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Holiday Game Sales Not Looking Optimum?
Thanks to Yahoo/Reuters for their report suggesting that videogame sales aren't quite as spectacular as hoped, so far this holiday season. Analyst reports cite retailer concerns over: "soft sales", apparently due to "few 'hot' new titles, slow hardware sales, high software price points, and increased competition for consumers' home entertainment dollars as newer technologies become more affordable." Nonetheless, industry observers are expecting "12.5 percent year-over-year software sales growth for November", but this still will "fall well short of original analyst, publisher, and retailer estimates." Finally, although the article cites "broad agreement that there is no blockbuster title this holiday like last year's Grand Theft Auto: Vice City", the "top title at retail" in analyst estimates was EA's Need for Speed Underground, and other top-sellers include True Crime, Tony Hawk's Underground, and GTA Double Pack.
Nothing new is interesting me this holiday season and lately I've just been picking up games I missed that came out in the past like ZOE2: The 2nd Runner, Morrowind, Freedom Force and Resident Evil Remake.
Who was it that said %40 of sales were between the 14th and the 23rd last year? Isn't that any indicator that such "Captain Obvious" statements should be belated until at least the 23rd?
Of all the Universal Constants, here's one I know: Nice guys finish last
It seems as if nobody's wanting to make anything different. Publishers are only wanting to go with the safe bets that are likely to make some money, but not much. They'll copy another company's game and add a few extra features, then claim that their title is better.
My guess is that if publishers started to fund original ideas and took a few risks, that sales would boom for them. Since consumers are starved for something different, there's a good chance that those ideas would do well.
Until Slashdot fixes the funny modifier, use insightful or interesting. The poster knows your intentions.
An interesting statistic would be the percentage of xmas video game sales that aren't presents. All the stuff I buy I'd buy all year round, it's just that so much of it is released "for xmas" and therefore it looks like I spend more specifically because it is xmas.
Games have to be scheduled many mnoths in advance. I guess most people expected HL2 and D3 to be coming out now and didn't want to clash with those heavy weights. To bad they are both still a few months away.
I work in a major game retailer in the UK and I have to agree that it is looking pretty grim. Sales of hardware have been very slack, a couple of weeks ago we did well but that was the last pay day before Christmas, the week after we sold far fewer. The latest games have so far proven uninspiring. The only game I have really enjoyed (and therefore sold a lot of) is Simpsons Hit and Run. I bought Medal of Honour Rising Sun and am struggling to find much good to say about it. Prince of Persia is graphically nice but somewhat brief. Manhunt just doesn't hit the mark and True Crime is a dead loss. You just have to look at the game returns or trade ins to see what games are worth having. Simpsons Hit and Run doesn't come back, all the others I listed have are already on the second hand shelves.
I think the big surprise is the popularity of the GameCube. For the first time since I started working in the shop I sold more GCs than the other two consoles put together.
Personally, I think I'm going to drag out my N64 and have another go through Goldeneye. Perhaps they should look at putting out an updated version of that for the GameCube or even the other platforms. Heck, even the original version done like the recent Zelda pack would be a great seller. It destroys all the other Bond games.
"I have the attention span of a strobe lit goldfish, please get to the point quickly!"
GTA Double Pack? Unless you don't have a PS2 and/or medium end computer (relatively speaking), who DOESN'T have a copy of at least one of the two games? (Not to mention all the publicity its gotten over the years...)
True Crime Streets of LA? Considering thats in the same line as GTA Double Pack, I'm gonna assume analysts gambled on the violence factor and figured the mindless masses would buy into it.
Tony Hawk Underground? Admittedly a good game, but fans of the series already have their copies leaving few consumers left to buy a copy.
Course all this is moot since I'm sure these so-called "analysts" probably never even played any of these games. (Why doesn't the article say anything about the Half-Life 2 delay? Sure it focuses on the console market, but the Half-Life 2 delay from Christmas certainly put a dent in most PC gaming sales.)
