Posts Tagged ‘npd group’

« Older Entries

Nexon delivers a quality experience – reaps the financial rewards

Wednesday, August 19th, 2009

Hot on the heels of the Tencent.com news of posting record profits, Nexon America announced yesterday that they’ve also set a few records of their own. Looking at July ’08 vs. ’09 saw a 35 percent increase in revenues.

Leading the revenue surge was Nexon’s now 6 year old (Korean) and 4 year old (North America) free-to-play genre defining Maple Story. This past July saw a record number of more than 70,000 max concurrent users online. Nexon America counts over 6 million registered users, only a small fraction of Maple Story’s 92 million total worldwide players.

To put this into perspective, the NPD Group recently reported a 29 percent drop in video game industry revenues in July ’09, when compared to the year before. So where’s the disconnect? Obviously, the current global economic situation has forced consumers into tightening the belt, and holding off on new hardware and software purchases. When looking at the current situation and instigating the “Some things will have to go,” mentality, surely that gaming subscription might be one of the first things to go. Et viola, enter stage right the appeal of free-to-play gaming.

“The economy has been tough on great deal of the games industry, but we fought hard to retain our customers and to bring in as many new players as possible,” said Min Kim, Nexon America’s vice president of marketing. “We’re heavily investing on all fronts – in our games, our publishing platform, aggressive marketing efforts as well as customer service. The best news for Nexon America is that our success isn’t just reflected in registered users, but in actual, dramatic revenue growth.”

During the month of July, Nexon put the pedal to the metal with marketing efforts including a massive internet wide campaign for their fantasy MMOG, Mabinogi. The company also ran major television and feature film preview advertising campaigns for Maple Story. If that wasn’t enough, Nexon’s popular FPS Combat Arms currently has a major campaign underway.

Coinciding with these advertising blitzes, Nexon delivered major content updates to Mabinogi, MapleStory and Combat Arms, obviously not disappointing newcomers, and keeping long time players interested.

“We are serious about making Nexon the top brand in online gaming, and we are not backing on down our efforts to deliver more content to our customers or aggressively work to attract new players,” said Kim. “We pioneered the free-to-play business model when we brought MapleStory to North America in 2005. With the slew of new games we have planned and the BlockParty initiative, which will bring players together like never before, we will continue to be the leader in this market for years to come.”

So while this question hasn’t really been at the forefront of the battle for a while, I think with Nexon’s numbers, can we officially call this “but can it be profitable?” debate to rest? I think so.

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in industry news | No Comments »

 

Nielsen reports record gaming for June 2009

Tuesday, August 11th, 2009

According to a new report published by Nielsen Co., this past June was a banner month in video game play. While sales of consoles might have been flat, it appears that those that already own a console (or two) spent record amounts of time (measured in minutes) gaming. According to a recent NPD Group survey June ’09 hardware sales took a beating, dropping 31 percent when compared to June ’08.

Compared to June 2008, Nielsen’s year-over-year numbers indicate a 21 percent increase in time spent with games. On average, gamers spent 12.8 hours playing during the month of June.

101576-games

Of particular interest, the Nielsen survey clearly indicates that consumers have reached the crucial critical mass numbers with ‘new generation’ consoles, the Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii, as half the minutes played during the month of June were dedicated solely to these consoles. Nielsen’s director of video game services, Geraldo Guzman comments, “The transition has happened. Now that there is critical mass on the new generation of consoles, it gives marketers a chance to reach gamers on the platforms which offer in-game advertising.” An interesting point, as currently only the Xbox 360 and PS3 support dynamically served in-game advertising. However, let’s not forget about the recent WipEoutHD iga fiasco.

The Nielsen study also indicates that more than 50 percent of all gamers are over the age of 18 (insert marketing opportunity here), with teens 12 – 17 making up the largest segment of minutes played players, a massive 25 percent.

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in industry news | 1 Comment »

 

Kids use of mobile phones, personal computers and gaming platforms continues upward trend

Monday, June 15th, 2009

According to a recent report released by leading market research firm, The NPD Group, 2009 could very well mark the beginning of a new trend in boys’ and girls’ usage of consumer electronics.  Scoring particularly high in trends were both mobile phones and laptop computers.  Quite interestingly, according to the report, females are now more apt to use these specific devices, while at the same time, kids of all ages and genders are trending towards ‘talking’ via sms and photo sharing.

