Some research
<snip>PC games are currently on the upswing again even more so in hardware. <snip> seriously i'm sick and tired of this talking down to gaming like it's niche ..compared to an aweful lot of stuff apple is doing/offering it's a gigantic market ... <snip> and pleasing shareholders ? i thought apple was about great products ... guess i was wrong.
I'll get back to the bit about niche at the end. See the end graphic and commentary below if you think i'm ********ting my position
Apple and gaming
1) Apple is moving into the cellphone market. Cellphones have games. Those games get sold at a minimum of a few dollars apiece
As a side note, isn't it the Head of Nintendo who was ogling over Apple, saying what an amazing company it was?
Ugh - you kill me you guys. But here's some data from the internet, so we're at least playing with some numbers, rather than just personal positions:
* A mobile game is a video game played on a mobile phone, smartphone, PDA, handheld computer or any type of handheld or wireless device.
Penetration
2/3 of US households already play games.
CGA report of the most popular casual titles in 2007:
Solitaire (Microsoft Windows XP)
Tetris (Tetris Holding, LLC)
Bejeweled (PopCap Games)
In addition, 34% of heads of households play games on a wireless device, such as a cell phone or PDA in 2005, up from 20%in 2002.
PC games sales have been better in 2007 and 2008 than the dip prior to that - mid 90s sales were floundering.
WoW has been a good help to pull the PC game market. Crysis also.
PC game market 2005 $953m in revenue.
PC game market 2006 $970m
Console game sales 2005 ~ $4.8bn
Portable game sales 2005 ~$1.7bn
UK 2007
Total software units: £75.9m (Up 16% on 2006)
Total sofware value: £1.72billion (Up 25% on 2006)
Total console software (units): 58.2 million (Up 26 % on 2006)
Total console software (value): £1.41bn (Up 34% on 2006)
Console handheld (units): 21.4m (Up 45 % on 2006)
Future
Where's an emerging market, that doesn't mean Apple has to put itself out on a limb to try and make money?
Well looky here, it's the mobile game industry, with the iPhone linking to it, via an SDK iTunes fee based and freeware games scheme, soon to be announced.
By 2010, PWC predicts worldwide video game market groth to $46.5 billion, (av. 11.4% compound annual rate)
Filmed entertainment business PwC estimates growth at at a 5.3% compound annual rate, to become a $104 billion market by 2010
TV networks business expected at 6.6% rate to $227 billion.
PWC expects U.S. video game market to grow slower than other sectors, lagging Asia Pacific and the combined region of Europe, the Middle East and Africa (PwC's "Global Entertainment and Media Outlook: 2006-2010.)
But it's a variable market. People necessitate a phone these days, but casual gaming can cut back. The larger costs may get cut first. That's a few less games at $2 a go, but a longer time before buying a $300 gaming rig.
Further stats at
http://www.parksassociates.com/research/reports/tocs/pdfs/parks-Casual-Gaming_TOC.pdf.
[One of Apple's plans]
Mobile phones have penetration at higher levels worldwide than video games, so mobile gaming has potential to have better penetration than video games.
Worldwide mobile telephone subscriptions 3.3 billion by late 07-Jan 08. Think the size for Chinese and Indian markets for phones. Heck, look at the Chinese unlocked iPhone share - estimated to be 400,000. That's before Apple's even got into that market, and it's a EDGE phone.
A further 1.5 billion mobile phone users are expected over the next 3-4 years to bring the overall penetration rate to 75 per cent by 2011. A lot of these users coming from the Asia Pacific region with the majority from rural regions in countries such as India and Pakistan.
The mobile game market has been in a slump like the video game mid 90s - it has the potential, but over the phone, hasn't grasped it - It is a $5bn industry but <5% of mobile users tend to play games.
Put another way, there are now reports that computer games on mobile phones will be the fastest growing format in a mobile entertainment market that will generate sales of $42.8bn (£25.5bn) by 2010.
Estimated that global revenues from computer games played on mobile phones will rise from $2.6bn this year to $11.bn by the end of the decade, outstripping music and pornography. Hell! So there's stats to play either side of the argument. To extrapolation and beyond is my motto...
Some further hints Apple's in the right direction -
Smartphones users are >200% more likely to download a game than owners of regular handsets. So Apple will probably see even moe, as it p@wns S60's on this front.
Apple also has a great set up for the money - iTunes:
Seamus McAteer, senior analyst with M:metrics: "One of the greatest challenges facing publishers by the growing adoption of smartphones is the wide availability of free or pirated content for these devices."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2005/jul/26/newmedia.games
Hell Jobs made this clear at a recent keynote - Cellphone market is bigger than the PC market at the moment, and there's going to be more growth.
The 2 graphics show Apple's into the biggest market - music.
Apple's already in the biggest market - music
Apple's getting into the second biggest market - video - via Apple TV Take 2
Apple is about to launch into the third biggest market - Games - via it's iPhone.
I would put a theoretical wager that Apple will make a bigger revenue stream from games this year via the iPhone than via regular Mac games. Or even possibly Mac and PC games to be played via Bootcamp etc.
