The monthly NPD reports tend to give a decent macro perspective on the video game industry economy in the U.S. market but there’s nothing like earnings season to unwrap the details. Yesterday, Sony and Electronic Arts opened their books. Sales were up. Today, Nintendo, THQ and Capcom rounded out the story. They and Disney, all reported results. Here’s the earnings wrap up for all four consolidated to a single Metue report:
From the Wii News Files, 3 Short Takes on Nintendo News and Gossip. i. Talking storage and hard drives. ii. A Fuji Film partnership. And iii. an unlikely patent filing getting misrepresented in the rumor mills.
The Storage News:
Nintendo has been a trend setter in the gaming world. While competitors focused on horsepower and graphics engines, Nintendo put the emphasis on playability. While competitors catered to core audiences, Nintendo engaged the masses. They’ve focused on accessible games and innovated in an otherwise stagnant paradigm of user controls. The strategies have paid off. The Wii recently became the top selling console in the U.S. But behind the high demand, there’s one trend Nintendo has neglected to its own disadvantage: storage.
No matter where the economy seems to go, no matter how high gas prices, or how poor home sales, no matter how much consumers are watching expenses, there seems to be little to no impact on the video game industry’s continued run. That was apparent at the E3 conference earlier this week and emphasized even further with the release of June retails sales results from tracking firm NPD.
Overall, gross sales in June topped $1.69b, up from $1.12b in May and a more than 50% gain year over year from last June. Looking at the first six months of the year, the result was similarly impressive: year over year, the industry is up 36%. January to June, gross sales were in at $8.27billion.
Everyone’s doing it. It’s the new, old thing. There’s Apple and Microsoft, Netflix and Amazon, there’s TiVo, Roku, Sony, Sezmi (formerly Building B), Vudu and more. They’re all bringing some form of video on-demand services over the Internet; rentals and purchases, some even free. It’s the promise of TV and movies as you like it, when you like it. Thursday, Amazon became the latest entry into the crowded market. Technically, though, it’s a re-entry.
Since 2006, Amazon has offered a video on demand service called Unbox. Click to Read More
Yesterday, in Part 1 of Metue coverage of the E3 gaming convention we highlighted some of the new products and software revealed by Nintendo, Sony, Harmonix, Atari and Disney. Here, in Part 2, are summaries of what’s in the works at Microsoft, Electronic Arts, Konami, Take Two and Activision Blizzard.
MICROSOFT
Unlike in recent years when hardware was center stage, this year’s convention seems to be focused largely on two themes: networking entertainment and the software pipeline. Microsoft’s collected press announcements and product demonstrations largely fit that bill.
A lot of industries have trade shows, some more than one. Most are usually meet and greet events, gatherings where people schmooze, where new products are introduced, and where the press and the public informed. The events provide a platform for marketing and a forum for companies to take a closer look at what their competitors are doing. For the $40billion dollar video game industry, the annual E3 Media Summit is the biggest of these shows (The broader annual Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show notwithstanding) and its happening this week in L.A.
For 14 years, gamers and game makers have flocked to Southern California to browse the booths and presentations. In 2006, the audience peaked at more than 60,000 visitors. Last year, however, members of the Entertainment Software Associate voted to change the format. The public was excluded. E3 went from a open big top to an industry only event. Now about 5,000 retailers, analysts, press and industry representatives are invited to attend.
The smaller scale has turned the event into what amounts, largely, to a media showcase. E3 has become an opportunity for each company to reveal their prototypes and products, or to plug their performance. It’s a week of overlapping press releases, announcements and proclamations.
Going through the list of major companies here in part one of two parts are some of the highlights – the new products and the new software gamers can look forward too.
Wrapping up a week where tech news was largely dominated by iPhone related hype, and financial news committed to turbulent markets, three of the video game industries top ten publishers (and arguably top 5 depending on the method of ranking) moved ahead with acquisition related activities. Leading the way, Activision and Vivendi games completed their merger. Additionally, Electronic Arts made a small forward step in their battle to acquire Take Two Interactive and French publisher, Ubisoft, fortified their film industry foundation with the purchase of a special effects shop.