Surveying 3,212 adults aged 23 or older, with children aged 4-14 in the household, the survey goes on to find that televisions and computers retain their top two spots year over year, but that both HD televisions and laptop computers, as opposed to SD TV’s and desktops, have seen a strong surge as of late.  While the study admits that this is mainly an offshoot of the parents’ own upgrades, the increased level of kids ownership of laptops seems to suggest that parents are purchasing these devices specifically for their 4-14 year old.

On average, households with this demographic contain 11 consumer electronics devices, a trend not showing any signs of slowing, with 33 percent of parents reporting that they plan on purchasing at least one consumer electronics device for their child in the coming year.  Younger kids can expect electronic learning toys, while the older demographic should land new mobile phone or digital camera gear.

Since launching the kids’ usage of consumer electronics report over 5 years ago, NPD says devices such as personal digital music players, laptops, digital cameras, and mobile phones in particular have seen explosive growth, and that the entire landscape of consumer electronic consumption has shifted dramatically.  For example, 37 percent of kids now use a personal digital music player, as opposed to only 6 percent in 2005.

Speaking of 37 percent, the NPD survey also reports that 37 percent of kids that use a portable gaming device own their own, and 30 percent of kids that use a personal digital music player own it.  And while these numbers in their own right are impressive, taking a look at the bigger ticket item, one in four 4-14 year olds own their own console video game system.

“The activity which drives two of the three most-used consumer electronics devices, computers and video game console systems, is gaming.  Playing games is an activity that kids enjoy across most of these devices,” said Anita Frazier, industry analyst, The NPD Group, “so it’s likely one of the activities driving personal ownership among kids.”

What the survey did not drill down into, and I’ll take the leap out to that branch, is how many of these personal digital music devices also function as a mobile gaming device?  Yes, I’m specifically talking to the iPhone right now.  Don’t forget, we’re now t-minus 2 days and counting until Apple’s iPhone OS 3.0 launches, with a full inclusion of microtransactions.

Illustrating my point, Frazier goes on to state, “CE devices are great, but content is the key driver that will help continue the growth of the kids CE market, particularly digital content, which goes hand-in-hand with portable devices.”

So there we have it, a possible revolution in the making.  As I alluded to earlier this year, my prediction is that Apple with the iPhone is going to do for gaming microtransactions what they did for mp3’s and the music industry.  Provide a safe, secure, and trusted platform that lowers fears, misconceptions, and outright bias.

Remember, swelling tides raise all ships.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in industry news | 1 Comment »

 

NPD Report: casual gaming and digital downloads on the rise

Friday, May 22nd, 2009

A recent snippet of The NPD Group’s “Entertainment Trends in America” survey reveals that over the past six months, more Americans have turned to casual gaming and downloadable content over a night out at the cinema.  Close to 2 out of 3 Americans (63 percent) indicated that they’ve played a video game, while just over half have been out to the movies (53 percent) during the same period.

The survey also indicates that the increase in gaming is directly correlated to the increased availability and visibility of new and existing outlets for playing.  While not an overwhelming number, overall 10 percent indicated that they’d played a game on a social network, and 5 percent said that they’d paid to download a game from the web, a 2 percent increase from the same question last year.

“Video games account for one-third of the average monthly consumer spending in the U.S. for core entertainment content, including music, video, games,” said Anita Frazier, video games industry analyst for NPD. “While a portion of that share stems from the premium price of console games, we’re also seeing an overall increase in the number of people participating in gaming year-over-year.”

Clearly, as NPD’s Q1 2009 update to the “Entertainment Trends in America” survey includes data noting that the average gamer spent just over $38 per month on any and all types of gaming content.  Over the past year, NPD found that almost 1 in 3 (31 percent) of gamers purchased either a console or portable game, representing a .7 percent increase year-over-year.  Most interestingly, these ‘traditional’ gamers seem to be branching out, as among consumers who regularly play console or portable games, 31 percent indicated that they’d also played a game on a gaming website.  19 percent are playing on their mobile phones, 12 percent on a social networking site, and 11 percent purchased and downloaded a game to their mobile.

