Game analyst Michael Pachter: The Wii was a bubble, but social gaming isn't
20.05.12
Michael Pachter, an oft-quoted video game analyst, said the social gaming explosion of the past few years isn’t a bubble; rather, the Nintendo Wii was a bubble, where users tried out a hot new fad and moved on to something else.
The perspective runs counter to the buzz that social games are in the midst of a Gold Rush, driven by the initial public offering of Zynga, that will come to its inevitable end as the bubble collapses. But Pachter is making the remarks based on a close reading of sales.
“Nintendo Wii fans are now playing Farmville,” Pachter said. “The Wii was a bubble. The Wii bubble has burst. As for the social bubble, I don’t think it’s a bubble. I play Facebook games with my mother. This is not a bubble.”
From 2006 to 2010, it seemed like Nintendo could do no wrong with the Wii, which drew non-gamers and casual gamers into console gaming with the novelty of the Wii motion-sensing controller. But sales have declined more recently, and Microsoft has moved into the No. 1 spot in monthly hardware sales for the past year. Pachter thinks many of those fad gamers have moved on to new things such as playing games on iPads. Only the hardcore console gamers remain, and they’re driving games such as Battlefield 3 or Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 to huge numbers. Nintendo is starting to lose money as it takes a beating in consoles and as iPads and iPhones continue to hurt Nintendo’s portable sales.
[ Via: VentureBeat | Read more... ]
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