This caught my attention today...
"Banner year for Canadian video-game salesDespite rising unemployment, plummeting consumer confidence and scarcer credit, the video-game industry in Canada is booming, according to market research group NPD."
I found an article on the CBC News that I thought would be of interest to all DAC300 students. The article states that "Canadians spent a record $2.09 billion on video-game consoles, games and accessories, and year-over year growth was 23%"
I was not surprised at all to read that the Nintendo Wii "dominated the console market, taking 44.1 per cent of sales". In the fall of 2007 I tried to get one and after lots of research and long line ups at various stores, and many phone calls with no success, I finally got a hold of a Wii...in FEBRUARY! Yes, I had to wait in line for an hour in the freezing cold if I might add, before Toys R Us opened, and ran in, did the crazy line up again to pay and walked out victorious.
Microsoft Xbox came in second with their sales at at 25.5 per cent and Sony's PlayStation in 3rd at 21.7 per cent of the console market.
Referring to the Wii, Matthew Tattle, account manager at NPD, told CBC News. "It's really expanded the user base. It's gone beyond the traditional gamer market." The wii has motion-sensitive controllers and is considerably cheaper than the PlayStation 3 at $520 and the the Xbox 360 at about $400.
The best part of the article I thought was that overall, 1.9 million consoles were sold in Canada over the year including the portable consoles such as Nintendo DS with 76.5 per cent of sales and with Sony PSP accounting for the rest.
The top-selling game of the year was "Electronic Arts's Rockband, which beat out Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto 4. These were followed by two Wii games: Mariokart, complete with a driving wheel, and the Wii Fit."
Again, I can totally see why since I personally was one of the ones who bought Mariokart and am interested in getting the Wii Fit.
http://technology.sympatico.msn.cbc.ca/News/ContentPosting?newsitemid=video-games&feedname=CBC-TECH-SCIENCE-V3&show=False&number=0&showbyline=True&subtitle=&detect=&abc=abc&date=True
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What I would be curious to find out is the revenue stream and profits that the companies are making from their consoles. I know the PS3 was sold at a good sized loss when it first came out to keep prices low enough that people would actually consider buying one, and I'm not sure that it is really making Sony all that much money still.
ReplyDeleteComparatively though, thanks to the much higher price, Sony and Microsoft may still be making as much off their consoles as Nintendo is off the Wii. The real teller then is the profit margin of each system. Sony certainly had the most expensive components, then Microsoft, then Nintendo... so I'd be curious to see a real profit breakdown of the systems. I'd have to guess that the simple gaming set-up of the Wii is likely making Nintendo and Wii game developers the most money... which is really a win for casual gamers!
Very true point about the game developers making the most money. As a casual gamer myself, I'm looking forward to something else, new and exciting, that they come up with.
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