Video Game Sales Down Five Months Straight

Post by **Apoptosis** » Wed Feb 15, 2006 8:35 am

Video Game sales on console and PC's has dropped every month for five months.

What do you think is going on?

Some helper questions to get the topic started.

Is the market dead?
Are gamers getting older and the next generation of youth skipping the games?
Are the prices too high?
Are the games crappy?

Post by **FZ1** » Wed Feb 15, 2006 8:55 am

Maybe the prices of new games combined with the total let down *AHEM* Doom III with the games when you buy them. Not to mention that they are usu really with bugs.

Bwall · Post by **Bwall** » Wed Feb 15, 2006 9:15 am

Crappy games.
There really has been nothing in the last 5 months of interest to me. The only game that I bought new was F.E.A.R.

KnightRid · Post by **KnightRid** » Wed Feb 15, 2006 9:53 am

REALLY crappy games

and of course the ridiculous priced video cards taht you need to use to experience the whole thing..$500 for a video card...NOT..maybe if I win one in a contest

prices of the games on the PC actually seem cheaper than the consoles, but since winning a PS2, I will be the first to admit, the game play on the console is jsut so much easier!! Plug into a tv, and go...thats it. Computers you have to worry about the device drivers, all the extra updates, controllers, etc...

Mike

OH and the big one - WTF is up with the stupid subscription crap - WOW, City of Heroes, etc...people REALLY need to stop paying for those services until they lower them to around $20 a year.

Dragon_Cooler · Post by **Dragon_Cooler** » Wed Feb 15, 2006 9:59 am

yeah the fact that games are forcing you to buy expensive video cards in order to play them the "way they are meant to be played" And to me a 50$ game sucks if you cant play it at its fullest. I almost see a waste in a game if you have to spend 50$ and play it at 800x600 lowest detail everything.

Dont get me wrong, i love the grpahics in games and sometimes i get games for eye candy and get them to see how my computer will run on it. but when i buy a top of line video card and a week later a game is released saying plays best on the next modle up, makes you a little angry.(a little exagerated, but you get the point) lol

kenc51 · Post by **kenc51** » Wed Feb 15, 2006 11:09 am

I'd say consoles like the Xbox are also causing this........They are getting better and it's easier to buy an xbox2 than upgrade the pc.....

infinitevalence · Post by **infinitevalence** » Wed Feb 15, 2006 11:20 am

Is the market dead?
No but it costs too much to play most games at a reasonable levle that kids cannot enjoy them (Fear anyone)

Are gamers getting older and the next generation of youth skipping the games?
There is something to that, yes. Most games seem geared to the 15+ really 18+ groups.

Are the prices too high?
For the most part, the average price is $50. Thats alot of $$ to spend for most yonger people, and even some older ones.

Are the games crappy?
This is the real problem. So far the only FPS games i have enjoyed have been HL2, and Farcry. I did not like doom3 or Fear. Not even going to bother with Quake4. Civilization 4 is awsome but the UI is too slow for me. And i would rather play a game with high replay value, like civ, or an MMORPG (which i generaly dont like anyway).

Right now im playing Eve-Online alot and really enjoying the game, its not perfect but its damn good.

Mortious · Post by **Mortious** » Wed Feb 15, 2006 5:19 pm

I blame WoW.

Since I have played it, I havn't purchased another game. My next new game is going to be Oblivion, and thats only because I love those games.

bigblockmatt · Post by **bigblockmatt** » Wed Feb 15, 2006 5:53 pm

I think you can compare video games somewhat to the movie industry now...they arent really coming out with anything new...really, how much different are many of the games. doom 3, quake 4, battlefield 2, a butt load of other ones that are just spawn off of the older games...and all the little expansion packs. they are really just mods that you have to pay for. lame. (i still buy them, but hey, thats what money is for). the price of new games is pretty crazy. 50 bucks for a game!! and there is no garuantee that you are even gonna like the game. i jsut dropped 40 bucks on quake 4, boring... waste of money. i cant take it back since i opened and played it.

They need some NEW games. something that hasnt been done before, not jsut better graphics. I remeber when Battlefield 1942 came it. It was amazing!! you could run around, get in a jeep, drive to a plane, fly around and dog fight, parachute off onto a battleship and pound the beach with artilery shells! that was new.

DeusEx · Post by **DeusEx** » Wed Feb 15, 2006 7:51 pm

crappy games

Shorty Lickens · Post by **Shorty Lickens** » Wed Feb 15, 2006 8:31 pm

I dont really think either the console or computer market is dead or dying,
HOWEVER:
http://www.pointlesswasteoftime.com/gam ... festo.html

(nsfw)

Tim Burton · Post by **Tim Burton** » Wed Feb 15, 2006 10:44 pm

I think most the games suck. I don't have much time to play working 3 jobs, but when I do I hate most games.

I pay still for WWIIOL, but that is because it is quality. I just don't have the 5 hours to dedicate to a good session with that game.

Also, I don't feel like paying 50+ for a game that I really am not that interested in.

Finally, Bugs....BUgs....BUGs.....BUGS!!!!!!!!!!!!

I desperately want to buy Shattered Union, but I am reading about severe issues with the game freezing. They still haven't patched it, so I am confident that they aren't going to. No patchy....no purchasey.

NAiLs · Post by **NAiLs** » Thu Feb 16, 2006 5:54 pm

Eh, I haven't bought much for console games in the past 6 years. I used to be HUGE Into consoles, especially Goldeneye. Well, come Gamecube, PS2, and XBox, I just don't have the will to play consoles anymore. I own each console, but not many games for them.

