Retail confident that games industry can defy economic troubles
The games industry is set to continue its defiant growth spurt as it becomes the entertainment medium of choice for penny-pinching consumers.
That was the message from the trade this week as the credit crunch continues to take hold of the nation’s purse-strings. But despite the doom and gloom in the media, the games industry has the opportunity to capitalise on the nation’s increasing tendency to stay in and save their cash – and will grasp that opportunity with both hands, according to retail.
“I believe the games market as part of the entertainment sector still offers a strong value for money offering,” said HMV’s strategic games manager Martin Baxter.
“Some games have many weeks of gameplay and in some cases are played on a regular basis for over a year. The danger would be that customers are more selective with their purchases which although would not affect triple-A titles, may result in a slow down of second and third tier products.
“The flip-side would be that in hard times people still tend to look for forms of entertainment and video games offer a welcome release from the stresses of modern life.”
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Comet games buyer Debbie O’Neill agrees: “As people stop going out due to mounting costs, I think we will see more people staying in and having friends round, watching DVDs and playing games. Also parents in the summer holidays may find that it is cheaper in the long term to purchase a console and video games to keep their children amused than arrange days out for them to theme parks or to pay for other activities.
“We have certainly not seen a dip in sales and are looking to a much bigger year than the last one and we are confident that this will be a great year. You may find the loss of sales is due to the lack of any hardware in the market, not as a result of the credit crunch.”
Supermarket Asda is similarly confident in gaming’s ability to defy the current economic slump. “It is clearly a concern for all retailers and the overall entertainment market remains very tough,” said Asda’s head of games Duncan Cross.
“To date, it still appears the video games market is holding up well and consumers haven’t, thus far, reduced spending in the video games sector. The whole industry continues to ride the crest of the wave and at Asda we are keen to avoid any complacency by continuing to focus on value for the customer.”
And it's not just retailers - leading industry analysts agree that gaming can become the cost-effective entertainment of choice as consumers tighten their belts - read the first of three pieces looking into the subject here.
Comments
Interesting . . . . .
People will stop going out, they will probably buy games etc."
I dunno, most games can be clocked in about 8hrs, and at 40-45 quid a pop. thats still alot of money for your average perosn that has these new high living costs to contend with. She's probably right though. I'm curious to see how this is going to effect hardware sales. I can imagine the PS3 is still gonna clear-up come xmas time though. Most teenage boys will be bored of their 360's by now and theres got to be something half-decent coming out on that console by then.
Re: Interesting . . . . .
If people stay in as they can't afford to go out, they will play games they already have NOT buy new ones.
Be realistic games are non-essential items, in a recession it is those things that people stop buying. Yes I did use the R word!
People cannot avoid paying Council Tax, electric, water, they have no choice but to buy fuel for their car and food for their family. Games however are a luxury they can live without, these are grey times.
Re: Re: Interesting . . . . .
Stu,
While your reasoning sounds good, in reality it doesn't hold up. Well not in the US at least. The Wii console has sold hand over fist even during the recession. The Wii sold 675,000 units in May. I think a month or two before that they sold around 725,000 consoles. In contrast the number for the other consoles for May 08 in the US are PS3 - 209,000 and the 360 - 187,000. Games have a history of being recession proof.
The logic is good, but it just doesn't hold up in reality.
Re: Re: Re: Interesting . . . . .
yes interesting, i think people still buy games, especially used games which is good and bad as you may see good new titles not sell as much as you would hope,
with all price cuts we now sell imports more than ever, we can get all new releases cheaper from importers than uk official suppliers, we have sold hundreds of brawl,manhunt 2, traumna centre 2, been selling bourne for weeks b4 release, its the only way we can make any money,
woolies close to us are sellin bad company for £37.99 from the supplier its £32 +vat, no point, buy woolies out and sell for £44.99, gotta be cut throat, just adopt the supermarkets approach, ha ha we dont use uk suppliers anymore no reason to..
Re: Manhunt
@ Steve
Congrats on finding a indie business model that is succesful.
However I hope Mr Anderson isn't your real name as trading standards might be interested that your selling Manhunt 2 without a BBFC certificate on.
Also, are none of your customers upset now their freeloaders no longer work?
Re: Re: Manhunt
no our customers are fine with the freeloader as there is a new on on the way and you dont have to up date the firmware if you dont want to,
with the amount of r4 cards being sold and so many kids with flashed 360s in our area we have to try and take a few risks, plus we do sell alot of imports online, which is good also,
Re: Re: Re: Manhunt
I find incredible so many people do flash their 360's, considering the risk of the obox live ban hammer, and the fact that even if you do follow the process to a tee, you can still irreversibly brick the machine. I think Sony have got it nailed with Blu-Ray. Not because its hack proof (hackers have already showed how easy the PS3 has for piracy potential), but because Blu-Ray burners are simply too expensive for the avergae joe on the street at the moment. By the time the price comes down, Sony will hopefully recoup costs via oftware sales. Oh, and Im a 360 owner by the way lol.
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