Before I expand on the focus of this post, I would like to comment on something a close friend of mine mentioned after reading the post about how Video Games provides a channel of escape. During the great depression, baseball was one of the favorite past times most people enjoyed. The method of “escape” chosen is very specific per person, but it generally involves some form of entertainment. In the end, what my friend was suggesting, is a better way to structure my argument. The previous argument should have showed how entertainment (movies, sports, games, etc) is the method by which the mass attempts to escape everyday problems. Video games being one such form of entertainment.
For the main meat of this article, the focus will be centralized on Video Games as a “RAVENOUS MARKET”.
Gamers = A person familiar with video games
Users = People who are unfamiliar with video games or do not play them on some consistent basis as measured by the market. (i.e. this means playing solitare, minesweeper, freecell, etc does not count).
The main reason for why the industry is in such a strong growth pattern is simply because the video game industry is currently in an “RAVENOUS MARKET”. A market where there is so much pent up demand, once released consumes almost all that is avaliable. This pent up demand for easily playable, enjoyable, and short video games has been building and building every since the introduction of computers. Users were introduced to digital entertainment from Solitare, Freecell and Tetris (the amazing tetris). Online flash games such as Zuma and Bejeweled pulled in even more users. But users wanted more, but not games like Final Fantasy, or CounterStrike, or WarCraft III. Users wanted something easy to learn, to enjoy, and to share with others. But how does someone make a game easy enough for simple users to enjoy and share.
The answer lies in the interface, the gamepad, the controller. Simple PC games (i.e. Solitare, FreeCell, Zuma, etc) easily succeeded because the “controller” was just a mouse. Users just point and clicked to play the game, it could not have been any easier. Once a game moves past the mouse and incorporate additional input keys, it became too difficult for most users to understand or enjoy. Even racing games that utilized only a spacebar and arrow keys saw limited success. But this concept was not easily understood and not fully played upon till the Nintendo DS.
Nintendo DS came out as a smash hit. It was very easy to learn because it operated almost like a mouse. You move and “click” (touch) to get a response. Users quickly picked up the gameplay because it made sense to them. They didnt have to hit A to open the door or B to cancel or hit Left + A to do something special. You touched certain places of the screen such as “exit” to cancel, the door to enter a room, or the head of the dog to pet it. This made sense for the users and it was what they wanted. Something easy to learn, something easy to enjoy, something easy to play.
This trend has continued with the Wii. A controller that looks like a remote and uses motion sensing. Users swing the remote like a baseball bat to hit a ball or like a tennis racket to hit tennis ball. Again, same formula, an easy interface with enjoyable gameplay.
How did Wall Street react? They called the Nintendo DS a disaster when introduced. They believed it would fail against the PSP. The Wii was a gimmick and the next generation console wars will be fought between XBox 360 and the PS3.
How did the market react? SImply put, this level of pent up demand, built up over a few DECADES, cannot be satisifed in a matter of months. The DS has sold out continuously for the past 5 holiday seasons since its release. The Nintendo Wii cannot be produced fast enough and has an average shelf life of 1 hour.
This is because the market/consumers/users have waited patiently (or impatiently) for something to satisifed their needs. Once a product, proven to meet the basic needs of these users, was introduced, the market responded. It absorbed everything. The interface was almost perfect for users who could only watch afar a few years back. Will this level of demand continue … probably not, as more and more companies tries to jump on board. But for now the market is still absorbing every DS produced and ever Wii built.
On a side note, it is worth mentioning that Wall Street is not completely wrong. The XBox 360 and the Sony PS3 is competing against each other … for 2nd place.
