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Knight
12-13-2002, 10:37 AM
Console games are winning the sales race with PC games
Steve Alexander
Star Tribune

Published Dec. 11, 2002 GAME11

There is a war being fought for the hearts of consumers who love games. On one side is the venerable PC, on the other side the video-game console.

The consoles are winning.

The NPD Group of Port Washington, N.Y., is expected to announce today that unit sales of PC games fell 6.2 percent through the first 10 months of this year, marking the first such decline ever.

Meanwhile, NPD projects that console video-game sales will break all sales records this year, with hardware and software sales totaling more than $10 billion, up from $9.4 billion in 2001. Of that, about $5 billion represents video-game sales. PC game sales are projected to reach only $1.4 billion, or flat with 2001, said Steve Koenig, an analyst at NPD's PC software tracking division.

"The shift to buying video games is definitely the main reason behind flagging sales of PC games," Koenig said.

Game consoles now rival PCs in the quality of game play, graphics and sound, and recently have entered online gaming, formerly available only on PCs, he said.

Consumers whose primary interest is gaming can more economically buy a $150 Nintendo GameCube or a $200 Microsoft Xbox or Sony PlayStation 2 than a PC, which costs a minimum of $500 and typically is closer to $1,000.


And have to be upgraded(PC) evey two years or you cann't play the games you like! At $500-1000 for each upgrade!

Video games also have benefited from the growth in the game-playing population, which is due to the aging crowd of players who cut their teeth on PC games, before the advent of improved console machines, such as Sony's first PlayStation.

Studies have shown that people of all ages play some computer games, but the bulk of the audience for both video games and PC games now is 34 and younger, said Richard Ow, another NPD analyst.

The shift to video games has been evident in TV advertising this season. Two of the most-advertised titles -- "Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell," about a stealthy spy, and "007 Nightfire," about the glitzy adventures of James Bond -- have been advertised for use on a console, not a PC.

The shift to the video-game console as the chief game-playing machine began with the fall 2000 introduction of the Sony PlayStation 2 and accelerated last fall with the availability of the Microsoft Xbox, Koenig said. Until the introduction of the PlayStation 2, PC games always were a little more sophisticated and capable, while console games generally were regarded as being for younger children, he said.

"PlayStation 2 changed things, likely forever. It began a shift over to the console form of gaming," Koenig said. "For game players, there may be some surprise that this has happened so quickly. I think maybe they expected it over a three-to four-year period."

Game developers appear to have seen the trend coming. From January through October this year, they produced 9.6 percent fewer new PC titles than they did a year ago, or 750 titles in 2002 vs. 830 in 2001, Koenig said.

"The game-console market is very hot, and so marketers of gaming software are putting their development dollars into that," he said.

Revenue from PC game sales are projected to remain virtually flat for the full year, despite the unit sales decline, because prices have increased. Some top-selling PC games sell for more than $50, a price once viewed as impregnable, according to NPD, which produces widely followed market research that is based on actual retail sales.

Consumers won't see the apparent decline of the PC game reflected at their local electronics store yet. And in the short term, the greatest impact will be felt by the console makers -- Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo.

"The real winners are the console companies, because they will be getting more and more licensing fees," Koenig said. Game developers pay licensing fees to the game-console makers for the rights to produce games for a particular console. There are no comparable fees for developing PC games, he said.

PC games still here

But no one is predicting the demise of PC game-playing just yet. Koenig believes PCs are likely to hold on to their core audience of sophisticated game enthusiasts and are likely to continue their lead in online gaming because PCs are more suited to it. Meanwhile, the broader audience is likely to continue to migrate toward the video-game consoles.

"There is a generally held belief that PC games will continue to be under sales pressure from console games in 2003 and likely beyond," Koenig said. "It is painfully evident that PC developers will have to do something to attract game buyers to the PC."

Failure to do so could have a sweeping effect, Koenig said. Games long have been one of the reasons people upgraded to newer PCs, because the games often required faster chips, add-on memory, disk drives and graphics boards in order to function properly. But the absence of such reasons for consumers to upgrade their PCs could be bad news for an industry already hit by slack sales. Consumers already have found that older PCs handle most other computing tasks as well as newer, faster models.

But the future of PCs as game machines is clouded by uncertainty over what next-generation game consoles may look like, Koenig said. He believes consoles may begin to resemble PCs that are in the living room instead of in a home office.

