Holiday Game Over?

[MrRant 0]

Say it isn't so! The one segment of the electronics market that's supposed to do well each and every holiday season -- video games -- appears to be sagging this year.

 

The Los Angeles Times shed some light on why that is in a trend piece yesterday: "Retailers and game publishers blame the lack of blockbuster titles to lure people into stores and Sony Corp (NYSE:SNE - news) (news - web sites).'s decision not to cut the price of its popular PlayStation 2 (news - web sites) console." Already, the experts are predicting a drop in game sales this year: "Close to half of the $12-billion game industry's annual sales occur in the last three months of the year. In 2002, retailers logged about $6 billion in game sales from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31. Analysts differ on what will happen this year. Some predict as much as 8% growth while others forecast a 5% decline. They agree that sales haven't exactly been swift," the L.A. Times added.

 

Things could turn around in the last two weeks before Christmas, "ut the lackluster start caused investors to throttle back game company stocks in recent weeks. Shares of Redwood City, Calif.-based Electronic Arts Inc., the world's biggest independent game publisher, have fallen 15% since the beginning of November. They closed at $42.48 on Monday. Calabasas-based THQ Inc. has fallen 12% to $15.20 in the same time frame, while New York-based Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. dropped 23% to $29.65. All trade on Nasdaq."

• The Los Angeles Times: Video Game Makers Miss Pull of Key Title (Registration required)

 

The Boston Globe today tried to explain what's behind the video game bust. "Despite the long lines at the software store, this is a rather depressing Christmas for computer gamers, whose stockings will be a bit lighter than they'd expected. All year, we've been looking forward to three spectacular new games, sequels to some of the best and most popular games ever. Yet, incredibly, we're still waiting for all three," the newspaper said.

 

"The first bit of bad news came back in March, when Microsoft Corp. announced that Halo 2, the sequel to its flagship Xbox (news - web sites) game, wouldn't be ready in time for the holidays." The second piece of bad news, the Globe said, is that Doom III, the follow-on to the popular Doom games, has been shelved until next year. And "the worst and oddest of all the disappointments arrived in September, when developers at Valve Software reported that they'd been robbed. The firm's computer network had been raided, and the nearly complete code for their newest game had been stolen and published on the Internet. The game, alas, was Half-Life 2," which the newspaper called "the most anticipated PC game of all. But with its secret code revealed to the world, Valve canceled plans for a Christmas release."

• The Boston Globe: Want Sequels? Better Luck Next Year

 

It's not just a lack of new titles, but no new hardware to cheer this Santa season, the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram pointed out. "This year, gamers, and those of you assigned to buy Christmas presents for us, won't have to do much battling at the local video-game store: There's no new super-cool system to buy. And there won't be until, at least, 2005. The Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft's Xbox 2 and Nintendo (news - web sites)'s latest and greatest, and still unnamed, system won't be on the shelves for another two years," the paper said.

• Ft. Worth Star-Telegram: Joysticks To the World

 

Despite this, USA Today yesterday still ran a list of its best picks of video games for 2003, though the piece noted that "Doom 3, Halo 2 and Half-Life 2, probably the three most anticipated games, have been delayed until March."

• USA Today: Best In 2003 Gaming -- Picks To Push Your Buttons

A Temporary Blip?

 

A piece from CNET's News.com might offer some comfort to the video game industry. The news organization noted that "[o]ne of the most heavily touted concepts of the Internet boom was 'convergence' -- the notion that practically all consumer technologies, from television to instant messaging (news - web sites), would be housed in a single box. Digital soothsayers spent years debating whether this all-in-one device would look more like a TV or a PC, the two most obvious contenders. To date, neither side appears to have been right. Instead, to the likely surprise of most shoppers this holiday season, the box of the future may end up being the humble game console." The piece also gives the industry some credit for innovation: "Game companies are expanding their technologies, in part to avoid being eclipsed by digital video recorders and other living room boxes that have similar survival instincts. The experiment could have multibillion-dollar consequences for industries as diverse as computing, consumer electronics, entertainment and communications, while redefining household entertainment."

