"The Great Crash" (not to be confused with this great Crash) shook the fledgling games industry to its very core. Seemingly overnight, the market shriveled up. Companies collapsed, stores shuttered, and arcades became aren't-cades. It was a dark time, indeed.
Luckily, that could never happen again, right? (Pretend you haven't read the title of this thread when asking that question.)
The report goes on to note that a majority of the game-playing public do their game-playing on PCs today. This is a far cry from 2008, where the majority relied on consoles for their gaming fix.
So, is this report an accurate foretelling of dangers to come, or merely sensationalist doomsaying?
Yes.
Luckily, that could never happen again, right? (Pretend you haven't read the title of this thread when asking that question.)
GamesIndustry InternationalThe marketing push for next month's Xbox One and PlayStation 4 launches is beginning to ramp up, but not everyone is sold on the new consoles just yet. In a new report prepared by Superdata and released by Digital River, the research firm warned that the market for consoles is already crowded, with 79 percent of gamers already owning a console, and that group having an average of 2.6 consoles each. The report was based in part on a March survey of 1,105 respondents.
"Industry veterans will remember the crash of 1983, when the games market was saturated with hardware devices," the report states. "Today, the industry runs a similar risk, as [with] a higher-than-ever console installed base, consumers may be resistant to adding more hardware to their living rooms."
While the report acknowledges there are more gamers now than ever before, it suggests their habits are changing. Specifically, Superdata found gamers increasingly gravitating toward versatile, multi-purpose platforms like PCs and mobile devices. As a result, an increase in the number of gamers won't necessarily translate into an increase in demand for consoles.
The report goes on to note that a majority of the game-playing public do their game-playing on PCs today. This is a far cry from 2008, where the majority relied on consoles for their gaming fix.
So, is this report an accurate foretelling of dangers to come, or merely sensationalist doomsaying?
Yes.