do business with you, and it is vital to ensuring you don't run afoul of your online legal and regulatory responsibilities. Need more reasons? Read on.
Americans are tiring of US$4.50-a-gallon gasoline, dire warnings from Iran and nasty political rhetoric. So they seem to be taking our their frustrations by blasting alien invaders and enemy soldiers and playing tennis with their TV sets.
Video games seem to be providing consumers a better entertainment bang for their buck this summer, as a dour economy forces them to choose "staycations" over vacations. Year-to-year June sales of video-game consoles surged 54 percent, spurred by strong sales from Nintendo's Wii and Sony's PlayStation 3, according to an NPD Group industry report.
Those sales figures, plus previews of fall offering from this week's E3 video-game trade show in Los Angeles have analyst Michael Gartenberg predicting the best year yet for the industry: total estimated sales surpassing $20 billion.
Bucking Economic Trends
"Consumers are basically saying that video games represent a good value for our entertainment dollar," Gartenberg, vice president and research director for JupiterResearch, told the E-Commerce Times. "We're getting a lot for our money in what's out there, and that's good news for an industry at a time when consumers are faced with increasing prices for many goods and services and are looking for ways to cut back."
Americans especially found value in Nintendo's strategy of expanding the video-game market beyond hardcore gamers. The company sold 666,000 of its still-hard-to-find Wii consoles in June, with Sony's PlayStation 3 coming in second at 405,000 units sold, NPD said. Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) sold nearly 220,000 units of its Xbox 360.
"The console race is much closer than any previous console cycle, and we have a market that can support three very strong players. The lead shifts consistently, and the game is not over yet," Gartenberg said.
Tried-and-True Games Will Sell
Now that the console territory is established, Gartenberg said the real test for the industry will come with new software offerings in the fall in time for Christmas sales. Sony has already established a firm foothold with "Metal Gear Solid 4," which led June game sales with 774,000 copies sold. Nintendo kept up the pace with its "Wii Fit" and "Wii Play" offerings and the handheld version of the popular "Guitar Hero" franchise.
"What determines who wins will be the fall sales," Gartenberg said. "Who's got the best titles and who can get those titles out in the fall. The right pricing points will also be important, because when it comes to buying the games in this economy, consumers are not going to change their habits. They'll want proven quantities, something that's going to be universally fun, and that's going to be a challenge for companies wanting to do new or different things."
Network Held Hostage, Cyberterror Battle Plan, Evil Genius Wannabe July 18, 2008
A San Francisco city sysadmin held the city's fiber WAN hostage ... Barack Obama proposed creating a National Cyber Advisor position ... "Buffy" producer Joss Whedon launched a Web-only musical series.
Related Stories
Motion-Based Gaming on Phones: The Ticket to Public Humiliation July 02, 2008
How far will you go to play your favorite video game on your cell phone? Sometimes it's too far, points out Renay San Miguel. With the advent of motion-based gaming, don't be surprised to see people wriggling their bodies in public while using their iPhones as steering wheels while playing Polarbit's "Raging Thunder," he says.
Genius.com Adds Instant E-Mail Marketing to the Mix June 26, 2008
Despite the obvious connection between the goals of sales and marketing departments, the two are rarely integrated in terms of performance and functionality. Genius.com has developed a new collaborative e-mail application with that objective in its sights.
Related News Alerts
More by Renay San Miguel
Microsoft May Grease News Corp.'s Palm to Quit Google November 23, 2009
Microsoft and News Corp. are reportedly attempting to wheel a deal wherein Redmond would pay the media giant to de-list its properties from Google. News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch has often expressed his frustrations with the search engine leader, and the decampment of publications like The Wall Street Journal from Google News may be a boon to Bing.
Sony Talks Up Plans for Digital Media Superstore November 20, 2009
Sony is one of the few companies in the world with an ecosystem of hardware and services that could match Apple's. It just doesn't mesh together nearly as smoothly as Cupertino's. Sony executives want to change that. They've announced plans to build an online network that ties in many of the company's products and allows users to download a wide variety of content.
Playboy's Bunny Couldn't Make the Hop to the Web November 20, 2009
The party may be winding down for Playboy. Buyers may be attempting to wheel a deal for Playboy Enterprises, which could in turn bring an end to a publication long past its heyday. It seems that a magazine that was one of the first to storm the barricades of censorship couldn't conquer 21st-century cyberspace.
Headline Feeds
of video-game consoles surged 54 percent, spurred by strong sales from Nintendo's Wii and Sony's PlayStation 3, according to an NPD Group industry report.
Talkback: 
