Future Possibilities

The future of video games isn't one that is very clear but what can be seen is that is growing at a very rapid pace faster than most industries. Growing at an annual rate of 8.6%, the future of video games is endless and the future may hold something like the photo above where we use some sort of head gear and get thrown into the actual game and play it in first person like we see with our eyes everyday.

Future of video games

Citation: Siwek, Stephen E. Video Games in the 21st Century. N.p.: ESA, n.d. PDF.

Sony

                                         

                                                             http://www.wikinvest.com/stock/Sony_(SNE)/Data/Revenue

Sony's revenue has slowly gone up as things were shaky with them last year when there was the big hack of the Playstation Network. In the coming year, Sony predicts that they will be losing some revenue after Q1 2013, but as for this year their revenue had gone up because of their mobile aspect. Sony still had lost revenue in other departments including their video game and entertainment area.
Sony's loss in revenue
Citation: Dent, Steve. "Sony Cuts Q2 2012 Losses to $198 Million, Bumps Revenue to $20.6 Billion Thanks to Mobile." Engadget. Engadget, 1 Nov. 2012. Web. 7 Dec. 2012.

Thesis Proposal

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As time goes on there will always been some form of entertainment for everyone. The biggest out of all of them would be the video game industry and how exactly it has changed the way the economy is now. The massive amounts of different types of game-models, how much they actually make, and just how accessible and available they are for the everyday person. Each of these things help with shaping the economy in a way that no one else seems to notice.

F2P model taken by League of Legends and becomes the most played PC game in the world

Citation:   Schutte, Wybe, and Peter Warman. 2012 Country Summary Report. N.p.: New Zoo, Nov. 2012. PDF.

Impact of the Gaming Industry

http://cdn.ebaumsworld.com/picture/taylorstone2003/EvolutionofVideoGames.png

"The U.S. industry that develops and publishes video game software creates wholly new forms of entertainment for consumers worldwide. The industry also generates sales in the billions of dollars and creates thousands of American jobs. The U.S. interactive entertainment software industry is, and has been, one of the most rapidly growing industries in the United States"- Stephen E. Siwek
The video game industry has made a huge impact on the economy. Being of the fastest growing industries of the 21 century, things aren't what they may seem when it comes to video games. It grew at an annual rate of 16.7% while the economy as a whole only grew 2.8%.

Predicted that game revenues will grow to $70 billion by 2017

Citation: Siwek, Stephen E. Video Games in the 21st Century. N.p.: ESA, n.d. PDF

Prices of Consoles

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The prices of video games consoles has always fluxuated from year to year. With the most recent prices being fairly cheap now. Nintendo's consoles the Wii and the Wii U are priced at $130 and $500  respectively. The price of the Xbox 360 has been lowered also at $250 for their biggest storage.
Sony's Playstation 3 has also dropped down to $250 as the holiday season has arrived and people are looking for gifts to get cheap rather cheaply. Onto handheld gaming devices, the PS Vita is priced at $250 while the 3DS is priced ranging from $160 to $230. What this all means is that the availability has gone up while prices have gone down. This leads to having some form of enterainment for the family while still keeping in the budget of things. As each holiday season comes up every year, prices go down and there is a surplus of consoles for those who wish to buy them all.


Comparison of video game console prices








Citation:   Schutte, Wybe, and Peter Warman. 2012 Country Summary Report. N.p.: New Zoo, Nov. 2012. PDF.

Game Models

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There are many types of game models with the most obvious being three different kinds of models. F2P (Free to Play), subscription and one-time purchase. The chart above shows that in 2010, F2P revenue severely outgrew and still went above the subscription revenue. Things like one-time purchases are going away slowly as time goes on and developers are starting to see how F2P is the future of the video game industries.



Citation: A.    Schutte, Wybe, and Peter Warman. 2012 Country Summary Report. N.p.: New Zoo, Nov. 2012. PDF.

Microsoft

http://news.softpedia.com/newsImage/Microsoft-Dropping-Xbox-360-Price-by-100-Dollars-2.jpg/

"Oct. 18: Microsoft Corp. says Xbox 360 platform revenue fell 24 percent, or $418 million, mostly because of fewer consoles sold and lower revenue from video games software. The year-ago quarter saw the release of "Gears of War 3," with no comparable major releases in the just-ended quarter. That was offset partly by higher revenue from its Xbox Live subscription service."

Microsoft with the halo franchise alone has generated $3,000,000,000 revenue ever since it was introduced with the first Halo on the original Xbox.

 

Microsoft Q4 and full year revenue

Citation:

The Associated Press, -. "How The Video Games Industry Is Faring."
AP Financial News (2012): Newspaper Source Plus. Web. 19 Nov. 2012.