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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."

47 of 56 comments (clear)

  1. I expected this already by Kingrames · · Score: 1

    I'm surprised it took this long.

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    If you can read this, I forgot to post anonymously.
  2. Well, that's what you get... by ProppaT · · Score: 1

    ...when the quality of videogames keeps going up and the quality of the crap the major music labels tries to cram down your throat keeps going down (as if that was even possible). Besides, buying 1 full price game is equivelant to buying 4 new cds. And as big of a music geek as I am, getting a new videogame is a lot more exciting than getting a new cd. Especially for the masses who can turn on the radio and hear music for free.

    --
    Wise men say, "Forgiveness is divine, but never pay full price for late pizza."
    1. Re:Well, that's what you get... by TodMinuit · · Score: 1

      The quality of video games has been increasing? Since when? It's nothing but boring sequel after boring sequel, and lame franchise-pushing game after lame franchise-pushing game.

      --
      I wonder if I use bold in my signature, people will notice my posts.
    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:Well, that's what you get... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Hey, I did testing for Ocean, Data East and Lord knows what other shovelware companies back in the late 80s. Back then we got paid for it, too.

      I won't say the quality's gone up, but it hasn't gotten worse.

      Hell, I remember one time, after extensive diplomatic negotiations, I got patched through directly to the lead programmer on a basketball game, to explain to him what constituted 'offsides'. And this was a week from mastering.

    4. Re:Well, that's what you get... by king-manic · · Score: 1

      Truly exceptional game shave always been few and far between. Right now a year there is more good games out a year (numerically) then before. In the past few months we got some very high quality games. Odin Sphere, Etrian Oddissey, puzzle quest and cooking mama are just a few examples of non-sequel games ot have been release recently.

      --
      "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
    5. Re:Well, that's what you get... by ben+there... · · Score: 4, Interesting

      The quality of video games has been increasing? Since when? It's nothing but boring sequel after boring sequel, and lame franchise-pushing game after lame franchise-pushing game.

      Fresh out of a Civ4:Warlords game, I'd have to disagree. That expansion pack improved Civ4 wars immensely. The upcoming Beyond the Sword expansion looks like it will similarly improve the late game, much more than the typical expansion pack. And Civ4 is the best Civ sequel by leaps and bounds. It's the 12th most highly rated game on metacritic for PC. It's definitely just about the best turn-based strategy game ever.

      Other games that have improved upon their predecessors: Morrowind for its story and gameplay, Oblivion for its environment and voice acting. Combined, the two games are the best real-time RPG-ish games ever. Counterstrike: Source took an old game and modernized it. The most popular FPS. In the same genre, BF2 is huge right now. ET: Quake Wars, releasing very soon, will likely be the standard bearer in FPS for a while. Again, much improved upon the ET, RTCW, Wolfenstein, and Quake predecessors. A huge FPS fan, I'll probably be dropping all the other games I mention here to play that one for a few months.

      I recently played a good norwegian adventure game (for its story), called Dreamfall: The Longest Journey. The story, characters , dialog and voice actors, and environment is probably the best I've seen in a game. Again, it is much, much better than TLJ that I went back to try. TLJ is much closer to the roots of adventure point-and-click games like King's Quest, while Dreamfall is 3-D WASD movement and a much better game because of it.

      While not my favorite genre, WoW and Guild Wars have got to be the best MMORPGs ever created. I have little interest in them, but judging by the subscriber numbers and the huge variety of people they've sucked into an online game, they've got to be the best in that genre.

      Heck, I even recently picked up the Tomb Raider: Legends and Tomb Raider: Anniversary games and the controls, graphics, and even story are much richer than the old games.

      Basically every genre of PC games has a huge blockbuster recently released or about to be released. I'm more into trying out different types of games than I've ever been. Perhaps gaming on a next gen console is boring right now with limited numbers of "franchise-pushing sequels", but definitely not PC gaming. Future classics are being created every year. Every game I've mentioned here has a lot more to offer than older games, and have really gotten me back into gaming. I can't wait to see what comes out next, personally.
    6. Re:Well, that's what you get... by KDR_11k · · Score: 1

      The ratio of truly great ones, no. But the average quality went upwards I think, the mediocre games of today are better than those of 20 years ago.

