EOC Week 2: Boston Consulting Group - Video Games

The video game market has been growing rapidly for a long time now. Since technology is constantly improving, companies are finding new ways to appeal to gamers. Finding new ways to have gamers interact with one another, gamers are becoming more involved in the game world and less in the real world. New technologies like Xbox Kinect are helping gamers interact even more with the game itself, making the game even more enjoyable. The recession has definitely slowed down the market, having “Industry sales of new video game hardware, software and accessories in the U.S. fell 9%, to $5.06 billion in December from $5.5 billion during the same time a year earlier…” (http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2011/01/13/video-game-market-sales-fall-december/) The market has recovered some of it’s losses, where “retail video games market grew 3% in February, up from the same time period last year, to $1.36 billion.” The Xbox Kinect Controller is a large contributor to this, having “passed 10 million unit sales, helped drive the 22% jump in sales of video game accessories.” (http://www.bgr.com/2011/03/12/u-s-video-game-market-jumps-3-in-february/) I think having Kinect, Xbox would definitely have to be a question mark here. Kinect is helping the growth of sales in Xbox systems, as well as games. It opens many doors for Xbox, but I don’t think the company knows where to take it, or where the gamers want it to go. Mobile gaming has grown rapidly as well. Mobile gaming never used to be a competitor in the video game market, but since smart phone technology has arisen, mobile gaming has improved to a point to help put it in the market as a competitor. Smartphones have grown a large amount from 2009 to 2010, where “iOS and Android game sales increased from 5% in 2009 to 8% in 2010 and revenue increased from US$500 million to $800 million in that same yearly period.” (http://www.tuaw.com/2011/04/15/ios-and-android-gained-video-game-market-share-in-2010/) These new advancement in technology are helping the gaming market grow, but where the market will go next is what everyone is wondering.