An Older Demographic May Soon Dominate Gaming 234
Reservoir Hill writes "An article from last week runs down the new mass audience for gaming among families, women and older people. The importance of the mass audience in gaming's spectacular growth is seen most clearly in the success of Nintendo's Wii, which is far outselling its more technically advanced hardware competitors, the Xbox 360 from Microsoft and PlayStation 3 from Sony. Wii Play was the No. 2-selling game of last year even though it received an abysmal score of 58 out of 100 at Metacritic, which aggregates reviews. The Times says that as video games become more popular hard-core gamers are becoming an ever smaller part of the audience. 'Paradoxically, at a moment when technology allows designers to create ever more complex and realistic single-player fantasies, the growth in the now $18 billion gaming market is in simple, user-friendly experiences that families and friends can enjoy together.'"
Re:Indeed, so, Avalon Hill has gone bankrupt? (Score:3, Informative)
Printing costs went thru the roof.
Hasbro bought them up.
So now Hasbro sits on about 300+ titles from AH AND about 700+ titles that were Jame Dunnigans SPI (Simulations Publications Inc), plus who knows how many other indy/assorted titles.
But when you say Hasbro Management has BRAIN I disagree. There was quite a lull in the action, but there there are a few companies catering to the old wargamers crowd.
Hasbro should spin off an adult wargames/simulations company and republish these older titles. But probably they are just waiting for someone to publish a game titled 'Diplomacy' so they can sue them!
I get my kicks from DecisionGames.com now.
Oh and the Wii is fun. People like 'wireless' controllers that work right.
But when do I get to use our DSs as controllers for Wii games???
Re:Makes one wonder... (Score:3, Informative)
Not quite. The game industry has exceeded the American box office for several years now. But there's quite a bit more to Hollywood. DVD is currently the biggest piece of the pie. There's also television and merchandising. Is the music industry considered Hollywood as well? Whether it is or not, the consolidation of movie / TV / music companies under major corporate umbrellas gives "Hollywood" a much larger collective revenue stream than gaming, and gives them more lobbying clout.