“As with video and music, sales of physical gaming products still account for the bulk of consumer spending on video games, but digital downloads and other delivery and game-play formats are also rising in popularity,” said Russ Crupnick, entertainment industry analyst for NPD.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in industry news | No Comments »

 

Consumers plan to spend same amount or more on Entertainment in 2009

Saturday, April 18th, 2009

A recent tracking study conducted by the NPD group, Entertainment Trends in America, reveals that most American consumers intend on spending as much or even more on entertainment in 2009.

While music digital downloads took the top slot, with 75% of consumers surveyed indicating that they would spend the same or more on music as they did in 2008, 65% of those surveyed said that will spend the same amount or more on video games. Indicating a favorable nod to downloadable content, in this case, specifically music, only 60% of respondents indicated that they would spend the same or more on physical CD’s. Although spending on theatrical movies did not take the top slot, tracking at 73%, this entertainment sector appears to be in the best position for growth, as the same question in the previous years’ survey logged only a 66% response from those polled.

Theatrical release films look like the big winner for ’09, over half those surveyed 51%, indicated that they’d purchased a DVD or Blu-ray disk during the previous three months. Console or portable video games took the number two spot in recent purchased with 36%, and CD purchases clocked in a 31%.

“Even in the face of a down economy, entertainment remains a popular spending category,” said Russ Crupnick, entertainment industry analyst for NPD. “Most consumers say they’ll continue to purchase at least the same amount of many entertainment categories in the coming year.”

According to the NPD survey, the current per capita entertainment budget is $160 per month. However, this number is slightly misleading, as a majority of this spend is applied to dedicated television and internet access subscriptions. While we’ve all heard/seen/read predictions that consumers would start to trim the entertainment fat during the current economic downturn, the NPD study finds the only noticeable decline in magazine and newspaper subscriptions. Bad news for an industry already in turmoil.

These numbers clearly indicate that the entertainment industry as a whole may be far better positioned to ride out the current economic storm, NPD’s Russ Crupnick advises caution, “There is anxiety about the economy among entertainment buyers, increasing use of unpaid digital options for entertainment and competition for the entertainment dollar, but consumers have clearly shown that compelling content will get them back into the stores or theatres.”

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in industry news | No Comments »

 

UK gearing up for best-ever Q4 game sales

Tuesday, November 25th, 2008

A recent report published by Top Global Markets, a combined monthly report from leading providers of the video games industry consumer and retail information, The NPD Group, GfK, Chart-Track Limited and Enterbrain Inc., shows that combined video game software sales across the world’s largest three markets had a 1 percent growth Q3 (July-Spetember) 2008.

The United Kingdom took the show, with a remarkable 15 percent growth rate, the US coming in a second at 8 percent.  To clarify, the UK has a skewed growth rate pattern though, as a 26 percent gain was experienced in console software, while portable software dropped 1 percent.  The US on the other hand might be a better indicator, with console software shipping plus 6 percent and portable software growing 10 percent.

“Taking into consideration the marked differences between the 3 territories, the UK market in particular is gearing up for a best-ever Q4 performance overall, even under the well-documented financial climate,” said Dorian Bloch, Business Group Director, GfK Chart-Track Limited.  “We fully expect UK consumers to drive sales for the full year to unprecedented heights, especially considering the line-up of exciting single and multi-format new franchises currently hitting the market, not to mention the evergreen portfolio of Nintendo-published Wii & DS titles which have done such a great job of expanding the market to a far more mainstream consumer.”

The US market, however, was the only sector to experience positive growth YOY with an 5 percent growth in Q3 ’07 and 8 percent Q3 ’08.  The UK, on the other hand, is experiencing explosive console software sales, but actually diminished growth YOY – a 34 percent increase in Q3 ’07 vs. a 15 percent increase in Q3 ’08.

“In the U.S., third quarter total industry unit sales grew 8 percent versus 2007, even as the economy showed accelerating signs of recession,” said Anita Frazier, industry analyst, The NPD Group.  “As would be expected at this point in the console lifecycle, games sales are starting to take the spotlight even as the average retail prices of games increased slightly.  Heading into the critical fourth quarter, the U.S. games industry is on solid ground.”