While today's PlayStation 2 and Xbox consoles can play games, DVD movies and audio CDs, future consoles also may incorporate TV accessories, such as DVD recorders and personal video recorders, which seek out and record programs by automatically browsing TV listings, he said.

"The Xbox already is half a step toward being a PC in the living room," Koenig said. "The next-generation game consoles might look more like PCs and are likely to offer a great deal of utility."

http://www.startribune.com/stories/535/3524128.html

I know I'm only doing one more CPU upgrade before I'm done with PC Gaming. Why? Because it cost alot more to be a pc gamer the only way more people will be attracted pc gameing is to lower the hardware upgrade cost. In 2001 I only upgrade because of On-Line gaming & now that XBL is around the the need for costly upgrade is no more.

carlbme
12-13-2002, 10:57 AM
Consoles have always outsold games over the PC.

Nothing new there.

Knight
12-13-2002, 10:59 AM
Originally posted by carlbme
Consoles have always outsold games over the PC.

Nothing new there.

But it's far more now & the Killer App the pc haded is on the consoles(On-Line gaming)!

Knight
12-13-2002, 11:07 AM
PC Gaming Not Dead?
We told you so. Now hear NPD's side of the story.

December 11, 2002 -
Okay, so big deal. For the last ten months the unit volume on PC titles is down 6.2 percent over last year. But while the number of titles is smaller, decreasing from 44.4 million units to 41.6 million, the actual sales were up by 1.2 percent, hitting $956 million over last year's $945 million. The revenue increase in face of the unit decrease can be attributed to the higher price of PC games in general and the presence of a few high-priced games among this year's best sellers. The average PC game last year checked in at about $32. This year, the price of the average PC game has risen to the neighborhood of $37.

Given the competition offered by the recently released consoles, we were honestly prepared to see the numbers decrease across the board for the PC market. The outlook now is especially encouraging according to NPD.

The top sellers for the entire period from January to October are as follows:

1) The Sims: Vacation (Electronic Arts)
2) Warcraft III (Vivendi)
3) The Sims (Electronic Arts)
4) Medal of Honor: Allied Assault (Electronic Arts)
5) The Sims: Hot Date (Electronic Arts)
6) Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Electronic Arts)
7) Roller Coaster Tycoon (Infogrames)
8) The Sims: Unleashed (Electronic Arts)
9) Neverwinter Nights (Infogrames)
10) Zoo Tycoon (Microsoft)

http://pc.ign.com/articles/380/380073p1.html

Looks like pc game prices are going to be going up more!
So the cost to be a PC Gamer will be higher next year!

Cloud Strife
12-13-2002, 12:20 PM
I don't want to consider the Xbox as a PC because it's a true console. The Playstation 2 is more of a PC because it can run Linux.

Knight
12-13-2002, 12:25 PM
Originally posted by Burning Ranger
I don't want to consider the Xbox as a PC because it's a true console. The Playstation 2 is more of a PC because it can run Linux.

Your forgeting about the ps2's mouse, LCD display & keyboard add-ons!

Cloud Strife
12-13-2002, 12:28 PM
Originally posted by Knight


Your forgeting about the ps2's mouse, LCD display & keyboard add-ons! I was thinking about that.;) I wish I could find that picture on the system with all those accesories.

I heard that a game has to install itself in the harddrive before it can be used. It takes around 25 min. Now that's a PC.;)

Kortiz
12-13-2002, 02:37 PM
know what the diff between PC and Console gaming is?


Console you can sit on a couch in front of a big TV


PC you have to sit at a desk.



what is better?


i do both.....but if i could sit on a couch on a PC....man that would be awesome.

Carnage
12-13-2002, 04:42 PM
You can, Chicken..
Buy a good Graphics card with a TV-Out option, and you can hook your computer up to your tv.

Only prob is, TVs dont support a high resolution. I think most tubes run at 640x480. Because of this, the games wont look that great, and the webpages wont fit properly, and winamp, icq, msn, etc, etc, etc will all be bunched up.

Now, im not sure about this, but dont new HDTVs run at a higher resolution? I think they can support 1024x768.
Ive been meaning to test this, but my computer is upstairs, and my tv is downstairs. lol i dont feel like lugging either of them to the other ;)

FuNkY mOnK
12-13-2002, 05:38 PM
Originally posted by Knight


Your forgeting about the ps2's mouse, LCD display & keyboard add-ons!
Now if they only make this for the xbox i'd be first on line.

