THE BORE
General => Video Game Bored => Topic started by: chronovore on September 30, 2008, 02:06:02 AM
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With so many good titles coming out this fall, how will the current train-wreck-in-progress affect the sales of games? The big titles are designed around a significant ROI; will they be disappointed, or is the games industry immune?
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I doubt it. Americans will only drown their worries in more materialism. That's the American way!
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I think we'll see a drop, but nothing dramatic. Expect a surge in rental services, maybe. Gamefly stocks RISE, economy saved.
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True. We can just pirate PC games anyway.
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Escapism is generally good money maker during hard economic times. Movies did well during the depression but then they didn't have the internet so you know piracy and all that.
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Normally I'd have a snappy response cut and pasted from one of my (Wall St. giant) firms' games analyst reports.
But they laid her off a few weeks ago. :-X
In other words, BAIL OUT
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Apart from picking up the special edition of Vesperia some time down the line, LBP, and Star Ocean 1 PSP, most of the games I want for this year have already been released, thankfully. At least I have more than enough games backlogged to last me the next 10 years, without buying new ones.
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It might have an effect on Wii sales...let me explain!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! -->
--> hardcore gamers are hardcore, wii gamers aren't hardcore therefor are less willing to devote a portion of their ever decreasing budget towards gaming. <--
I could nuance this into big blobs of text with fancy words to make it look more intelligent, but that single sentence sums it up and I'm lazy. I just came up with this and I haven't put a lot of thought into it, but it'd be nice if these would become reality so it could be true...it feels right.
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It might have an effect on Wii sales...let me explain!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! -->
--> hardcore gamers are hardcore, wii gamers aren't hardcore therefor are less willing to devote a portion of their ever decreasing budget towards gaming. <--
I could nuance this into big blobs of text with fancy words to make it look more intelligent, but that single sentence sums it up and I'm lazy. I just came up with this and I haven't put a lot of thought into it, but it'd be nice if these would become reality so it could be true...it feels right.
Well, there are always the parents who don't want to disappoint little Timmy on Christmas/Hanukkah morning so they will buy him a Wii game no matter what. As for me, I don't care if my bank acct is worth $5 I will stop at nothing to get a copy of Kororinpa Marble Mania II.
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The industry will make a lot of money. In rough times, entertainment does pretty well and the industry provides some of the best bang-per-buck in terms of how much you spend per hour in entertainment.
However, the high costs of next generation games ($60!) will mean you will see a handful of titles that do well and dozens more that were expected to see good numbers just by over saturating the market during the holidays, not really do that great.
Will people spend $60 on games? Yes. But how many $60 games will they buy? Will people really spend that all on Dead Space, Fable II, Little Big Planet, Gears of War 2, Resistance 2, Socom, Call of Duty, Prince of Persia, etc.?
B-titles that usually put up decent numbers, like Saint's Row 2 and Mortal Kombat, probably have more to worry about than the big AAA releases.
There will be growth in the industry this year, but they will have to curb expectations. Before I left was fired, I was already seeing lower-income customers cancel reservations and cash trade-ins (arguably the worst value for your games ever) went up exponentially. I'd have to tell people to come back later 'till there was enough money in the register.
Tieno, that's ridiculous. Nintendo will make a killing - its games and system are cheaper, and the brand has never been more powerful. The next generation systems have a lot more to worry about. Never before has the gap between $400 and $250 seemed so wide.
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The industry will make a lot of money. In rough times, entertainment does pretty well and the industry provides some of the best bang-per-buck in terms of how much you spend per hour in entertainment.
However, the high costs of next generation games ($60!) will mean you will see a handful of titles that do well and dozens more that were expected to see good numbers just by over saturating the market during the holidays, not really do that great.
Will people spend $60 on games? Yes. But how many $60 games will they buy? Will people really spend that all on Dead Space, Fable II, Little Big Planet, Gears of War 2, Resistance 2, Socom, Call of Duty, Prince of Persia, etc.?
