Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

When $1B in Online-Game Sales Isn't

Posted by simoniker on from the pinky-held-to-face dept.

jvm writes "On Curmudgeon Gamer a new analysis article by Kyle Orland examines the recent announcement by the NPD Group that sales of "online-enabled console games" reached $1 billion dollars last year. A rudimentary analysis of the numbers behind the numbers shows that at least a third of those online-enabled games probably aren't being (and probably can't be) played online."

3 of 26 comments (clear)

  1. Sports games online... and others too by Leffe · · Score: 2, Funny
    Almost all of the growth in the online-capable console game category has occurred in the past two years. Sales of these games, which include titles for Sony Corp.'s Playstation 2, Microsoft Corp.'s X-Box and Nintendo Co. Ltd.'s GameCube, have seen the majority of sales in the shooter and sport games super genres, with sport games leading the charge. In 2002, sport games commanded 69 percent of the online-capable video games market, while the shooter genre captured 22 percent. In 2003, sport games claimed 51 percent of the market, while shooter games remained at 22 percent. However, other genres began forming the online-capable video games landscape in 2003 with racing games taking 15 percent and role playing games taking 4 percent.


    50% sports games, eh? I think we should just make it half a billion from games that are played online then :)

    No, I don't really like the idea of playing such games online, and I seriously doubt many indeed do. Sports games are meant to be played face to face, and possibly with some fists.
  2. The problem with online games by Mr.Dippy · · Score: 3, Funny

    I've given up on online games because it gets tiresome having listen/read l33t speak by some 13 year old. Oh and god help you if your not the shiznit in WarCraft. That 13 year old will cuse you out and threathen to tell all of his script kiddie friends how much suck. When that happens, which does a lot, I log off and go have a beer and then have sex with my girlfriend.

    --


    -Dipster
    1. Re:The problem with online games by timftbf · · Score: 2, Funny

      The Internet is full of people of many different ages. It's just the ones who haven't managed to advance beyond "j00 ch34ting f4g! I w1ll 0wn ur b0x & k1c| ur l4m3 h0m0 4ss!! d00d!" who can reasonably be assumed not to be over 13.

      I automatically assume that anyone on the Internet who can string a coherent sentence together in something resembling standard English is not 13. But maybe that's just me ;)

      Regards,
      Tim.