The Current State of the Games Industry

Joystiq has drawn some interesting tidbits out of an in-depth Forrester report on the current state of the games industry. The report's conclusions? The PC Game market is healthy. For example, "39% of all households use PCs for playing video games - this group makes up the vast majority of the 48% of households that have any sort of video games hardware." The report details what Microsoft and Sony has to do to dominate the U.S. market. The report details tactics for each side of that competition. Finally, the report finds that overall consumer interest in games is falling. "In the mindset of consumers games are still too expensive. According to 48% of gamers games still fail to offer good value for money. The report finds this surprising when considering a comparison to movies (games typically offer 30 hours of gameplay compared to a 3-5 hour movie with extra features) but we suspect the problem is more a matter of quality rather than quantity."

What else is new?

[__aaclcg7560]

Besides that most sequels generally suck?

Games Still Too Expensive

[ObsessiveMathsFreak]

With due respect to the amount of time, effort, man hours, development tools and cold hard cash that goes into making a modern game, they are still way to expensive.

A modern games costs about $60-70, depending on where you are. DVDs right now are around $10. And yes, I will by 6-7 DVDs before I buy a new video game. Why? Because the movies are cheaper, and my risk of purchasing a lousy one is spread out more.

With a modern video game, especially if you're a causual gamer, there's always a risk when you purchase a new game that you'll end up with a flop, or at leats one you don't like. Spend $60 on a game only to find out it was sub par, and you won't be so eager to purchase another so flippantly. That game for me was GunGrave. Nice game, but far, far to short to be $70 worth.

If they want to sell more games, developers and publishers are going to have to abandon this fixed price regieme. To set the price of a game before the first concept art drawings are even created, is an invitation for a sloppy implementation, as there is no incentive whatsoever to put any polish at all on the game. It won't jazz up the price, and you can sell more units with marketing cheaper than you can go about improving the quality of the end product and customer satisfaction.

End result of fixed price games is mediocrity and customer dissatisfation, and hence, less demand for the product. Sell me something $60 that isn't buffed to a replayable shine and I'll have a sour taste in my mouth. I pick up the same title for $20 in a bargin bin and I'm a satisfied customer. Satisfied customers come back for more.

Burnt fingers are hesitant to fork over dough. Will the game industry listen? No. They take their cue from the music industry. Fixed, artificially high prices, despite the ease of reproduction. Well then; witness hesitent, artificially skeptical consumers. Cry me a river.

Re:Games Still Too Expensive

[IdleTime]

That is why I never have been on the New-Game-bandwagon.

I've always waited until I can get the gamers reviews and comments and when I find a game that I think I will enjoy, I get it cheap by buying second hand.

Entertainment as $/hr

[EEBaum]

I really wish people would stop equating entertainment to how much it costs per hour. It really doesn't work that way. It's not like we're filling up the gas tank and shopping around for best miles per gallon. By that logic, nobody should ever do anything except walk outside, because it's free.

Besides, the time of fun from a movie, game, etc., doesn't immediately stop when it's over. I don't see people reminiscing with their friends about Super Mario Bros. 2 (though it does happen) nearly as much as I hear people crying to "Come see the violence inherent in the system!"

Sorry, not quantifiable like that.

No

[cubicledrone]

Finally, the report finds that overall consumer interest in games is falling.

The overall consumer interest in sequels is falling.