Will I buy any next gen systems? Highly doubtful... maybe Nintendo's next system to play one of my all-time favorite games, Zelda!

Prices are a wee bit high for me these days. I too have not bought a single game since WoW came out. I'd rather spend a couple bucks a month paying to play a game I enjoy, than pay $50-60 for a game I know won't have much replay value.

Now, along the terms of MMORPG's and pay-to-play. You don't have to buy the game, so quit whining about having to pay-to-play. Imagine if Blizzard charged $1.67/mo ($20/yr) per customer to play WoW... they would be making $6,680,000 assuming they have 4 million subscribers. That isn't much to pay for the equipment and employees they have to run the HUGE environment they have created. Now let's talk about those 4 million people paying on average of $13/mo. That comes out to $52 million! HUGE difference. Is it absurd? Sure, I'm sure they could get away with charging $10/mo like most other MMO's, but whatever... it's a fun game and people, like myself, are willing to pay that price. MMO's and their prices to pay-to-play have nothing to do with the market of people not buying games.

Durnock · Post by **Durnock** » Thu Feb 16, 2006 6:00 pm

I think the number one reason is the lack of quality games brought to market. I am definately older ( I can vividly remember pong), and seem to have less and less time to play. For that reason, I no longer buy a game just to see... I am very careful with what I purchase.

I think thats somehwat ironic in that I have much more in the way of disposable income.

But then the WoW machine sucked the life out of me and now I am drifting around looking for my corpse so I can re-enter the real world.

fastedie · Post by **fastedie** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 6:12 am

Well I think that Katrina Has made another inpack on the record of things that can go wrong when a storm hits. just my thoughts.

-mogwai · Post by **-mogwai** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 7:04 am

lack of good games (different than crappy game production).

yes, there were some crappy games that came out... however, i think it has more to do with the lack of good games being made. so many people spend their time playing hl2 mods and bf2 that it just seems like unless there's a game that comes out that is totally new and different and innovative, it won't grab hold of anyone's attention.

http://www.enemyterritory.com/ this might change that...

Tim Burton · Post by **Tim Burton** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 4:15 pm

Also, I am very disappointed at the copy protection.

I was looking at X3: Reunion and just decided I don't want to get a game that has Starforce. I just can't stomach myself to puchase it. I think I'll end up just purchasing it used in a few months from someone so I can keep the money from getting to makers. I figure hit them in the wallet.

Bwall · Post by **Bwall** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 5:29 pm

Tim Burton wrote:Also, I am very disappointed at the copy protection.

I was looking at X3: Reunion and just decided I don't want to get a game that has Starforce. I just can't stomach myself to puchase it. I think I'll end up just purchasing it used in a few months from someone so I can keep the money from getting to makers. I figure hit them in the wallet.

The same reason I didn't buy X3.....

Topher · Post by **Topher** » Mon Feb 27, 2006 8:45 pm

I agree with bigblockmatt. Aside from the high prices, there's very little innovation these days in the gaming industry. Although the developers (and probably more so, the publishers) are partially at fault for not wanting to take any risks on anything "new". Instead, just re-hashing gameplay types that have proven successful in the past or churning out sequel after sequel.

Aside from this, you can't place the full blame on the developers. We've reached a saturation point in the gaming industry where so many things have been done and tried, people just can't keep coming up with new and interesting ideas that haven't been already done.

For the most part, I think gamers are just bored with playing the same old **** over and over and that's what driving sales down.

TK421 · Post by **TK421** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 2:58 pm

Mortious wrote:I blame WoW.

Since I have played it, I havn't purchased another game. My next new game is going to be Oblivion, and thats only because I love those games.

I second that, but I must admit that the following also play an important role:

99% of launch titles for the 360 were just CRAP
Sony's PSP has yet to make a game besides GTA: LCS that interests me
The PS2 has many games in development that have been delayed
Nintendo has let the GameCube die and are placing all bets on the Revolution. I'm amazed the new Zelda is making it's way onto the GameCube
The original Xbox, like the PS2 has many games in development that have been delayed.

It seems that the delaying of games has become a standard amongst the industry to build hype and day 1 sales. It's worked for Blizzard and continues to reap rewards, but are companies adopting that as part of a marketing technique?

I've usually got like 5-10 games on preorder at any one time, but all I've got now is the WoW Expansion and StarCraft: Ghost for the Xbox, both of which I have played at BlizzCon, and Hellgate: London. All ironically, coming from the same group of people that brought me my current favorites: StarCraft, Diablo, & WarCraft.

I've bought two games since buying WoW and that was Dungeon Siege 2 and Guild Wars for the PC. I own a PS2, PSP, Xbox, and GameCube, so it's not that I don't look or have the systems to play many of the new games on, but nothing really reaches out at me like Blizzard's games. They've done something right and have been rightfully rewarded, but someone, PLEASE step up and give them some competition. I own a PSP and haven't even bought a game for it because I'm too busy playing the old SNES and NES classics.

I've got my hopes on Hellgate: London from the creators of Diablo I & II and many others of the Blizzard team that broke off shortly after Vivendi Universal acquired Blizzard Entertainment. They've moved on and created the company, Flagship Studios. Check out their site for more information.

Anyone else have any high hopes for up and coming games? Particularly RPGs and MMOs?