      --
      Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
  3. 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
  4. Oh, profits? by digitalhallucination · · Score: 1

    Great, here comes the VIAA. Bend over at the hips, please.

    --
    digitalhallucination... now phosphate free!!
    1. Re:Oh, profits? by DrMrLordX · · Score: 1

      We already have the IDSA and the SIAA. And the ESA? Oh my.

    2. Re:Oh, profits? by hal2814 · · Score: 2, Funny

      It's not the VIAA. It's the Video And Gaming Industry North American Association.

  5. 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
  6. 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 LithiumX · · Score: 2, Interesting

      It's no secret that copyright violation is always going to be a thorn in the side of all forms of media. The earnings losses will always be exaggerated (and based on the false assumption that every download is equivilant to one lost sale), and media execs who are trying to defend their jobs will gladly roll out the piracy card, but it's been eating away at profits for some time.

      The difference is the dvd and video game industries are ramping up. They suffer just as heavily, if not worse, from piracy due to much of their target audience having access to digital copies. On the other hand, the vast majority of general music buyers and movie theater audiences still do not have the bandwidth or the meager technical skill to actually obtain music and movies in any quantity. Regardless, while the most heavily pirated (relative to sales) industries are succeeding by a great margin, the older media formats (music cds and theater releases) are failing, no matter what the causes.

      It's very simple. The individuals running the music industry are, on the whole, not incredibly competent. They continue raising the price of music in order to fund increasingly expensive and expansive advertising and marketing targetted at teens and young adults (a major slice of the market), but increasingly ignore the rest of the market. One result of this is that "Independant" labels have begun to surge through the market, being smaller and tighter, and far more efficient. Have you noticed how it's only the largest media corporations who seriously complain about piracy, while the smaller operations (who's music is just as heavily pirated, relatively speaking) are less concerned?

      There are two reasons for this: One is that the existing "big business" model of music production has reached a plateau and can only maintain itself through the aggressive marketing of short-lived quickly-produced consumer music - music that you'd play at a party, but lose interest in towards your mid 20's (right around the time you actually have money to spend). The natural inclination of the stockholders involved is to require the executives to adapt and continue growth, or replace them with fresh blood. Since the current batch of executives cannot produce any serious growth, only slowly dwindling profit, they are forced to cover themselves by finding a scapegoat - an actual but minor threat that they can blow out of proportion.

      The other reason is that there are new ways to distribute music, and that major marketing campaigns are losing their power, relative to more meager methods available to small production houses and individual artists. Good quality studio equipment is now readily available to any individual, as are means of exposure. They can also sell their work via Amazon and a variety of other channels. The only audience they can't reach easily are those who are not very computer literate - and that audience is shrinking at a rate that frankly scares the music executives who rely on them. Again, music industry executives do not want to publicize that, even though it's not a secret anymore. Thus, as before, they need a scapegoat.

      Compounding this, in order to compensate for increasing difficulty generating a profit, they continue to raise the price of music. I used to buy cd's regularly, but once the price of a cd came to mach the price of a dvd, the music simply lost out to the movies.

      With theatrical movies, it's much simpler. I own a fairly large hi-def tv (1080i 52" rear-projection) with a good surround sound system - and with a little effort I was able to afford that on an average income. I can get almost any movie I want - I just have to wait until it hits dvd. When I go to see a movie at a theater, I'm doing it almost entirely to go out with friends, as the big screen just isn't so impressive anymore. This appears to be common with many people out there. Compounding that is the increasing expense of operating a movie theater, the trend (due to pressure) of creating larger and large

      --
      Do not confuse "Freedom of Choice" with "Free Will".
    2. 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.

    3. Re:Good thing... by ben+there... · · Score: 1

      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.

      Steam is huge and getting bigger all the time. It's a little buggy and slow, but the concept is an awesome idea. With some of the games, you can even start playing while it's downloading.

