A Gamer’s Guide to the Gaming Industry – Introduction
Some of the readers may think this is going to be another long and boring generic rant filled with clichés and terminologies the common layman will not understand. Some may also think there will be charts and graphs in this article, which will follow the
format of an end of year report.
To those readers, we say do not worry. We are gamers ourselves and we know those things do not appeal to us unless the charts and graphs have something to do with the fastest time set in Need for Speed, Highest K/D (Kills to Death) Ratio in a First Person
Shooter or the level one is at World of Warcraft.
At the same time, we also believe that with the Interactive Entertainment (a fancy way of saying video games) Industry booming, gamers need to understand how the market is working and what they can expect in the future.
In order to do that however, one needs to understand the players in the market. While some ‘experts’ will make a long list of players, you can really bring it down to just four.
These four players are the skeleton of the industry around which the muscular ripped body, or the lovely curved seductive body (we do not judge) of video games supports itself.
The PC, Sony, Microsoft and Wii are the four major players in the core gaming market. While smart phones have made a significant impact in recent years, they still have not reached the same level of depth which the aforementioned have reached and therefore
we will choose to do what so many developed nations do to underdeveloped ones; ignore them.
We will also ignore the PC, because quite frankly we are jealous that Battlefield 3 will run better on it than on the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360.
We could bring up an argument about how a ‘united gaming world’ is what everyone wants but the fact is that if Battlefield 3 was run at 60fps in full 1080p and with 64-player multiplayer on the consoles and not on the PC, we would point our fingers at Windows
and Mac and proceed to laugh.
Getting back to the point, the Interactive Entertainment Industry is huge, literally. A recent survey showed that 51% of the United Kingdom’s population was either directly or indirectly involved in the industry.
If the reader is still not convinced we pose a question to his or her reluctant intellect: Does the reader agree that the film and music industry is significant in terms of the revenue it earns?
If the reader says yes, then here is an interesting fact: Call of Duty: Black Ops raked in $650-million in the first five days of its release. The figure is higher than any film’s opening five day earnings. Eat your heart out Spiderman and Jack Sparrow!
Not only that, it still holds the current world record.
Even though Optimus Prime saved the world from an alien invasion it still was not enough to even come near the game, and nor could Harry Potter wingardium-leviosa his way past the game, despite the fact that it was the last film of the series.
Now that the reader has a few basic facts and figures in his head, as well as random ramblings, the next article in this ‘Guide’ will come as less of a shock and more of an eye-opener.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are the writer’s own and do not reflect the editorial policy of Bettor.com
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