NEWS - Monday, November 12, 2001
The Video Game War Grows
With $1 billion on the table, and uncertainty growing about consumer spending this holiday season, the race to market Microsoft’s Xbox, Sony’s PlayStation 2 and Nintendo’s GameCube consoles is more than just fun and video games.From television and magazine ads to showcasing gimmicks of fans willing to eat worms for a new video-game console, Microsoft Corp., Nintendo Corp. and Sony Corp. have embarked on an expensive triple-play of marketing might, hoping to score high in the $20 billion-a-year gaming industry.
The lion’s share of the promotional loot will pour from the pockets of Microsoft, the rookie in the gaming world, which has earmarked $500 million to shower the globe with the gospel of its high-powered system, Xbox.
`The $500 million is an unprecedented amount of money,’ GarnerG2 analyst P.J. McNealy said of Microsoft’s plan.
`Couple that with Nintendo and the money Sony is spending, then take what all the channel partners are spending, and we are looking at a $1 billion marketing campaign to sell consoles and software,’ he said.
