Sony slims down to bulk up Sunday, August 23, 2009 The home video games industry came out with all guns blazing last week in an attempt to reverse one of the most difficult commercial periods in its 30-year history.
More than 15,000 people from the world’s top game developers, manufacturers and press packed a giant Gamescom convention in Cologne, Germany, to preview the next big events.
Topping the bill was Sony, which announced a €100 price cut on its Playstation 3 games console, as well as a new slimmed-down version of the games machine. Sony also announced the imminent launch of a movie-download service (though not yet for Ireland), as well as a new range of downloadable games for its latest, slimmer, Playstation Portable (PSP) console.
Sony’s initiatives come at a difficult time for the Irish video game market. Sales of video game consoles and video games have fallen by about 25 per cent in Ireland over the past year, according to executives in the company.
In Ireland, the home console market is divided between Microsoft’s Xbox 360, Nintendo’s Wii and Sony’s PlayStation 3, although a sizeable number of PlayStation 2 units are still being used. While the Wii has sold the most consoles over the past three years, the Xbox 360 is the highest selling games unit overall in Ireland (not including the end-of-life PlayStation 2). Sony has positioned the PlayStation 3 as the most powerful games console available and the only one capable of playing high-definition Blu-ray DVDs out of the box.
Having fallen behind in sales, Sony’s move is expected to spark further price cuts among competitors, leading to a surge in sales in the run-up to Christmas.
‘‘The significance of the reduction in price on the PS3 can’t be over emphasised,” said Niall O’Hanrahan, country manager for Sony Computer Entertainment in Ireland. ‘‘This is going to have a massive impact on the market in the run-up to Christmas. All of the retailers that we’ve spoken to so far are delighted with it, as it means they will almost certainly shift more units, too.”
O’Hanrahan said that the range of high-profile game launches for the console would also have a significant impact on the Irish market.
‘‘The software line-up is really going to put PlayStation back in the prominent position,” he said. ‘‘The reaction from the trade has been fantastic.” O’Hanrahan said that the fortunes of Sony’s hand-held PSP, which has lagged behind Nintendo’s hand-held DS, would improve this year.
‘‘The level of developer support for PSP has grown massively,” he said. But it wasn’t all positive news for Irish games retailers. Sony also announced that it was launching a new wave of games for its handheld PSP console that would only be available by direct download. If successful, this could cut out a considerable amount of business for retailers.
Sony’s plan to introduce a new movie and television download service also spells fresh challenges for companies such as Xtra-Vision, whose core business is over-the-counter film and game rentals.
Other than delegations from Sony Ireland and Xtra-Vision, there was little Irish participation in this year’s Games com event. The only Irish firm to be represented at the expo was Gala Networks, a Dublin-based gaming company that publishes free online games under its gpotato.eu brand. The company makes money from ‘micro-transactions’, where players purchase virtual accessories for their game characters, such as costumes and weapons.
The Digital Hub-based company, which is backed by the IDA, recently announced that it was to double its workforce from 50 to 100 staff, due to the demand it was encountering for online games.
Among all of the ‘mature’-rated games featuring adult themes and violence, niches catering to families and children were strongly represented. The developer of a pet grooming game, EyePet, said that the market for softer family games was ‘‘exploding’’ across game consoles.
‘‘We have seen that it is not just children who will play with EyePet,” said Nicolas Doucet, producer for EyePet. ‘‘Parents like to participate with their children in video games now. The market has changed a lot from 15 years ago.”
|
Text-Only