EA Profits fall as Wii sales Climb

EA has issued a second profits warning, and is planning further jobs (in addition to those announced in October), on the back of disappointing sales of their console & computer games.

Rumours are also around that EA is considering closing it’s Canada Black Box site, which produces the racing games. Need for Speed is one of the titles which has shown disappointing sales levels, along with Mirrors Edge and Rock Band.

The biggest factor in all of this seems to be the Wii, the newspapers are reporting daily record number of Wii sales, and the popularity of the newer platform with the family market, taking gaming out of the teenagers bedroom and into the family sitting room.

Nintendo publish most of their own games, and have 4 titles in November 2008 top ten games, as opposed to EA’s single title in position 4; Left 4 Dead.

All in all, EA seems to be the weaker player, struggling for market share in a market which is growing, with an estimated 22% increase in console and game sales than 2007. Making the video games industry one of the few retails sectors to see year on year growth. But one thing that these figures are telling us is that the traditional video game market, of shot & slash is diminishing, and that the larger untapped family market is where the growth of the future appears to be.

Is the Games Industry Recession Proof?

As the Christmas Clamour to buy the “must have” video games and consoles starts, we ask, is the Games Industry recession proof?

Sales of Games and Consoles in October 2008 were the highest yet, at $1.31bn, and the release of the World of Warcraft extension pack resulted in 2.8m units being sold in the single first day.  It sets the scene for a market that looks set to survive the recession well.

Video Games are the New Cinema

This recession is frequently referred to as the “worst since the great depression”, and the 1930’s saw the movie industry excel, producing some of the largest and grandest productions, including some of the huge musicals.  Cinema was seen by the masses as a cheap form of escapist entertainment, and video games are being perceived as this recessions answer to the movies.

Games Console Sales Increase

The games industry reported that 46% of Americans were intending to buy a games unit of some kind on the day after Thanks Giving.   And the Nintendo Wii looks ready to sell out again in the UK for Christmas, with over 330,000 units being bought in the UK last month alone, substantially more than sales of the Xbox and Playstation combined.  Nintendo say that they are increasing supply by 50% over the last two months of 2008 to ensure that everyone who wants a Wii will be able to get one.

Some analysts are arguing that this Christmas may see the Wii at saturation point, and that this could bode well for the xbox and playstation who are targeting themselves at the less family orientated markets, and combine features such as Blue-ray players.

Stocks and Share Prices

So is the high street activity reflected in the share prices.  All of the major Games manufacturers and suppliers have seen their share prices knocked, but most have only fallen in proportion to the market wide fall of around 33%

EA saw the largest drop, with their share price falling by around 50%, this reflects concerns that even though video games are a good form of cheap escapism entertainment, the full retail price of the games at between £30 and £50 is still a large amount for people to find when times are tight.  The market anticipates that there will be need to be some discounting on the prices of the games to encourage players to keep buying new games.

The evidence is that the games industry looks set to ride the recession out well, even factors such as the cold weather mean that cheap indoor entertainment is what families are looking for, and in a recession giving the public what they want is key.

BBFC and the UK Games Industry move closer to agreement over Game Ratings.

Computer games and videos play a significant role in most Children and young peoples lives.  And as a result the issue of ratings on games is a recurring topic amongst the games industry producers and suppliers, and between political and social organisations.

Currently, PEGI is the system most used in Europe, whereby the games are rated from 3+, and guidelines exist as to what is suitable at each of the key levels.  PEGI is a European standard operated by the games publishers.

 

Currently the British Board of Film Classifications (BBFC) have no direct regularity authority over any ratings on any computer or video games.  However the Byron Report (described as remarkably balanced and no-political) suggested that BBFC logos be carried on the front of all packaging, as it’s ratings, images and standards are all very familiar to the UK public.

 

The rating system relies on a single recommended age box, along with a number of smaller boxes indicating what types of potentially objectionable content you may find in the game. These smaller boxes simply confuse matters – not least because the task of expressing an abstract concept like “horror” in a tiny black and white picture is the kind of thing you expect to find in a lateral-thinking puzzle game, not a sober attempt at implementing a rating system.

 

Arguments against the continued use of PEGI include the fact that it is Pan- European, and that cultural differences, religious and social differences all mean that what is “acceptable” cary widely between the European member countries.

 

After months of bitterly opposing the BBFC’s further involvement in game rating, however, Britain’s Games publishers seem to have changed tack. This week, UK games publisher association ELSPA tacitly acknowledged flaws in the PEGI system – and instead proposed a new “traffic lights” system, which would be much clearer for consumers, not to mention more visually striking.

 

In fact, what’s most visually striking about the new logos is how much like the BBFC’s they are. The rating system is admittedly different, but ELSPA’s new traffic lights really do bear a superficial resemblance to the BBFC’s own rating stamps. They even boast the explanatory text box on the right, replacing PEGI’s utterly awful content icons.

 

However, from this coming together of ideas springs a new issue.  Who should govern the ratings – the games industry (perhaps through ELSPA) or the BBFC.  The BBFC maybe do not have enough experience in this particular market, and could have a tendency to concentrate on the visual images in the games, as opposed to the underlying games strategy or the game playing. 

 

However, given the fact that the media are quick to draw links between computer games and our “broken” society, it would be a brave government that would give control of games rating to the games industry.

 

Fantasy Couriers is an online computer game that is played by under 18’s, and as such the company seeks to abide by, and exceed, all rating systems that are relevant to the games industry, whether they be regulated by the BBFC, PEGI or anybody else.