SPARTAN VI
12-13-2002, 05:58 PM
I doubt PC gaming will ever die. Though TheCovenant has told be that over 33% of PC owners use their PCs for gaming. I just find console gaming a whole lot easier. Don't have to upgrade every year because a higher standard game needs a a faster processor/graphics card. I don't really have to worry about framerate or hardware compatibilities in general, because it'll always work (hopefully). I'll buy a new computer when I get a job and by then, XBOX 2 might be out.:D

TheCovenant
12-13-2002, 07:17 PM
ya ya! xbox 2! i already heard that the launch games for that will be a new unannounced game by rare, and something else by lionhead studios and big blue box.'

As far as rumors, bungie hasnt even been rumored to have a launch game.

but i hope that system comes out in like 2006 or 2007.

I really wanna enjoi my xbox right now, i dont wanna have to upgrade in 2005!!!!!!!!

Cloud Strife
12-13-2002, 07:18 PM
I haven't really been a PC gamer because I would always have trouble installing my games. I'll be getting a new PC for christmas so I might not have that problem anymore.

Knight
12-13-2002, 07:23 PM
Originally posted by Burning Ranger
I haven't really been a PC gamer because I would always have trouble installing my games. I'll be getting a new PC for christmas so I might not have that problem anymore.

Who's the computer maker of this computer? Getting a Nvidia card with it?

Cloud Strife
12-13-2002, 07:41 PM
Originally posted by Knight


Who's the computer maker of this computer? Getting a Nvidia card with it? Not sure about the graphics chip. I getting a Dell.

Knight
12-13-2002, 07:56 PM
Originally posted by Burning Ranger
Not sure about the graphics chip. I getting a Dell.

It's going to come with a AGP port right?

xboxtito
12-18-2002, 02:17 AM
According to an article published by the Star Tribune based on the NPD Funworld data, console videogames are quickly overpowering PC videogames on the sales charts. On the whole though, with analysts downgrading videogame-based stocks, concerns have been cited about slowing industry growth in 2003. Overall November sales were up over 7% in year-over-year growth, which is below the expected 20% to 25% growth.
The NPD data also indicated that November hardware sales were down 12% from last year, with only the Playstation 2, launched in 2000, being the bright sport with sales up 45% at 1.3 million units, the note said.

Electronic Arts Chairman and Chief Executive Larry Probst said Thursday that the price of both the XBox and PS2 could drop to $149 from $199 by the middle of 2003. A large base of hardware should lead to more sales of video games, he added.

Through the first 10 months of this year, PC game sales fell 6.2 percent, the first ever such decline. On the other hand, NPD Funworld, projects that console videogame sales will still break all sales records this year, with hardware and software sales totaling more than $10 billion, up from $9.4 billion in 2001. About $5 billion of that figure will be for games alone. PC game sales are projected to reach only $1.4 billion, or even with 2001, said Steve Koenig, an analyst at NPD's PC software tracking division.

"The shift to buying video games is definitely the main reason behind flagging sales of PC games," Koenig said.

Studies have also shown that people of all ages play some computer games, but the bulk of the audience for both video games and PC games now is 34 and younger, said Richard Ow, another NPD analyst.

"PlayStation 2 changed things, likely forever. It began a shift over to the console form of gaming," Koenig said. "For game players, there may be some surprise that this has happened so quickly. I think maybe they expected it over a three-to four-year period."

"The game-console market is very hot, and so marketers of gaming software are putting their development dollars into that," he said.

"There is a generally held belief that PC games will continue to be under sales pressure from console games in 2003 and likely beyond," Koenig said. "It is painfully evident that PC developers will have to do something to attract game buyers to the PC."

Bigwig
12-18-2002, 02:29 AM
It had to happen. Too many PC games sale on consoles. People rather have the surround sound and big screen when they play a lot of games. I blame 3D graphics. Its cool to use your PC for point and click 2D but 3D and better and I need more presentation.

Cloud Strife
12-18-2002, 12:12 PM
I could never figure out what was so great about playing a game on the PC. It's not very comfortable sitting on a chair sitting close to a Monitor.

Knight
12-19-2002, 06:26 AM
I posted this info first:

http://www.xboxaddict.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=29388

Knight
12-19-2002, 06:27 AM
Anyone play Warcraft3?

Rancey
12-19-2002, 06:39 AM
Big deal, 2 new consoles in their first full year are going to take away from PC sales. PC sales will be up again next yr for sure.