• CNET's News.com: Game Industry Leads Race For Digital 'Uberdevice'

 

The Seattle Times has been running a series of articles on video games, with a piece from Sunday focusing on companies' efforts to lure new gamers with add-ons to the traditional gaming joystick and mouse. "With competition being what it is and the stakes what they are, it's natural that some companies take a portion of their efforts to try something new and different," Vince Broady, founder of gaming site GameSpot, told the newspaper. "That's why you see EyeToy and 'Dance Dance Revolution.' They're sort of staking out new territory which takes traditional game play and stands it on its head, and gearing it toward a different kind of user."

 

More from the article: "Entertainment Software Association President Doug Lowenstein has made a mantra out of his claim that innovation is the biggest challenge to the $8 billion industry he represents. The reason, Lowenstein says, is there's now 'a more focused effort" from game companies to expand their market from the current average player, who's a 29-year-old male. The process is slow, but for instance, the percentage of gamers older than 50 has risen 10 percent since 2000.'"

• The Seattle Times: New Active Video Games Are Gunning For A Wider Audience

 

Meanwhile, a separate article today from CNET looked at the battle between Microsoft and Sony over which company will dominate the video game industry's move into home entertainment. "If you look at the overall company strategy, Microsoft views the PC as the center of the home, and Sony views the TV as the center," IDC analyst Schelley Olhava told the news service. "The distinction has sharpened, as the two powerhouses compete head to head in the game market, where they are taking strides toward digital convergence -- the combination of diverse multimedia and communications technologies in one device. There are important consequences to the development of PlayStation and Xbox that transcend the game businesses of both companies, as they map out broader strategies at critical junctures in their corporate histories. And because Sony and Microsoft are leaders in their respective fields, analysts and competitors are monitoring the rivalry for clues to the future of consumer technology." The question is will their advances do enough for this holiday season?

• CNET's News.com: Players -- Clash of the Titans

One Game Goes PC (Sort of)

 

The raunchy "Grand Theft Auto" series is among the most popular video games on sale, but Take-Two Interactive Software has been expending energy to fend off criticism of its "Vice City" game. The "New York-based video game company announced yesterday that it would make changes to [the game] that had provoked angry protests from Haitian immigrants and city officials. The best-selling game features dialogue at one point that exhorts players to 'kill all the Haitians,'" The New York Times reported today, noting that the company apologized and promised to strip the dialogue from new copies of the game.

• The New York Times: Video Game Maker To Drop 'Kill Haitians' Line (Registration required)

[Thoth 0]

Don't worry. King of FIghters 2000/2001 Double Pack comes out today for PS2. That should solve everything.

[razazteca 0]

There needs to be a Pokemon game on the Gamecube.

[The Ghost of bps21 0]

There is...it came out last week.

[razazteca 0]

Was it a stadium battle game or was it the organize your pokemon from the GBA games but do nothing with them game?

[Invictus 0]

A possible 5% drop in sales this year as opposed to last? Oh well, I guess that's the end of the videogame industry. It had a good run.

 

Wow, what a slow news day.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

Was it a stadium battle game or was it the organize your pokemon from the GBA games but do nothing with them game?

I think Pokemon Channel is the latter but Im not sure. I dont care much for Pokemon.

[Skywarp! 0]

There's just no titles I really want besides "Manhunt" and "Double Dash". That's the whole problem.

[Kahran Ramsus 0]

Yeah, we needed a really big release like MGS3 or something. The best we got was Final Fantasy X-2.

 

It's not just a lack of new titles, but no new hardware to cheer this Santa season, the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram pointed out. "This year, gamers, and those of you assigned to buy Christmas presents for us, won't have to do much battling at the local video-game store: There's no new super-cool system to buy. And there won't be until, at least, 2005. The Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft's Xbox 2 and Nintendo (news - web sites)'s latest and greatest, and still unnamed, system won't be on the shelves for another two years," the paper said.

 

And thank God for that. I don't want to be buying a new system every year. That's what turned me off PC gaming.