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| Mind mapping the subject. |
The period of the 2000's onwards is one where gaming has become bigger then ever before with massive publishing companies, developers and manufacturers spend and making billions. The net revenue for EA in the fiscal year ending March 31st 2013 was $3,797,000,000 (3.8 billion dollars) [1]. These companies make the blockbuster games of the current generation which sell millions of copies worldwide. However things are changing with an increase in the technology of smartphones a new market has opened up for cheaper mobile games which cost fractions to make but can sell equally well. New digital marketplaces like steam which allow for independent developers to publish their own games have emerged and this is creating tensions for the larger companies which are spending lots of money to compete with the cheaply made games where companies don't suffer as much of a loss if they don't sell well. It seems to building up but lets start with talking about the beginning of the 2000's and how it has lead up to this point.
In the year 2000 the Playstation 2 was released by Sony and is currently the best selling Console of all time with 157 million units sold worldwide. Sony now dominated the Market for many years with Nintendo's Gamecube while still popular not selling as much partly because the Playstation doubled as a affordable DVD player in a time when DVD players were still new and expensive. In 2001 Microsoft launched their own console called the Xbox which was met with limited success but it didn't matter to Microsoft with the billions the company had accumulated from PC sales they would come back with a vengeance.
The console market was now focused into 3 main companies Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo and their intense competition only increased. In 2005 Microsoft Launched the Xbox 360 Introducing HD gaming and easily connected console multiplayer for the masses. This was shortly followed up by the Playstation 3 and Nintendo Wii both of which were released in 2006. The Playstation and Xbox were in direct competition over the gamers when the Nintendo Wii had a wider market availability due to its motion controls being advertised as an exersie choice with fun interactive games for all the family. Theses consoles all had digital marketplaces and hundreds of games being sold for them all. Some exclusively making players have to choose which was the system they wanted.
During this time The invention of touch screen smartphones and tablets that were affordable where apps could easily be downloaded from the internet and published by anyone. These games are made by small development teams with limited funds but work hard on their own time and funds creating lots of games in short spaces of time. Commercially successful games like Angry Birds or Candy Crush on Facebook make millions and only cost 1000's to make. However as the technology has been improving and become cheaper this new genre is eating away at the current generations target market with the cheaper games that can be just or even more entertaining.
With the Newest generation just being released with the Xbox One, PS4 and Wii U only the future can tell if the high cost gaming structure will survive because there will always be a place for high quality titles or will it crumble into obscurity in the wave of independent developers.
References:
http://investor.ea.com/financials.cfm
http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/ERTS/2884535025x0x671716/B89EEE77-BFBD-446D-AC7D-8D98F64C5BAE/510163_002_Electronic_Arts_BMK.PDF
http://investor.ea.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=671113
From EA themselves
http://www.vgchartz.com/analysis/platform_totals/
Measured by VG chartz
Images:
http://www.officialplaystationmagazine.co.uk/2013/03/13/developers-remember-the-ps2-naughty-dog-insomniac-more-look-back-on-sonys/
Playstation image
http://cdn.petkaria.com/pictures/blogs.ne10.uol.com.br/mundobit/files/2013/03/Angry-Birds-New-Levels-and-Power-Ups-Trailer_1.jpg
Angry Birds image
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