 

“We want parents to feel completely happy when their children are playing Fantasy Couriers” says director Sandra Patterson.  “Fantasy Couriers is about challenging the players to run a business, and as such there is no blood or gore, or any aspect or horror, or any other element which could make the game unsuitable for younger players.  We have always had this as a major underlying principle in the game development, and we continue this by ensuring that the sponsors and advertisers in the game are also only promoting products that are suitable for the under 18 year old players”.

Game Over, Boris?

Boris Johnson made the headlines last week with a a proud and loud u-turn regarding his personal opinions of computer games.

A while back, Boris made some very public, and controversial, comments regarding computer games, the most infamous being “computer games rot your brain” and “It is time someone had the guts to stand up, cross the room and just say no to Nintendo,”

So why have these comments made the front page again, well as Mayor of London Boris found himself last week standing up infront of Nintendo, and the rest of the computer games industry, welcoming them to the London Games Festival, saying ”I’m delighted that the London Games Festival is back in our city for its third year. It demonstrates the creativity and range of the gaming industry, which, as an important part of London’s creative sector, makes a vital contribution to the economy as a whole.”

Maybe Boris’ about turn is due to the realisation that 64,000 people in London alone are employed by the Games Industry.  Or the fact that the Games Industry in the UK is now worth more than the Music Industry. 

Boris’ comments were made back in late 2006 when the games market was primarily full of the slash and kill action games, aimed at and played by mostly younger males.  However, the games market has seen massive change over the last 24 months, with consoles such as the Wii and Nintendo DS awakening a games market in females and older people.  Who’d have thought a couple of years ago that that grannies all over the country would be playing Brain Training on their Nintendo DS.

Boris comments go to show us what a rapidly changing and exciting market the games industry has, and that new technology and new applications can be harnessed to create whole new types of games players.  Computer games are more than just slasher games, games such as Warhammer and World of Warcraft see literlly millions of people coming together in a fantasy world, creating whole online communities bigger than many countries.

So maybe Boris has woken up and smelt the coffee, or maybe one of his PA’s has given a kick up the backside and pointed out to him just how much the games industry contributes to the UK economy.

Photo credits; Independent 6/5/2008

Brussel’s Wants Better Warning’s On Violent Video Games

The European Commission said all EU countries should use the same age-rating system when it comes to video games and make that system known to citizens.  It also called for an EU-wide code of conduct on the sale of video games to minors to be introduced within two years, reports Elitsa Vucheva, from EUobserver.

Video games are “a very important industry for Europe,” but also one “that impacts on society,” Viviane Reding, EU commissioner for the information society and media, and Meglena Kuneva, EU consumer commissioner, said at a joint press conference in Strasbourg.

Currently, the value of the UK Games Industry exceeds that of the UK music industry, and is seeing growth rates of 25% plus each year.

In addition, 42 percent of Europeans spend between one and five hours playing video games “in a typical week”, while 11 percent spend more than 15 hours on this activity.

That is why “we have to develop a good level of information on the content of games,” in order to protect children — but also young adults — from the most violent elements contained in some of them, Ms Reding said.

Since 2003, the vast majority of EU member states have been using an age-rating system called PEGI — Pan European Games Information – developed by the video games industry itself, in order to protect the youngest users from games judged too violent.  The system includes five age categories and uses content descriptors for bad language, discrimination, drugs, fear, sex, violence or gambling.

It is currently applied by 20 member states, while three use other legislative measures. Cyprus, Luxembourg, Romania and Slovenia have no age-rating system in place.

“PEGI, as an example of responsible industry self-regulation and the only such system with almost pan-European coverage, is certainly a very good first step,” commissioner Reding stated.

“However, I believe it can be greatly improved, in Europe and beyond, by making the public more aware about its existence,” she added.

No banning

For his part, Belgian Christian Democrat MEP Ivo Belet from the European Parliament’s Committee for Culture and Education warned against the possible banning of some video games.

“Forbidding violent games or taking them off the market will not yield the result we want, as young consumers can get hold of them anyway online or via illegal downloads. Often x-rated games will only make games more attractive to young gamers,” Mr Belet stated.

The commission also said it wanted “most of all” to inform parents and educators and “let them take their responsibility” when it comes to buy or not a certain game.

Fantasy Couriers and Online Protection

Our game has been designed to be compliant with the PEGI standards and the COPPRA guidance to ensure that it is a safe and suitable environment for young people to play and learn in.  Enterprise and Business studies really starts to become a part of the curriculum at key stage 4, so the game is fully compliant to the 12+ age standards.  However, we see that primary school children are also starting to get involved with enterprise, and so we have also made the game compliant to the guidelines for 7+ age group. 

Because of the nature of the game, and game environment, we have been able to achieve these safe standards without any compromise to the players’ enjoyment of the game.  There is only one piece of game functionality that has been removed where the player is under 18 years, and this is not an integral part of the game strategy, only a side novelty.

We have also designed all communications between players to use a template system, this means that players can send each other only messages are set into the game structure.  There are no means for players to contact other players in the game, or website, except by these methods.  This means that young people can play the game safe and protected from nuisance communications.

Protection of Young Players is Key

We at Fantasy Couriers believe that parents are young people should be provided with all the information they need to make safe and informed decisions about the games that they chose to play, be they video games or web based online games.  And we have built into the game all precautions possible to ensure that our young people can play, and learn, in a safe and entertaining environment.  We would urge all games designers to heed Brussel’s advice regarding this matter as it can only make the games industry stronger.

Extracts taken from; http://www.rachel.org/en/node/6948