2. The Games Industry
• Console manufacturers – Platform holders
• Publishing houses
• Software developers
3. Nintendo
• Set up in 1989 as a manufacturer of playing-
cards
• Began developing Arcade games in the 1970s
• In the 1980s produced the Game & Watch
• Massive success with Nintendo Entertainment
System (NES) in 1985
• Consolidated position with GameBoy
4. Sony
• Home-electronics giant (TVs, Walkman)
• Collaborated with Nintendo on use of CD-
ROMs in games consoles
• Developed PlayStation after falling out with
Nintendo.
• PlayStation phenomenon sold over 100 million
consoles worldwide
• Made gaming “cool”
5. Microsoft
• PC Software giants
• Threatened by Sony’s dominance of the games
market in the late 1990s
• Determined to enter console market with
Xbox in 2002
• Led the way with online-gaming
• Fully established industry player with the
release of the 360
6.
7. Wii Strengths
• Fresh and new motion sensing control system
• Good value
• Accessible to all
• Fantastic first party product – Mario, Zelda
• Easy and interesting to develop for
8. Wii Weaknesses
• Graphically inferior
• Might put off existing market used to certain
controls and game types
• Not a multimedia machine
• It’s called the Wii
10. 360 Strengths
• Uses powerful technology
• Traditional control and game types
• Good third party support
• Relatively easy to develop for
• Great online service
• Multimedia machine
11. 360 Weaknesses
• Doesn’t appeal to new consumers
• Development can be expensive
• Online experience can intimidate
• Need HD TV
• Often needs replacing
12.
13. PS3 Strengths
• Potentially the most powerful
• Amazing graphical capability
• Multimedia machine – BluRay compatible
• Improved online service
• Good third party support
• Attempt at market expansion – Singstar etc
14. PS3 Weaknesses
• Hard and expensive to develop for
• Poor first party products
• Expensive – needs HD TV
• Relies on existing game types
• Poor launch and marketing
15. Nintendo’s strategy
• Expand the market
• Make it a social experience
• Keep it cheap and good value
• Continue to innovate
16. Sony and Microsoft’s Strategy
• Make it high-end and an aspirational product
• Multimedia machines
• Target existing consumers with similar
products
• Push online gaming for added revenue
17. Microsoft’s Live Strategy
• Integrated Live play between hardware that
supports Microsoft software
• Create an online community for
communication and gaming through Microsoft
products
• Promote microtransactions
18. Sony’s Multimedia Strategy
• Use hard-drive to record TV
• Promote compatibility with PSP
• Make the PS3 the centre of home
entertainment
19. DLC
• There has been a growing trend in recent
times DLC or downloadable content
• 51% of HD console owners in the US and
Canada have purchased DLC in the past 12
months – from 40% two years ago
20.
21. There’s Good and Bad DLC…
Bethesda
• Elder Scrolls: Oblivion released the
Shivering Isles in 2007 – a 20 hour
quest in a new world. Great value for
money!
• Fallout New Vegas released 6
episodic quest packs that added up
to one story, adding to the vast
universe created by the series. “The
New Vegas DLCs were a unique
opportunity to do short stories in the
Fallout universe”
22. There’s Good and Bad DLC…
EA Sports decided not to release a physical copy of their Euro
2012 tie-in game – instead opting for a 1200MP digital
download bolt-on for Fifa 12. Great for the publishers
considering the title had a limited shelf-life, saving
manufacturer costs from not having to press a hard copy. Not
so great for game retailers – unlike previous tournament tie-
ins, digital add-ons can’t be traded in as soon as the final
whistle of the final is blown.
23. There’s Good and Bad DLC…
• Red Dead Redemption gave us
Undead Nightmare – which
took the old west setting and
flooded the world with
zombies for an all-new
campaign.
• As a stand-alone
game, nobody would have
demanded a wild west zombie
apocalypse sim but Rockstar’s
hugely self-indulgent game
was a hit!
24. There’s Good and Bad DLC…
The best DLC pushes people out of their
comfort zone a little. It could be argued
that if it wasn’t riding on the back of the
hugely successful GTA IV, few young male
gamers would have gone to their local
story to buy The Ballad of Gay Tony. This
did two times for GTA that GTA IV
couldn’t: first, it put ‘gay’ in the title, and
instantly shattered the minds of everyone
who ever called someone gay as an
insult, it broke the rules established by
GTA IV.
25. There’s Good and Bad DLC…
• GTA IV was serious and told a
story filled with semi-credible
action sequences that never
stretched the reality of Niko’s
world too far.
• In Gay Tony you’re chasing men
in golf carts and base-jumping
from rooftops onto moving
trucks.
• It’s a step outside the reality
Rockstar created for their biggest
game, and a return to classic GTA
lunacy – and players loved it!
26. BAD
• Horse Armour
• The first downloadable content available for the Xbox
360 game Oblivion was the now infamous horse
armour. There was uproar in the gaming community
due to being completely useless yet reasonably
expensive. Since then, the term ‘horse armour’ has
become a term used by gamers to mean “useless
purchase”
