Global recession and consumers are spending less! Online games are available free. Thousands of people can now download games for their iPhones – just for 99-cents each.
The Big Brands Continue To Flourish
In this situation, you would not think that anyone would want to promote high-costing video games. Well, Electronic Entertainment Expo takes the video game industry to the next level. It was held in Los Angeles, California this year. E3 is the largest annual trade show for gaming enthusiasts and gives the video game industry the PR shot in the arm it needs in this lagging economy, which has witnessed the biggest number of layoffs in the history of the gaming market. This even eclipses the Video Game Crash of 1983.
Industry masters vie with each other to show off their latest products. With sixty-eight percent of American households playing video or computer games, it is an increase of three percent over last year, reveals the results of a research conducted by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA). This illustrates the increasing use of entertainment software across different demographics.
According to the CEO of ESA, “This is the new golden age of entertainment software. Our products are now being enjoyed by over two-thirds of Americans. As the findings of the 2009 Essential Facts illustrate, more and more Americans across all demographics are now embracing the interactive entertainment experience that computer and video games provide.”
The survey also revealed the following interesting findings:
There also seems to be an increased level of parental involvement in video game play.
Going by the results of this survey, it is no wonder that E3 this year is a huge hit. The newest titles and hardware were showed off at the Expo. This is where, year after year, the big players roll out their best releases, including Microsoft which unveiled its answer to Nintendo Wii. The new motion-tracking technology, tentatively called “Project Natal” will allow users to play by moving their bodies instead of using hand-held controls. A camera captures players’ movements in a 3-dimensional space. It can also recognize faces, and allows players to log into the games automatically. Not only that, it can recognize voices and take commands too. This will work with any of the company’s Xbox 360 consoles.
The Vice President for interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft said, “Before, there was a barrier separating video-game players from everyone else. Now, with Natal, everyone can join in using the best controller ever invented: you.”
Also on display were the gesture-tracking technology and non-traditional accessories, which appeal to a wide group of video game players as they are intuitive. Everyone knows what a guitar or steering wheels are supposed to do, and they make great real-life experiences. They show that the gaming companies are targeting general customers unlike earlier when their main targets were hard-core gamers.
Growing Dominance Of The Smaller Players
While the big and well-known brands continue to do well, they do face competition from the many independent studios creating Facebook games or games for the iPhone or social networks. The iPhone has become one of the most important devices for independent developers to share games with consumers. Out of the top ten iPhone applications, eight of them are games and they cost anywhere between $0.99 to $5.99 to download, as opposed to $60 for hard copies of games for the Xbox or Sony’s PlayStation.
Has The Recession Affected The Video Game Industry?
Experts are of the opinion that the video game industry has overall remained resilient to the recession. This is largely due to the bigger game makers owning many brands and remaining unaffected by the recession, by bringing out sequels to already existing games. The most awaited games at the E3 were, God of War III, Assassin’s Creed 2 and The Beatles: Rock Band.
Another positive sign is that even budget-minded customers have not stopped playing video games, in spite of giving up on their other expenses, such as travel and other forms of entertainment. People may reduce going out for dinner, but they are home playing video games.
In spite of all the positive signs, yes, this is certainly a time of transition for the video game industry. It was once considered to be immune to the economic recession but has been showing definite signs of slowing down. In the beginning of 2008, the video game business did not seem to have suffered much, what with the video-game software sales going up by 15% in the United States, when compared to 2007. However, in March and April it is said to have gone down by 17% compared to the previous year.
Traditional games are facing new competition from developers of video games made for either free distribution online or for phones. The bigger video-game makers worry that these methods to woo players will take their business away. Combined with the suffering economy, all these factors will add up.