ONE AREA WHERE OPTIMISM HAS BEEN TEMPERED IS THE CONSOLE VIDEO GAME MARKET
December 5, 2016
SAN DIEGO, CALIF. – The latest DFC Intelligence Worldwide Video Game Forecasts presented a strong growth scenario for the overall game industry through the next five years. However, one area where the optimism has been tempered is the console video game market. While DFC has raised its forecast for the Nintendo Switch, forecasts for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 have been lowered. Our new research brief on the Holiday 2016 season looks specifically at some of the issues influencing these trends.
The focus of major software publishers is on recurring revenue streams where a game generates ongoing spending long after its release. This has resulted in fewer product releases from the major publishers. Big development budgets are focused on open world games and titles that have a competitive component which can take advantage of the eSports trend. The good news is that this opens the door for smaller developers and publishers with titles that appeal to the large number of consumers that are NOT interested in intense competitive games.
The movement to digital content has ironically also shown how much consumers like packaged physical product. One of the hottest items for the holiday 2016 season is the Nintendo NES Classic system. This is a product with no online component that features games from the 1980s. On a more long-term trend there is a movement to expensive hardware rigs with flashing lights and bells and whistles that scream this is not your father’s PC. This hardware movement is a major reason growth in PC games is expected to be robust over the next few years.
Both the new forecasts and the latest research brief are available immediately from DFC Intelligence.
DFC Intelligence (http://www.dfcint.com) is a strategic market research and consulting firm focused on interactive entertainment and the emerging video game, online game, interactive entertainment and portable game markets. Since 1995, DFC has published in-depth strategic market reports and subscription-based research services. DFC research is used by more than 300 leading companies in over 30 countries worldwide.
CONTACT:
Robert Nolan
info@dfcint.com
(804) 938-0030
