The Video Game Industry

Modern Warfare 3, Ultimate Marvel Vs Capcom 3, and Super Street Fighter IV are just some of the games I indulge in to self sooth and take a break away from reality. With one of the highest grossing industries (outpacing the movie and music industry), games are here to stay forever. Your average gamer is about 37 years old. From the invention of the Atari, the gameboy, to the 360, your average gamer has opened their wallet on many occasions to spend their time in a virtual world. Your average gamer spends about 8+ hours a week glued to their television (and lets not forget the smartphone) yelling profound cuss words along with their occasional burst of excitement. Women make up about 42% (and climbing) of gamers in the world. Now the most popular gaming console among women by far is the Nintendo Wii. Why is this you ask? the Wii is for your occasional gamer and it is very easy to use. With the #1 global top seller being Just Dance 3, it has many women (and men) busting out their Michael Jackson moves and of the couch. Women tend to play video games with groups of friends in person, while men tend to play video games with groups of friends online. There is nothing wrong with this, we can say that the gaming industry surly knows hot to find a target market.

Now for the heavy stuff. Activision/Blizzard (the producers of Modern Warfare 3 and many other titles) currently has their stock valued at at $12.18 a share. As you can see below the sudden increase from September to November was all the hype building up for the release of Modern Warfare 3. From then on it went back to its normal grove but enjoyed a sudden pop. If I was ATVI (their ticker name) I would be thinking of more ways to grab the consumer to spend more and they have done just that.

  (Thanks to CNBC for the chart)

With the Release of their Call of Duty Elite which offers a free service that lets you track all your data with extra advice on all the hot spots of action I can surely say these guys have started a trend we will soon see in other video games to come.With the release of their mobile app to stay in the know even on the go, there is no way of getting away from MW3. Their yearly paid subscription service offers members a chance to get new maps every month, post videos, and the oputournity  to compete for prizes which keeps customers attracted to their game. This approach will be copied far and wide to retain customers by giving them more access than just your regular gamer. 

We can see the price of games surely to go up. You just won't notice it. by paying that $60 plus tax along with another $50 for all the goodies, every company will be quick to jump on the extra cash. With a giant that generates over $25 Billion in annual revenue that employees around 120,000 employees, its no wonder they have an average $90,000 salary!!!! I think its time for me to go into the gaming industry!! 

I like to thank the entertainment software association for their information*

Y= The Don