Colin Posted December 19, 2005 Share Posted December 19, 2005 The New York Times summarizes what we already known about 2005: that it sucked for gaming big time. Sales are down relative to the holiday season last year, and major publishers are getting hammered on Wall Street. The article reveals some rather telling and certainly disappointing data: A single statistic reveals just about everything you need to know about the game industry's performance this year: of the 10 top-selling games of 2005 through November, only 3 were released in 2005. The other 7 all date from 2004 or earlier. In other words: the industry failed to create a single breakout hit this year. According to data from the NPD Group, a market research firm, the only games released this year to make the Top 10 list through last month have been the new Madden football game and Gran Turismo 4 for PlayStation 2 and Pokemon Emerald for the Game Boy Advance. Even the original Halo for Xbox, which was released in 2001 and takes the No. 9 spot on the list, has outsold every other game released this year. That is a pathetic performance by publishers in terms of giving people a reason to buy new games. The article makes the claim that part of the problem is that many of the most-anticipated games of 2005 were bumped into 2006. (They mention EA's "The Godfather" - are you kidding me?) It also takes a stab at Microsoft's poor Xbox 360 launch with the following remark: "Earth to Microsoft: It is hard to build market share when potential customers can't buy the product." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pz3 Posted December 19, 2005 Share Posted December 19, 2005 Game companies are showing poor buisness practices. Things will get better im sure when they realise clones of games dont usually work to well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
element11 Posted December 19, 2005 Share Posted December 19, 2005 The article makes the claim that part of the problem is that many of the most-anticipated games of 2005 were bumped into 2006. ← I was thinking that too, mainly i had GRAW in my head though It should be a good game... which should have been around by now. But im not complaining of course. I must agree, there were hardly any games even released this year, that i can recall even being worthy to think about... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiteKnight77 Posted December 19, 2005 Share Posted December 19, 2005 Not long ago one of the gaming news sites ran an article about fans not buying games and asking if gamers are tired of clones and sequels. I can't remember which site it was (I had intended to read the article but apparently got rid of the email it came in and now I have no idea where it was). Fans everywhere are speaking out about wanting something fresh or different. With companies all trying to make the same style game, the market is overloaded with junk that do not turn people on. There is nothing to set one game apart from the other and that will hurt bottom lines more than anything else. If a company creates a game and it is fairly popular, do not change it's forumula, especially if it had award winning gameplay to begin with. That alone may keep fans attracted to a series than anything else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RooK Posted December 19, 2005 Share Posted December 19, 2005 Gaming has turned to consoles almost exclusively, I could care less about that because I'm a computer gamer. They keep making these games for the consoles and they either delay and/or just half-ass port them over to PC, it makes me not want to buy the product. Currently I'm waiting on TES: Oblivion. Nothing else on the PC interests me atm and I'm not into playing online games that charge a monthly fee. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobaka Posted December 20, 2005 Share Posted December 20, 2005 If a company creates a game and it is fairly popular, do not change it's forumula, especially if it had award winning gameplay to begin with. That alone may keep fans attracted to a series than anything else. Have any particular game in mind? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiteKnight77 Posted December 20, 2005 Share Posted December 20, 2005 No, but if the shoe fits,,,, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pz3 Posted December 20, 2005 Share Posted December 20, 2005 ^^^Hahaha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sup Posted December 20, 2005 Share Posted December 20, 2005 If a company creates a game and it is fairly popular, do not change it's forumula, especially if it had award winning gameplay to begin with. ← But... Fans everywhere are speaking out about wanting something fresh or different ← Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pz3 Posted December 20, 2005 Share Posted December 20, 2005 when somthing "fresh" comes out usually people will want more of that... not somthing else. Thats why Expansions do well for some games and not others. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhiteKnight77 Posted December 20, 2005 Share Posted December 20, 2005 when somthing "fresh" comes out usually people will want more of that... not somthing else. Thats why Expansions do well for some games and not others. ← Exactly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pz3 Posted December 20, 2005 Share Posted December 20, 2005 Personally I want to see Alice 2. A remake of the game with nextgen graphics... that would be on top of my to buy list Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dannik Posted December 20, 2005 Share Posted December 20, 2005 Personally I want to see Alice 2. ← American McGee's? Sweet, sweet game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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