B-titles that usually put up decent numbers, like Saint's Row 2 and Mortal Kombat, probably have more to worry about than the big AAA releases.
There will be growth in the industry this year, but they will have to curb expectations. Before I left was fired, I was already seeing lower-income customers cancel reservations and cash trade-ins (arguably the worst value for your games ever) went up exponentially. I'd have to tell people to come back later 'till there was enough money in the register.
Tieno, that's ridiculous. Nintendo will make a killing - its games and system are cheaper, and the brand has never been more powerful. The next generation systems have a lot more to worry about. Never before has the gap between $400 and $250 seemed so wide.
Why plural? Some 360s are cheaper than a Wii.
Seriously, I know the Nintendo will make a killing and sell the most no matter what.
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Even at $199, stores are more likely to sell Pro and Elite SKUs than Arcade SKUs. But with the coming economic collapse and transformation to a third-world country, maybe we will see a shift in consumer spending to Arcade SKUs.
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They'll have to turn off the electrical grid in November, so I imagine sales will screech to a halt at that point.
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Forget about sale numbers. I wanna see more discounts. Like Wilco mentioned, there ain't that many people left who are still going to buy a bunch of $60 games.
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Forget about sale numbers. I wanna see more discounts. Like Wilco mentioned, there ain't that many people left who are still going to buy a bunch of $60 games.
amen
$39.99, to me, is the ideal price point for a new game - i'd try a LOT more new games at that price, rather than waiting for used/discount bin
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I'm going broke by buying games and blu-ray. < This is how a man is.
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The industry will make a lot of money. In rough times, entertainment does pretty well and the industry provides some of the best bang-per-buck in terms of how much you spend per hour in entertainment.
However, the high costs of next generation games ($60!) will mean you will see a handful of titles that do well and dozens more that were expected to see good numbers just by over saturating the market during the holidays, not really do that great.
Will people spend $60 on games? Yes. But how many $60 games will they buy? Will people really spend that all on Dead Space, Fable II, Little Big Planet, Gears of War 2, Resistance 2, Socom, Call of Duty, Prince of Persia, etc.?
B-titles that usually put up decent numbers, like Saint's Row 2 and Mortal Kombat, probably have more to worry about than the big AAA releases.
There will be growth in the industry this year, but they will have to curb expectations. Before I left was fired, I was already seeing lower-income customers cancel reservations and cash trade-ins (arguably the worst value for your games ever) went up exponentially. I'd have to tell people to come back later 'till there was enough money in the register.
Tieno, that's ridiculous. Nintendo will make a killing - its games and system are cheaper, and the brand has never been more powerful. The next generation systems have a lot more to worry about. Never before has the gap between $400 and $250 seemed so wide.
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GOW2, Resistance 2, etc have nothing to worry about; neither does Nintendo but that's a different story.
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People will buy more Wii systems since it is the cheapest and also because nothing good comes out for it anyway, so it is by far the most economical console.
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well, Ive been out of work for a few weeks now, im living off my credit card and savings
no game buying for me!
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GOW2, Resistance 2, etc have nothing to worry about; neither does Nintendo but that's a different story.
I never said otherwise, Sherlock. Actually, Resistance 2 will feel the economic crunch, not so much Gears of War 2 or anything.
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Forget about sale numbers. I wanna see more discounts. Like Wilco mentioned, there ain't that many people left who are still going to buy a bunch of $60 games.
Just like the tuna ad at the end of the classic "Mr. Mom" - until Americans are recovered from this downturn, we will be lowering our prices in solidarity.
For what it's worth, this has me worried:
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/publishers-hit-hard-by-plummeting-market
I'm also thinking I'd like to get in on some DISCOUNT EA STOCK.
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I think thats old... this says they came back up (but just a little)
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6198381.html
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Yeah, it didn't make sense to me that there'd be a shadow on the Activision/Blizzard WOW machine. If anything, there may be MORE people willing to pay US$15/month for social, all-you-can-game deals.