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ESA Provides Software Stats, Downplays Mature Titles
Thanks to the Entertainment Software Association for its press release revealing a multitude of statistics about U.S. videogame sales in 2003. The overview seems to be that "combined sales for computer and video games exceeded $7 billion for the first time ever, and that a record number of console video games sold more than 500,000 and one million units", and console game players "...most often purchased action (27.1%), sports (17.6 %), and racing titles (15.7%), role-playing games (8.7%), fighting games (6.9%), family entertainment (4.7%), and shooter games (4.6%)." ESA president Doug Lowenstein also downplayed the impact of controversial mature-rated games, noting: "The fact that 44 of the 49 games that sold more than half a million units were rated E [Everyone] or T [Teen] reflects the fact that this industry is producing... content appropriate for people of all ages." Update: 01/26 23:26 GMT by S : The NPD Group, who originated the study, has further information in a press release, noting software sales "remained largely unchanged over the previous year's record-breaking performance", and including the Top 10 PC and console titles for the year.
Just because half a million games sold, doesn't mean that they are worth it, I know many people in stores looking at games and say, hmmm, i wonder what this game is, the box looks cool, let me get it, without ever reading reviews or getting recommendations or anything. One main thing i always will remember is sex sells, and so i am a bit skeptical about these numbers and the point of this posting.
...are the most warezed.
They left out games that fell under their A0 (Adult Only) rating, which according to their numbers made up about 3.6% of the "games that sold." I'm not sure if this is by units sold (in which case adult games sold 8.6 million units), percentage of titles offered via retail, or by sales (in which case "adult" games sold $252 million last year).
We're indie. We're working on our 14th game.
Now this looks like an interesting research instead of hearing the "my console is winning" cries from fanboys this are hard cold numbers who have little to argue about.
However I wouldnt take those as a forecast of the numbers for this year. (except for the ps2 who most probably will continue to dominate the market) you have to realize they are based on the best selling titles of this year which were E to T rated. (Only ETM and GTA figured on the list as M titles) The most important M rated titles for last year were delayed. Doom 3, Half life 2, DNF (just kidding) Ninja Gaiden, Halo 2. If those titles are actually released this year, the balance might turn. Plus those titles were for the consoles that shown bad numbers for this year (the PC and the Xbox) so the ball is on their side this year.
They are lessons to be learned from this statistics, but I wouldnt take it as "M rated games wont sell" or the classic "the PC and the XBOX are going down Nintendo is going up" fanboy rant. The messages are on the lines Old but good franchises still sell (a lot), games that are controversial (and good) have a place in the market (weither congressmen like it or not) and making a movie tie in is still a risky business from all the movie games out this year only 1 was an enourmous success. (spite of its quality).
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Remember, 87% of all statistics are made up on the spot.
Hah... Everyone pirates PC games! And those games don't have to get Nintendo's seal of quality or Sony's blessing to make it to market.
THIS THING CAN TURN ON A DIME, MACROSSZERO STYLE ALSO FUCK BETA, ~NYORON
What type of games fall under the catagories 'family entertainment' and 'shooter games'?
To compare numbers of games sold to games made. Some of these numbers could be high just because of a greater selection. Knowing how many of each type of game there is would give the numbers some meaning.
a site that puts html tags within the tag?
Of course, the site was created with FrontPage. What should I expect?
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It strikes me as odd is that KOTOR (Knights of the Old Republic) for the Xbox and the PC wasnt listed as a top seller. After all it won several awards and was a contestant for game of the year in several publications and circles. Same goes for Prince of Persia SOT. Even games that are suposed to be very popular (wrestling,castlevania,THUG) are missing as well.
This is a proof that game quality has less to do with its sales than we assume.
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The question isn't "Does sex sell?" It's "Does anything BUT sex sell?" and further "How much of what is sold is sold because of sex?"
In the eighteenth century and before, you know, people would argue with proverbs. In urging someone to not buy something, someone might say "A penny saved is a penny earned," and then the potential buyer might reply "Penny wise, pound foolish" to suggest that the purchase actually saves money or is otherwise important in the long run.
This method of argument was discredited, and by the end eighteenth century you find authors excusing themselves for even mentioning a proverb.
Why do I bring this up? "Sex sells," is a proverb. It's even alliterative, so points there, but it can't reasonably refute good numbers. It only suggests ways in which to look at them. In this case, you'd say "I KNOW sex sells, but apparently a great number of things aren't sold based on sex. When people do buy for sex, they buy about the same number of titles that are bought by fans of realistic racing or any other reasonably narrow subject. So perhaps sex is, in itself, a narrow subject, and not just a spice that can be added to any other title for extra success?" I wouldn't necessarily defend that. It's just how you use a proverb for inspiration.