Economy
”Sees Shit Economy Bringing Console Price Cuts
Good news! The US economy is going in the toilet, and we may get cheaper game consoles because of it!! Says Activision CEO Bobby "Robert" Kotick:
With the rising costs of fuel and food and housing, it is more difficult to go out and buy a $399 console, and I think it's going to put pressure on the console manufacturers to reduce their prices.
This applies to everyone but Nintendo. Elsewhere Kotick thinks that EA - Take Two merger could be a "challenge." He says, "When you think about one company in control of the sports category, with no competition from anybody else, that could be a challenge."
Kotick is a regular ol' quote machine! Opinions? He's got 'em.
Game Console Prices May Be Cut [Reuters]
Is GameStop Recession-Proof?
Let's face it, the U.S. economy is in the crapper and it looks like it's only going to get worse for everyone that isn't working in Hollywood—or GameStop. It's one of the few retailers that's not seeing slowing sales, partially from all that second hand game selling they love to do, but mostly from the fact that the video game industry is making serious bank. While CEO Richard Fontaine won't go on record as saying the retailer laughs in the face of recession, he's got a few analysts that are mostly sure that GameStop will weather the storm.
Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter says the strip mall swap meet is "as recession-resistant as anyone in retail can be", with NPD analyst Anita Frazier theorizing that folks will "hunker down" at home with a good, slightly scratched game to save money. Fret not, GameStop employees, you'll probably be employed by the end of the year.
GameStop's growth puts it in recession-resistant spot [Dallas News]
analyst
Software Sales To Top $10 Billion In '08
2007 saw a huge leap in video games sales over the previous year, with software sales alone jumping 34% to $8.64 billion, and Lazard Capital Markets analyst Colin Sebastian sees no signs of the growth trend stopping. Despite the U.S. economy being on the brink of (or waist-deep in, depending on who you ask) a recession, Sebastian predicts that the software market will see sales topping $10 billion by the end of this year.
"We note that over the 1990-91 and 2001-02 recessionary periods, new consoles launched successfully and became significant drivers of growth for several years. As such, we believe it is unlikely that decreasing consumer confidence and economic growth would meaningfully impact video game sales in 2008."In other words, gamers give a damn about what the economists say. Recession, reshmession - we need our games.
Analyst: US Game Sales to Top $10 Billion in 2008 [Next Generation]
Second Life Transactions Equate to $1.3 Million Daily
According to Lindan Lab CEO Philip Rosedale, all Second Life transactions, from trading to buying/selling, total the equivalent of $1.3 million in US currency exchanged daily—or an average of $6.50 per user per day. To scale this even more with the Kotakulator: if WoW implemented a cash-based economy at the same spending average, their transactions would total $58.5 million per day. Second Life money might not be real money, but a lot of users have bought into it.
And all I can say is, that's a lot of cash to spend on pixel penises.
Second Life merchants estimated to rake-in over $1.3 million total every day [videogamesblogger]
China Starts New Exchange for Game Industry and Others
space monies
EVE Online Hires Full-Time Economist
Countless economists all over the world right now are looking out their little economist windows, dreaming of balancing figures and charting trends in some other, more wondrous land than the one we live in. Now Dr. Eyolfur Guomundsson is living that dream, as EVE Online creators CCP hire him on to be the in-world lead economist for the game. Over the years countless third parties and individuals have took it upon themselves to track the financial development of MMO world's, but this marks the first time a gaming company has actually appointed someone dedicated to the task themselves. More »Nintendo Expecting Billions More Than Projected
Nintendo today just bumped up their consolidated financial projections for net sales by
66 billion. That's with a really big B. Now Nintendo expects to make
966 billion in net sales.
More »
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