Michael Comeau

Tough Comps Kill Video Game Sales Growth

Good point on Blu-ray. I really do believe it was an awful decision to stick Blu-ray in the PS3 - it was a huge risk at the time given the format war and it's a major cost addition. At the same time, developers are doing fine with the regular DVD format on the 360.


On Apr 19 07:08 PM speculawyer wrote:

> Sony is stuck between a rock & hard place. If they cut the price
> much, they'll lose even more money on each PS3 sale. And worse,
> Blu-Ray fans may buy a PS3 just for Blu-Ray viewing and thus never
> buy enough games to cover the subsidy. They are just going to have
> to grin and bear it this generation and hope for better performance
> next generation. At best, they can hope Blu-Ray popularity increases
> such that people buy the PS3 for both Blu-Ray and games.
>
> Perhaps they can do another cost reduction on the PS3 . . . do an
> external power supply, remove built-in 802.11, do a cheaper tray-load
> drive, etc.

Tough Comps Kill Video Game Sales Growth

I agree - relative to many other forms of entertainment, video games provide a lot of value per dollar, ESPECIALLY titles with robust multi-player components. There are also plenty of amazing older games that are super cheap - stuff like Bioshock.


On Apr 19 09:30 AM Ishortyou wrote:

> in a recessive economy without a job and poor prospects there is
> nothing better than staying at home and playing a favorite game with
> your buddies, the game industry does well in these conditions.

NPD March Data Shows Video Game Industry Growth Dropping Off

Keep in mind that March of 2008 was an incredibly strong month for VG industry sales. April will be another tough comp due to GTAIV.

More details:

www.videogamestocks.ne...