      The DRM is essentially a unique game key + cheat protected servers. With most online games, you need the cheat protection anyway, so it might as well verify your license at the same time. And then if you get caught cheating, the key becomes useless. But where the system is ahead of music is that prices are often actually reasonable, and coming down all the time. It's also many hours more enjoyment per dollar than music.
    4. Re:Good thing... by servognome · · Score: 1

      Good thing nobody pirates video games or those guys would be going out of business too!
      Fewer people pirate video games than music since most of the revenue is in the console & portable space where it is relatively difficult to pirate. PC games accounted for only $1B vs. $6.5B for console games.
      --
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    5. Re:Good thing... by sonamchauhan · · Score: 1

      Yes, video game piracy is simply harder.

      And unlike music publishers, videogame publishers haven't _had_ to publish non-copyprotected games on plain CDs to cater to a massive installed base of PCs and consoles that cannot do decryption.

      Nor can we 'capture' a video game while playing it by plugging 'video-out' of our PCs into a 'video-in' port; then put it on P2P networks for others to play the 'captured' game for free.

  7. 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.
  8. That's just because of Piracy by monopole · · Score: 3, Funny

    Which costs the music industry $1 Billion per year per person!!! . Once the RIAA can make everyone pay, the music industry will not only exceed the games industry, but the total world economy by several orders of magnitude. It will only be exceeded by the Movie industry which currently loses $2 Billion per year per person!!! due to piracy.

    1. Re:That's just because of Piracy by aichpvee · · Score: 1

      I have this feeling that pretty soon they'd realize that the video game industry is in fact losing $3 Billion per year per person!!! You've got to figure in all those casual games that people play while blocking the ads that are supposed to pay for them!

      --
      The Farewell Tour II
  9. Let me just fix the article by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

    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 information not only reflects the gaming industry's strong trajectory but also serves as a painful reminder that video games cost ten to twenty dollars more than they did just one generation ago.

    Okay, so that's not the whole story, and they're not all more expensive, but seriously! Games have gone up in price, and while they have gone up in resolution, they haven't gone up in fun.

    This is not an endorsement of any one console, and for all I know some consoles' average game price is lower than others, and I would expect that to be the case. I've only noticed that far more games seem to be coming at a $60 price point now, when $50 was more or less the top of the scale for games that didn't come with their own controller in the previous generation.

    Obviously the growth of the casual gaming market is a bigger deal.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    1. Re:Let me just fix the article by PatrickThomson · · Score: 1

      Game prices here in the UK for major big-name release day titles have gone up from maybe £30 to £40 in the last five years - taking the differing exchange rates into account that's a fluctuation from $42 to $80! Perhaps part of the effect you are feeling is your, let's be honest, crashing worthless currency.

      --
      I am one of many. My idea is not unique, nor do I expect my voice alone to sway you. I speak in a chorus of opinion.
    2. Re:Let me just fix the article by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Perhaps part of the effect you are feeling is your, let's be honest, crashing worthless currency.

      You don't have to be polite when you talk shit about our currency. The whole world will be wiping their asses with it soon enough.

      That's a good point, and one I hadn't considered. It's hard to find out, though, because the terms "price" and "comparison" will "reward" you with a deluge of assholes competing to give you the worst best price on anything. All I know is that adjusted for inflation, the neo-geo is still the most expensive console system of all time :) (http://curmudgeongamer.com/2006/05/history-of-con sole-prices-or-500-aint.html)

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    3. Re:Let me just fix the article by Stormwatch · · Score: 2, Informative

      I've only noticed that far more games seem to be coming at a $60 price point now, when $50 was more or less the top of the scale for games that didn't come with their own controller in the previous generation.
      But there was a time when games cost even more. Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy III (VI) cost around U$80. Virtua Racing cost $100 (it had a built-in co-processor). I'm not sure about Phantasy Star IV, but it was also something close to that.
      --
      Circumcision is child abuse.
    4. Re:Let me just fix the article by king-manic · · Score: 1

      Up here in canada our games are just as expensive as ever.

