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Top Five Reasons for Video Game Shrinkage

 

 

Cordova, TN; March 23, in the year of our Lord 2015--Family Friendly Gaming, the industry leader in covering the family friendly video games is taking a clinical look at why the video game industry is in decline*. There are five things we hear all the time from families as to why the video game industry is shrinking. You might even have a reason or two yourself. But first see if you can recognize these five issues, and what can be done about them. Do you think the corporate suits will correct these issues before it is too late? How long do you think the industry will backslide?

1. The first issue we hear all the time from families is is the video game industry has left them behind. They have no interest in macabre and morbid video games. A few years back the video game industry was the talk of the town. Families were falling over themselves to play clean, fresh, and fun video games. Families got up off the couches and moved around while gaming. The industry has turned away from exercise, and turned away from safe for the entire family games. The hardcore gaming population is way smaller than the family friendly gaming population. Hence a decline in the industry.

2. Casual gamers have left the hand held and home console video games for their iOS and Android devices. Playing simple and easy games on their phones and tablets has become the latest trend. Companies like Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony have been trying to bring these casual gamers back into their camps. Most ignore these attempts since they already have a phone, and do not need to purchase another device to play their favorite little apps. The video game industry needs to acknowledge apps have become cool. Apple has undercut them at every angle. Porting apps is fine, but they need to bring in cool new little games that will make casual gamers buy their machines. Why buy Angry Birds on the Wii when you have beaten it on the iPhone? An all new original Angry Birds on the Wii is a way better idea.

3. The rise of Steam and a resurgence of Personal Computer gaming has hurt console and hand held gaming. Steam, and Desura are way more open to independent developers than Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo. All of the Big Three companies have tried to open more doors to indie developers. They have made some progress. Here again, PC gamers are happy with what they have, and few move over to the consoles. The indie community is so much larger on the PC, moving to the consoles will only limit their access to games.

4. Consumers tell me all the time they will not purchase a video game if they do not have a physical copy of it. They understand they lose all their rights with digital downloads. Why give these companies that kind of power? Why give away your rights? As Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft continue to push the digital downloads, they are only limited their sales. This is another reason the video game industry is shrinking. In fact this has helped boost the retro gaming scenes. What makes matters worse is physical copies of many of these digital download only games are being released in other regions. If Europe and Japan can get a physical copy, why can't America?

5. The Big Three continue to show how slow they are in terms of pricing of their games. They want billions every single year. Their failures in terms of lowering prices of games has shown they are not even trying to be competitive. Nintendo complained about the ninety-nine cent apps at one point in time. They did not want to go that low. Now they are trying free apps on their machines hoping to get revenue from the in-app purchases. So they are trying to follow suit at least. Their games in stores have not been so fortunate. Old Wii games are still priced way too high. Lower the prices and more sales will arrive. We have even seen Wii games selling for higher prices than newer Wii U games.


God bless,
Paul Bury
Family Friendly Gaming

*VGChartz.com has a very good comparison of the eight console generation versus the seventh console generation (as well as the hand helds). It shows the steep decline of the video game industry in this sector.

 

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