The Games Industry – The Institutions

Thursday 13th September

The Games Industry

• Console manufacturers – Platform holders• Publishing houses• Software developers

Nintendo

• Set up in 1989 as a manufacturer of playing-cards

• Began developing Arcade games in the 1970s• In the 1980s produced the Game & Watch• Massive success with Nintendo Entertainment

System (NES) in 1985• Consolidated position with GameBoy

Sony

• Home-electronics giant (TVs, Walkman)• Collaborated with Nintendo on use of CD-

ROMs in games consoles• Developed PlayStation after falling out with

Nintendo.• PlayStation phenomenon sold over 100 million

consoles worldwide• Made gaming “cool”

Microsoft

• PC Software giants• Threatened by Sony’s dominance of the games

market in the late 1990s• Determined to enter console market with

Xbox in 2002• Led the way with online-gaming• Fully established industry player with the

release of the 360

Wii Strengths

• Fresh and new motion sensing control system• Good value• Accessible to all• Fantastic first party product – Mario, Zelda• Easy and interesting to develop for

Wii Weaknesses

• Graphically inferior• Might put off existing market used to certain

controls and game types• Not a multimedia machine• It’s called the Wii

Halo 3

360 Strengths

• Uses powerful technology• Traditional control and game types• Good third party support• Relatively easy to develop for• Great online service• Multimedia machine

360 Weaknesses

• Doesn’t appeal to new consumers• Development can be expensive• Online experience can intimidate• Need HD TV• Often needs replacing

PS3 Strengths

• Potentially the most powerful• Amazing graphical capability• Multimedia machine – BluRay compatible• Improved online service• Good third party support• Attempt at market expansion – Singstar etc

PS3 Weaknesses

• Hard and expensive to develop for• Poor first party products• Expensive – needs HD TV• Relies on existing game types• Poor launch and marketing

Nintendo’s strategy

• Expand the market• Make it a social experience• Keep it cheap and good value• Continue to innovate

Sony and Microsoft’s Strategy

• Make it high-end and an aspirational product• Multimedia machines• Target existing consumers with similar

products• Push online gaming for added revenue

Microsoft’s Live Strategy

• Integrated Live play between hardware that supports Microsoft software

• Create an online community for communication and gaming through Microsoft products

• Promote microtransactions

Sony’s Multimedia Strategy

• Use hard-drive to record TV• Promote compatibility with PSP• Make the PS3 the centre of home

entertainment

DLC

• There has been a growing trend in recent times DLC or downloadable content

• 51% of HD console owners in the US and Canada have purchased DLC in the past 12 months – from 40% two years ago

There’s Good and Bad DLC…

Bethesda• Elder Scrolls: Oblivion released the

Shivering Isles in 2007 – a 20 hour quest in a new world. Great value for money!

• Fallout New Vegas released 6 episodic quest packs that added up to one story, adding to the vast universe created by the series. “The New Vegas DLCs were a unique opportunity to do short stories in the Fallout universe”

EA Sports decided not to release a physical copy of their Euro 2012 tie-in game – instead opting for a 1200MP digital download bolt-on for Fifa 12. Great for the publishers considering the title had a limited shelf-life, saving manufacturer costs from not having to press a hard copy. Not so great for game retailers – unlike previous tournament tie-ins, digital add-ons can’t be traded in as soon as the final whistle of the final is blown.

There’s Good and Bad DLC…

• Red Dead Redemption gave us Undead Nightmare – which took the old west setting and flooded the world with zombies for an all-new campaign.

• As a stand-alone game, nobody would have demanded a wild west zombie apocalypse sim but Rockstar’s hugely self-indulgent game was a hit!

There’s Good and Bad DLC…

The best DLC pushes people out of their comfort zone a little. It could be argued that if it wasn’t riding on the back of the hugely successful GTA IV, few young male gamers would have gone to their local story to buy The Ballad of Gay Tony. This did two times for GTA that GTA IV couldn’t: first, it put ‘gay’ in the title, and instantly shattered the minds of everyone who ever called someone gay as an insult, it broke the rules established by GTA IV.

There’s Good and Bad DLC…

• GTA IV was serious and told a story filled with semi-credible action sequences that never stretched the reality of Niko’s world too far.

• In Gay Tony you’re chasing men in golf carts and base-jumping from rooftops onto moving trucks.

• It’s a step outside the reality Rockstar created for their biggest game, and a return to classic GTA lunacy – and players loved it!

There’s Good and Bad DLC…

BAD

• Horse Armour• The first downloadable content available for the Xbox

360 game Oblivion was the now infamous horse armour. There was uproar in the gaming community due to being completely useless yet reasonably expensive. Since then, the term ‘horse armour’ has become a term used by gamers to mean “useless purchase”