What’s happened in the business of video games this past week …
STAT | One per cent — Amount of more than 5000 gamers surveyed by Intergi Entertainment planning to buy a Wii U soon; this compares to 58 per cent who said they were planning to get a PS4, and 39 per cent who are planning on an Xbox One.
QUOTE | “There’s lots of talk in the industry about games becoming services … this doesn’t always resonate with people, especially gamers.” — Square Enix CEO of US and Europe Phil Rogers, on Square Enix’s struggles with Final Fantasy XIV.
QUOTE | “No one really seems to like free-to-play. It’s not something people get excited about so it’s weird that it kind of feels like we’re saddled with it.” — Soren Johnson, ex-Zynga designer and now founder of Mohawk Games, on why his next game will be a classic pay-once-play-forever game.
QUOTE | “It’s a massive infrastructure to run this thing.” — Sony Network Entertainment vice president Eric Lempel on the big investment in PSN and why online multiplayer is no longer free on PS4.
QUOTE | “This is the beginning of a new era of PlayStation, shifting more from a hardware focus to a service focus.” — Sony Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida, discussing the PS4 and why graphics matter.
QUOTE | “We don’t pretend that we succeed in everything that we do, and we don’t pretend that this is the only route.” — David Cage, creator of Beyond: Two Souls, on the pressures involved in mixing storytelling and games.
STAT | 500 million — Number of times Candy Crush Saga has been downloaded, according to publisher King; over 150 billion games have been played.
STAT | Five per cent — Amount total sales of gaming hardware, software and accessories was up for October over last October, according to NPD; that’s the third month in a row of an increase, all due to software sales as hardware declined eight per cent.
QUOTE | “I think they’ll be impressive, cool consoles … but I think the days of the traditional console are on the way out.” — David Jaffe, creator of God of War on whether next-gen consoles can save console gaming.
This Week in the Business courtesy of GamesIndustry International
Image by Galgoczy Gabriel [Shutterstock]
Comments
7 responses to “This Week In The Business: Wii Aren’t The 99 Per Cent”
Happy to be in that 1%.
WiiU4lyfe.
But seriously, I was going to end up buying a Wii U for SSB, Zelda and Mario Kart anyway. Now I can just laugh at my friends who are discussing PS4 vs XBone. “much graphics. so pixels. wow.”
Really that was only 5000 people they asked too. And to be truthful, while I am getting a PS4 it’s only going to take a new Zelda/Mario/Smash Bros to make me get the Wii U (All of which are coming)
Also i wonder if they took into account of the 5000 people they surveyed people who already owned a Wii U console, i would think that there would have been an option for “I already own this system”, but to make it sound more shocking i bet that option was not there.
OK, I keep reading about consoles going the way of the dodo. Anyone know why? Nobody ever seems to give a reason they just keep saying “oh yeh, consoles are dead”. Then the PS4 and XBone went and sold out via preorder between now and early next year. Insights?
Sales are down overall for hardware and software. Some people attribute it to the length of the cycle, others to a migration to mobiles. I tend to think that the former explanation is what it happening right now, but the later is inevitable. Chips are improving in the mobile space match faster than everywhere else – its could catch up to the PS4 and Xbone faster than you might expect.
Tablets are also supposed to be a threat, even though there are many games that are not suited to a control system based solely on a touch screen.
On the other hand, what is something of a threat is that the reduced price point of tablet/mobile games is negatively pressuring console game prices while simultaneously somewhat reducing sales. AAA games production is already a dicey business, and competition from tablets & mobiles has reduced an already-slim margin.
I don’t think consoles are dead yet, but the days of assuming that anybody who wants to identify themselves as a gamer must have either a PC or a high-end console appear to be over.
So they’re comparing who’s going to buy the new consoles compared to a console that’s been out for a year?