      1990 Dragon warrior 2 : $55.00 + tax

      2007 Odin Sphere: $59.95 + tax

      marginal increase due to inflation but otheriwse the same.

      --
      "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
    5. Re:Let me just fix the article by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Those expensive games were rare. Most games came at a substantially lower price-point. I will admit that some Atari games were more expensive, but long before the end of that console's lifespan they had altered them to be much more reasonable - and that was a special time, as the Atari was kind of the first mass-market video game console.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    6. Re:Let me just fix the article by Cadallin · · Score: 1

      Mod parent up. This is 100% correct. Back in the day, by which I mean 1980-1994 or so, AAA titles routinely had an MSRP in the range of $80 at release. Competition and mail-order discount stores combined with a larger mass market brought this down to about $40-$50 dollars by around 1996, and there they've stayed until the last couple of years. People just don't remember what games used to cost in the early 90's. There have always been bargain basement, clearance bin, and shovelware titles. But at release, most top tier games were $60+ dollars at a minimum.

    7. Re:Let me just fix the article by Ant+P. · · Score: 1

      Five years is nothing.

      Go back ten years, and you have the £70 N64 games, £60 Mega Drive games, etc...

    8. Re:Let me just fix the article by Krakhan · · Score: 1

      Are you sure? I remember spending over $70 - $110 CDN on game cartridges once upon a time. I think most games here have come down in price overall.

      Dragon Warrior 2 cost around $80 on release here. Where did you manage to get it for such a great price back then? :)

    9. Re:Let me just fix the article by TheThiefMaster · · Score: 1

      Video games, or just console games?

      I pre-ordered "Overlord" at the weekend, and it was £25 for pc ($50) or £40 for xbox 360 (a massive $80).

      It's the same game!

    10. Re:Let me just fix the article by Lord+of+Hyphens · · Score: 1

      You're forgetting that the increase in resolution and such necessarily involves increasing complexity in design and coding and related assets. Comparitively speaking, the SNES was much easier to put a game together for than next-gen consoles such as the PS3 or even the Wii. This increase in complexity is reinforced by further demands for "better" realism in games. Or did you really think all that power in your consoles came for free?

      Programmer time is not fungible, dammit!

      --
      "I've spent my whole life figuring out crazy ways to do things. It'll work." -- Montgomery Scott, "Relics"
    11. Re:Let me just fix the article by Alexpkeaton1010 · · Score: 1

      PC Games haven't gone up in price. I have a friends that are selling there "next-gen" consoles due to the complete lack of any quality games in between Holiday seasons. PC games last longer, are cheaper, and are released all year long. Anyone who plays consoles only, and is older than 12, is completely missing out on the best gaming experience.

    12. 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.

    13. Re:Let me just fix the article by ConceptJunkie · · Score: 1

      Not only that, but PC games hit the bargain bins _much_ faster than they used to. Who needs cutting edge stuff that has you tweaking video drivers and all that crap? I just wait a year and pick 'em up for $10 or less. Of course, I don't usually play 3D games anyway, so high-end performances is rarely a prerequisite. I spend less on games now than 10 years ago, but buy more games.

      With regards to the main topic, between kinesiscd.com, mindawn.com, and emusic.com, I get more music than ever.

      --
      You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.
  10. Re:Countdown by rolfwind · · Score: 1

    Who really cares what the msm and academia think? They are usually way behind in what is going on in many areas and don't push the edge anyway. The MSM, in particular, let something become safe before touching it. In other words, they are irrevelent.

  11. Re:Countdown by moderatorrater · · Score: 1

    Let's see, senators and congressmen/women, presidential hopefuls, Florida lawyers...

  12. ESA by tepples · · Score: 1

    Great, here comes the VIAA. It's here now.
  13. Games + consoles? by tooyoung · · Score: 1

    The article doesn't specify, but I have to ask, are they talking about game sales plus console sales? How about peripherals? Many new systems were purchased in the past year, with the release of three new major platforms. Should music sales be taking into account iPod and CD player sales?

  14. Gee, $18 vs $60 a pop by ducomputergeek · · Score: 1

    So an $18 CD vs. a $50 - $60 pop for video games.

