Technology Tid-Bits - How Much Video Game Growth?
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It's hard to say exactly how much growth is expected in the next few years, but
some video game publishers are expecting a huge spike in video game sales. The Chief Executive Officer of Ubisoft, Yves Guillemont, has recently said that "there are so many new customers to the business; this is going to grow the market tremendously. I expect the market to grow by 50 percent in the next four years....It's a very exciting time for all the developers and publishers."
Ubisoft is the publisher of such games as Assassin's Creed, Rainbow Six, Haze, and Splinter Cell. Ubisoft is headquartered in France, and has been in business
since 1986. With Ubisoft being the fourth largest video game publisher in the world, I think that they know what they are talking about when they say that the video game market is heading for a huge growth spurt. Fueled by the overwhelming growth of the Nintendo Wii, Ubisoft has recently announced a new game for the Wii called Cranium Kabookii (see screen shot). This title is based on the popular board game called Cranium. Ubisoft is targeting a more "family-friendly" audience with this new game, as they are famous for producing violent
war games like the ones listed above.
Other video game publishers have recently agreed with Guillemont's comments. The largest video game publisher in the world, Electronic Arts (EA), has said that they are optimistic about the future of gaming thanks to video game consoles, PCs, mobile phones, and the web. EA's managing director for Germany, Thomas Zeitner, recently said "there are 150 million gamers worldwide, but 2 billion people are ready to play."
"Casual games," such as Cranium Kabookii, seem to be the hottest games right now. Publishers love the idea of "casual games" being popular, because they are much less expensive to produce. Guillemont has said that a "casual game" typically costs between $1.5 million and $4.5 million to develop, while "normal" games for the Wii can cost as much as $10.36 million and for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation upwards of $20.36 million. "Casual games" have become a big revenue booster for Ubisoft which is expected to be 100% higher than last year.
Video game publishers welcome the casual gamers to the video market, because they will increase the video game market immensely; not to mention that the "casual games" are much less expensive to produce. It seems like the future of video games is very bright for developers and for the major consoles as well.
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