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Domain: npdfunworld.com
Stories and comments across the archive that link to npdfunworld.com.
Stories · 2
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Game Industry Bigger Than Hollywood
Ant writes "This SF Gate story says stacks of new releases for hungry video game enthusiasts mean it's boom time for an industry now even bigger than Hollywood. The $10 billion video game industry, which generates more revenue than Hollywood, has never released so many highly anticipated blockbuster titles in a single season. It started in August with the game title Doom 3, followed by The Sims 2 in September, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas in October, then Halo 2, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes and Half-Life 2 last month. In November, sales of video games rose to $849 million, an 11 percent increase from the same month last year and up 77 percent from October, according to the industry research firm NPD Funworld. The industry set a milestone last month when Microsoft's Halo 2 -- a sequel to a futuristic game with an elaborate plot that pits humans against invading aliens -- surpassed Hollywood's opening-weekend movie box office record in just one day of sales." -
Potential For Chinese Online Gaming Market Huge
Thanks to GameGossip for pointing out the NPD article discussing the swift growth of online gaming in China. According to the piece, "In 2002, China's online game industry pocketed 910 million yuan(about US$110 million), compared to 310 million yuan (about US$37.34 million) in the previous year.", and "the number of online game players... doubled from four million of the previous year." In related news, since most Chinese online gamers don't have their own PC, CNET is reporting on the consolidation of Net cafes "under the management of larger, mainly state-owned companies."