Every week, MCVlooks at the world’s most promising markets and lucrative territories
KEY RETAILERS AND DISTRIBUTORS:
Best Buy, EB Games, E One, Future Shop, Gamers, GameStop, GameWorld, Importel, Just4Games, Koch Media, MCD Video Games, Microplay, Play N Trade, Target, US Games Distribution, Vidéoglobe, Walmart
TOP DEVELOPERS: 343 Industries, 3D Realms, Bioware, Bungie Studios, Blizzard Entertainment, Crystal Dynamics, Double Fine Productions, Epic Games, Gearbox Software, Insomniac Games, Irrational Games, Maxis, Obsidian Entertainment, Rockstar San Diego, Valve Corporation
Sponsored by Wholesaler and distributor of video games, consoles and accessories
THE FACTS Population: 314,648,000 Currency: United States dollar GDP (per capita): $48,386 Capital City: Washington D.C Languages: English
ABOUT THE MARKET
THE UNITED States of America is one of the biggest markets when it comes to games. The market is similar to the UK,
with Call of Dutybeing a popular title amongst gamers and Madden being as popular in the US as FIFA is in Britian.
In a good month, retailers can take in over $1bn across both software and hardware sales. Sales potential can double in November, one of the busiest times for game releases. The US is currently seeing a drop in software, hardware and accessory sales. In September it suffered a decline of 24 per cent compared to last year’s $848.3m.
UPCOMING FACTFILES November 9th: Austria November 16th: Thailand November 23rd: Slovenia
It’s not all doom and gloom though. In September, Texas-based developer Gearbox shipped 1.48m copies of Borderlands 2, selling 234 per cent more than its predecessor. Digital sales in America have also increased in popularity with nearly half of the $3.5bn spent on video games in Q1 2012 going towards downloads, subscriptions and microtransactions.
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“Consumers have been acquiring their console and software from bricks-and-mortar outlets,” says Geoff Mulligan, CEO of Deep Silver US.
Retail is now rapidly changing and the newest generation of gamers are growing up using a mobile or portable device for their
entertainment needs. Geoff Mulligan, Deep Silver
“Not only is that now rapidly changing – and giving retail serious pause in terms of how to replace this lost revenue – but the newest generation of gamers are growing up using a mobile or portable device for their entertainment needs.” NPD results showed that there was a five per cent drop in the number of American gamers from last year, which results to about 12 million fewer players.
There was an increase of 22 per cent of mobile and nine per cent on digital gamers, who acquired games through free and paid downloads. “The best advice I could give would be to take a long and serious look at your long term product strategy, how you will address the ever-growing digital marketplace and what you can do to make your title unique within that space,” concluded Mulligan.