Video Game Console - Essay Example

? Video Game Console Video Game Console Introduction The video game industry is a financial sector, which comprises of the marketing, development and sales of video games and their consoles. The industry is, at times, referred to as interactive entertainment industry due to the nature of its activities (Gamble 198). It comprises of dozens of job disciplines. The industry employs also thousands of individuals all through the world. Various players in this industry such as Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo, have established themselves highly throughout the word that the number of people rated to the playing video games by 2007 was 300 million. In the past, video games were played by teens (young adults), but today, relatively old people are seen playing the games and enjoying themselves. As of 2005, over US$ 35 billion was spent on video game consoles, handled game devices, game software, online games and mobile games. Also, new generation consoles developed by Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft, as from 2005, were projected to push up the sales to over US$ 51 billion, in 2010 (Gamble 198). The video game industry also employs people experienced in other old-fashioned businesses, but some have skills and knowledge tailored to the video game industry. For instance, a majority of recruiters target only game industry experts, which has led to numerous employment opportunities. Through this, it can be noted that this industry is a vital player in the world economy. This paper will discuss the key success factors in this industry. It will also discuss how the industry is changing and evaluate the strategies used by big players such as Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony. Question 1 Demands in the video game industry will always be there. However, the strategies that players in this field use to market themselves are the ones that matter the most (Gamble 87). Some of the key strategies of marketing a product in this field include: marketing related, technology related, distribution related and skilled and capability related (Flew 53). The marketing of video games in the past was simple. Advertising was done by word of mouth and, at times, only steady in ads of leading video games consumer publications. However, in 1994, video game marketing became a more substantial factor such as clear advertising and a strong brand name. With regards to technology, the video game industry has the skill to develop production process for the demands and needs for the client, which, if the purchaser wants 8-bit video game, then the industry would create that type of creation. For instance, modernizers have a behavior of purchasing new systems, which offer vital technology improvement over present alternatives and are usually unresponsive to software availability, price breadth of distribution, brand identification and factory support (Gamble 87). Finally, with regards to skilled and capability related, the video game industry is experiencing the growth of more and more groundbreaking products over a short period of time, with organizations copying each other’s products to earn in the race to success. Even though, the vital players in this industry operated both in global and domestic markets, more success was attained on national grounds (Flew 53). Question 2 Regarded by others as an oddity in the mid-70s, the video and computer game industries have developed from centered markets to the mainstream business (Gamble 202). The industry took in almost US$9.5 billion in the United States, 11.7 billion and 25.1 billion, in 2007, 2008 and 2010, respectively. Contemporary personal computers and video game consoles owe numerous advancements and modernizations to the game industry: graphics cards, sound cards and 3D graphic accelerators, DVD-ROM and CD-ROM drives, are some of few more notable and significant improvements. Sound cards were established in order to add high and digital-quality sound to games. They were later improved and enhanced for audiophiles andmusic.Graphics cards were created for more colors, as well. As time moved on, graphics cards were developed for both gamesgraphical user andinterfaces (GUIs).These GUIs persuaded the necessity for extremely high resolution, and games started adapting 3D acceleration. In addition, video game consoles are one of the only bits of hardware to permit several hookups such as with CrossFire graphics cards or SLI. DVD-and CD- ROMs were created for mass distribution and circulation of media in general (Zackariasson 114). Nevertheless, the capacity to store or keep more information on cheap and easily distributable media was vital in driving their always high speeds. Up-to-date games are amongst the most demanding and challenging applications in the PC world. A majority of the efficient personal computers (PCs) are bought by gamers who want or need the fastest gears to power the newest leading-edge games (Zackariasson 115). Therefore, the inertia of personal computers(PC) development is due in part to this business whose games agitate for faster processors compared topersonal or business applications. Question 3 Sony Sony consoles, apart from offering a gaming platform, also offer various entertainment-related activities that allow its users to access the internet, view television shows, stream movies and also documentaries. A person is able to browse the internet, watch television shows, movies and documentaries at extremely high definition formats (Wolf 59). This is what has attracted a majority of customers in the United States to opt for the Sony PlayStations. Also, Sony has managed to use the media a lot in order to advertize the goodness of their products. Nintendo Nintendo has come up with various campaigns such as "Play It Loud!", "The Best Play Here", "Too Much Fun" and "Who Are You?" all in the name of marketing its game console. Facing stiff competition from players such as Sony and Microsoft, Nintendo decided to come up with campaigns that attracted both young people and adults to use their consoles (Wolf 60). This campaigns, according to research, have been helpful in advertizing Nintendo since it is the most common console used among adults; more than Sony and Xbox. Microsoft Rather than only centering on operating systems, as well as computer software, Microsoft has extended to other ventures in the gaming field. Microsoft took the Horizon 2 technique, and begun making tactics for entry into the video game industry with its famous Xbox (Wolf 78). Even though, this was a fairly risky venture with remarkable commencement costs, Microsoft projected that the ultimate return on investment would be considerable. Owing to a strong economic base, Microsoft has abundance room to experiment in a variety of fields (Wolf 78). In addition, Microsoft has become talented at experimentation and parallelism, permitting it to easily discover high peaks all through industries. Works Cited Flew, Terry. Games: Technology, Industry, Culture. New Media: An Introduction. London: Oxford University Press, 2011. Print. Gamble, John E. Competition in the Video Game Consoles: Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo Battle of Supremacy. Mobile, Alabama: University of South Alabama, 2007. Print. Wolf, Mark J. The Video Game Explosion: A History from PONG to PlayStation and Beyond. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010. Print. Zackariasson, Wilson. The Video Game Industry: Formation, Present State, and Future. New York: Routledge, 2012. Print. Read More