I have a suggestion as to WHY analysts have been too optimistic about increasing video game sales (besides trying to inflate stock prices, of course). I think it's likely that analysts are looking at the console sales and the potential increase in game sales without taking into account the fact that gaming newcomers are probably going to buy fewer games overall than their "hardcore" brethren. For example, someone who stood in line for 10 or more hours in the freezing cold to buy a PS2 on launch day is probably an avid gamer who will spend a lot of money on new games. On the other hand, someone who picked up their first game console within the past year is more likely to be someone who was waiting for console prices to come down and will probably spend less discretionary income on software.
Of course, there are still two big shopping weeks to consider. The second week (26th through 31st) in particular could be interesting because we'll see how people spend their liquid holiday loot. In any case, it's too early to make any big hay out of this. Maybe a week or two after New Year's, an article like this could have some SOLID numbers.
Beyond Good and Evil is way underrated as is Metal Arms, along with not being hyped. I also am really enjoying Deus Ex 2 on Xbox, although that load time is harsh. Too many games seem to have been pushed back this year. Ninja Gaiden being a big one for Xbox. There are a ton of fantastic looking games coming out at the start of the year, seems everyone missed the Christmas deadline.
I've never spent so much on games and game equipment for Christmas. I've bought a Gamecube, Zelda Wind Waker, Super Mario Sunshine, a 251 block memory card and a component cable. It was a smart decision for Nintendo to drop the price of their console. I wouldn't have spent so much otherwise.
The game is very short, I beat it in 7 hours. However it was one of the most well designed games I have ever played. Everyhting from the level design and implementation of game mechanics down to the production of music and voice acting. The blood, sweat and tears of the development team can clearly be seen on this title.
If length of entertainment is what you prefer in games, you should probably be playing an MMORPG. But you're probably not playing an MMORPG because you, like myself, probably realize how much they actually suck and that game length isn't everything.
I'm an avid RPG player, and I love long adventures. However this title is so well done it's fully worth your $50 dollars, (and then some), If not just for supporting the development of this type of quality title to ensure that more may be made in the future.
At the very least rent it, because it may not be worth your money to you, but it's definitely worth your time.
firstly, game sales are not 'down'. the forecast -was- 18% growth, now it's merely 12.5%.
and they will still enjoying that double digit sales growth, even if another video game isn't sold all year. sales are only 'down from forecasts'. boo hoo. to have continued double digit growth in a time when most consumer markets are down or treading water must be a real bummer.
and the data is not even all in, nor does this article leverage any data aside from a vague 1-3% stock prices wiggle (which is not part of any trend, nor is it statistically significant) and some subjective measures from off-the-books sources. 'too much inventory', 'not exciting'... this is journalism?
Vice City set the holiday sales charts on fire last year because it was a great game. but, it could've sold that many copies in the middle of the summer, and then we wouldn't be reading this article.
imo, i wouldn't say the data is 'not looking too good'. but sensationalist journalism is what makes headlines.
first, you need is a freelance writer who gets paid only when his articles are published -- not when they're good, and not when they're accurate (Ben Berkowitz). then you need a single 'analyst' willing to go on the record and provide some quotes that can be interpreted as desired, but don't even actually -agree- with the story at hand (one US Bancorp Piper Jaffray analyst Tony Gikas). stir, publish, and congratulations!
you've churned out a publishable story about a poor holiday season, contrary to all the available evidence.
// "Can't clowns and pirates just -try- to get along?"
Look at what's out there...
You have about 50 really crappy *Tycoon titles, some strategy re-hashes, Casino & card games and a few shooters.
I know plenty of people still playing Quake 2, because it's entertaining enough. The gaming industry has turned into a mass media, and the quality reflects that. The best thing that could happen to the industry right now is a 1984-style game company meltdown.
Conformity is the jailer of freedom and enemy of growth. -JFK