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Videogame Spending May Soon Outweigh Music Spending Globally

Posted by Zonk on from the i-like-em-both-don't-make-me-decide dept.

Ars Technica reports that, for the first time, spending on videogames is in a position to overtake spending on music worldwide. An analyst report from PricewaterhouseCoopers discussing growth in media shows this being the first year that's a possibility. "The information not only reflects the gaming industry's strong trajectory but also serves as a painful reminder that the music industry continues to suffer. ... The rising penetration of broadband combined with consoles with online capabilities, wireless phones capable of downloading games, and technologically advanced consoles are credited with driving the video game industry's strong growth. PwC says that the gaming industry will see a compound annual growth rate of 9.1 percent between 2007 and 2011, resulting in a $48.9 billion global video game market in 2011, up from $37.5 billion this year."

7 of 56 comments (clear)

  1. NDOY by AKAImBatman · · Score: 3, Insightful

    resulting in a $48.9 billion global video game market in 2011, up from $37.5 billion this year.

    Nintendo has a market cap of 6.4 trillion yen (51.7 billion dollars) up from 2.7 trillion yen (21.8 billion dollars) this time last year. According to their last financial report, their net sales for last year were 966 billion yen (7.8 billion dollars) up 89% from the previous year's 509 billion yen (4.1 billion dollars) in net sales.

    I think I know where your massive industry growth is sitting...
    --
    Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
  2. Re:Well, that's what you get... by morari · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Visual quality perhaps (and at what artistic price does so-called "realism" come?). I don't think the ratio of truly great games has changed too much in years past. Remember, complexity does not necessarily denote quality.

    --
    "He who can destroy a thing, controls a thing." --Paul Atreides, Dune
  3. Re:Countdown by AKAImBatman · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The soft drink industry is a 40 billion dollar a year business. So this means the mainstream media and academia will accept soft drinks as a legitimate culinary art in 3...2...

    (Methinks that profits aren't exactly the best way to be judging artistic merit.)

    --
    Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
  4. Good thing... by stmfreak · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Good thing nobody pirates video games or those guys would be going out of business too!

    Or is this just another case of the data fitting the conclusion in some cases and being suspiciously absent in all other conversation?

    --
    These opinions guaranteed or your money back.
    1. Re:Good thing... by moderatorrater · · Score: 2, Insightful

      To paraphrase the sibling node, they probably understand the internet a whole lot better and have therefore adapted a lot better to it.

      Battle.Net was one of the first really great integrations of games and the internet. The first (and, really, only) great integration of music and the 'net is iTunes, which is making money hand over fist. But the point is that Battle.Net isn't alone in great online gaming, whereas iTunes is. Add Steam and Gametap on top of that and gaming companies are decades ahead of the music industry.

      On the other hand you have the people who want to make their games next to impossible to copy. Gaming has done this by releasing consoles that only accept their discs, but it works (nearly) perfectly and gives a hard copy and doesn't restrict the user any more than that. Successful DRM + successful digital integration + successful digital distribute + making a quality product = ridiculous profits. It's that simple.

  5. Re:Countdown by UbuntuDupe · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Methinks that video game spending is not the same as video game profits.

    My point was that, as video games make up a larger market (on par with music, in this case), they become harder to trivialize, not that there is some profit/artistic merit threshold. The same thing happened with cinema, which at one point wasn't considered real art.

    --
    Apology to Ubuntu forum.
  6. Re:Let me just fix the article by poot_rootbeer · · Score: 2, Insightful

    video games cost ten to twenty dollars more than they did just one generation ago.

    After having stagnant pricing for 10-15 years. In 1990, a premier console title might cost you $50, and a budget title $25. In 2005, same thing. A price hike was overdue.

    It's worth considering also that the cost of producing a video game has increased. It's cheaper to make a character out of 32x32 pixel art than it is to build a 3D model and textures that look good at every possible size onscreen.

    while they have gone up in resolution, they haven't gone up in fun.

    That's debatable. A modern RPG or adventure game is expected to take up to 100 hours to complete. Remember the Legend of Zelda? Speed-runners can blast through the whole game in about half an hour.