    --
    "The problem with socialism is eventually you run out of other people's money" - Thatcher.
    1. Re:Gee, $18 vs $60 a pop by phildo420 · · Score: 1

      In terms of price growth, game prices have gone up ~20% (50$ to 60$) CD prices are growing at a similar, if not higher, pace (10-12$ to 18-20$). Also, compare the typical CD collection to a game collection. The CD collection will be 4-5x larger due to greater demand for a vast music collection so that you don't tire of the same 20 CDs, whereas 20 games is a significant collection and can be diverse enough to keep you interested -- atleast until the latest and greatest is released. Games are only recently starting to take advantage of remakes/updates -- Star Ocean on PSP, FF on DS/PSx/PSP... As opposed to the music industry's re-release of every album ever recorded on every format -- because people absolutely want this stuff on their new hardware, and will pay repeatedly for it. Hell, I know one guy that has bought 5 different copies of the Eagle's Hotel California single. Album, cassette, CDs, Sony Super CD, AAC file

  15. Re:Apples and oranges. by StarvingSE · · Score: 1

    They are both measured as units of entertainment. This kinda shows that video games are more popular than music in terms of free time usage. However, it still doesn't hold water since I usually never just listen to music; I'm also playing video games while jamming to doom metal!!!!!!

    --
    I got nothin'
  16. It's capitalistic brilliance. by n3tcat · · Score: 1

    They raise the price on games. They raise the price on game systems. People buy the same amount of crap for more money.

    And we're surprised that the market has produced higher spending numbers?

  17. Re:Copy protection? by Nazlfrag · · Score: 1
    I'd say yes. While it is still trivial to pirate games for the PC with the right tools, it is much more difficult for the consoles. Still, I'd think the levels of piracy would be comparable in percentage terms, but in volume music would win out.

    That said, the music industry has had a couple of surges in widespread piracy, first cassette tapes then downloads. The games industry has a rapid turnover of both protection mechanisms and the titles themselves, making it much more difficult to pirate during the few months that a game is popular after release.

    Music has a greater timeless quality, while most games are fairly transient. Piracy of 20+ year old games is much less an issue than piracy of 20+ year old music. (especially now that most works will never enter the public domain *sigh*)

  18. Old fart here, this sucks by mrraven · · Score: 1

    I do truly think this is sad news. The same old fantasy/war adventures set in canned worlds are not as liberating for the human soul as unique music is, whether it be Beethoven, Public Enemy, or Bjork. Well done music is a window into a unique world view, what do I know about the creators of WOW or Doom 4 after playing? Answer is nothing. And no this isn't a Luddite rant I think the internet has brought many positive advancements to humanity, I really like my 20 inch widescreen lcd, ipod, digital camera, advancements in medicine, etc. Video games on the whole however do not IMO help advance humanity. Note that I don't think they should be banned or regulated just ignored like the overly hyped iPhone ought to be ignored.

    Feel free to flame away BTW my karma can take a few hits now and then and survive quite nicely. :) Yep old fart over 40 here, deal.

    --
    Tired of all the isms, don't exploit people as an employer, or a government, mmmmK?
  19. Re:Apples and oranges. by Deep+Penguin · · Score: 1

    Because the amount that consumers have to spend on entertainment is considered a fixed pool. If they spend more on "product A" than they used to, analysts look to what other market segment the money was diverted from. Music has traditionally been a huge segment of entertainment dollars, gaming much less so (other segments include movies, amusement parks, theater tickets, and many more).

    Also, in times of economic turndown, if you are in an entertainment industry, you want to know if comsumers are spending more, less, or the same on entertainment overall, and how much of that is going into the pockets of your market segment.

    It is difficult to make money in any industry if you don't have a grasp of how much money there is to pursue. the gaming industry, from hardware vendors to large publishing houses have to be loving this news. Recorded music has been an entertainment giant for generations. Listeners have cut across all market segments. To see gaming surpass that, economically, shows a sea change in what forms of entertainment Americans are throwing their dollars into, and might provide a hint where the money will be allocation into the next few years (business cycle).