And then there’s Japan.

Most, if not all of our consoles are pumped out of Japan at an astonishing rate.  The flat performance of unit sales in Nippon cast a wave upon the Japanese software market, currently being felt across the industry.  Q3 ’08 shows a dramatic 21 percent overall decrease YOY, with consol software taking the biggest hit at 33 percent, portable software at 13 percent.

“Japan did experience sales declines in both software categories, but it is important to keep in mind that not only is Japan a more mature market than the U.S. and UK, but 2007 was a banner year for the Japanese software market, with the titles released in the third quarter of 2008 not being as highly anticipated as those released during the same time period in 2007,” said Ricky K Tanimoto, Global Marketing Analyst, Enterbrain, Inc. “Also, software titles generally have stronger launch sales in Japan, which represent a large percentage of the total sales in Japan compared to the U.S. and UK. In regards to expectations for the remainder of the calendar year, we estimate overall video game sales in Japan this holiday season will not be greatly affected by the world financial crisis, especially in the portable space. Portable software sales are particularly strong, and new portable hardware systems like Sony’s PSP-3000 and Nintendo’s DSi will prove to be driving market forces in Japan throughout the 2008 holiday season.”

Related articles
Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in industry news | No Comments »

 

fatfoogoo at the Games Convention and Developers Conference

Monday, August 18th, 2008

The Games Convention which kicks off in Leipzig, Germany this Wednesday and continues through Sunday in will see two equal sides of fatfoogoo. CEO Martin Herdina will be speaking at the GCDC (Games Convention Developers Conference) about in-game economies and item trading, while Loki and DT will be scouting the floor, reporting on and talking to gamers about the newest trends in various multiplayer games.

Many publishers have expressed interest in or are currently in search of additional revenue streams for their virtual worlds. Discounting the ‘traditional’ subscription fee, thousands of developers are either already in the game or standing at the starting line with free to play titles springing up almost everyday. The problem? How do we monetize it and recoup some of (read: ideally all of) the development costs? If the already established gold and item trading system (aka Blizzard) wasn’t already the Goliath these David’s are staring down, more and more suppliers are shying away from ‘Secondary Market’ third party suppliers. fatfoogoo has comprehensive experience with developing, managing, and providing ‘ready to go’ in game ecosystems, which makes it the ideal partner for a number of these publishers. fatfoogoo can function either as the Primary Trading platform or an Add-on marketplace. Combine this functionality with Comscore’s data: 32% of all Internet users play online games – and they’re prepared to spend money on it, along with the NPD Group’s recent study stating “…more than half of the Extreme Gamers and just over a third of Avid PC Gamers said that they would definitely download a feature to enhance a specific game that they own.”

Another interesting topic being covered in at the GC is the future of specialty trading. Not exactly new, but the genre is…eSports. Could we be seeing microtransactions being applied to “coach’s hours” whereby players receive special tips and tricks on how to command in-game mastery? Stay tuned as developments continue….

Martin Herdina is scheduled to speak on Wednesday morning, delivering his talk: A New Revenue Stream – Legitimizing the Trading within a Virtual Market. fatfoogoo is in good company, as Acclaim co-founder David Perry will deliver the Keynote speech with 125 other speakers and approximately 1000 industry participants discussing the future of the gaming industry.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in company news, fatfoogoo | No Comments »

 

David Perry’s 33 ways to monetize games

Sunday, August 17th, 2008

David Perry recently laid out an impressive slideshow over at Business Week with 33 examples of how to monetize games.  Perry a 27 year industry veteran has over $1 Bn of retail game sales receipts to his credit, and co-founder and chief creative officer of Acclaim games.

Perry fully admits in the article that the rapid and expansive growth of the gaming industry will and should probably make his 33 ways list obsolete rather quickly.  Perry sees games that fall into the ‘social’ catagory as those with the most explosive growth and potential.  Siting an NPD Group study, Perry notes that 15% of retail game sales go to the adult ‘mature’ audience, and 85% to everyone else.  Social games are asynchonus (meaning, busy players take turns going back and forth at each other, and do not necessarily need to be ‘playing’ at the same time) and fall nicely into the mid-zone between these adult ‘mature’ gamers and all others.  In other words, covering the most amount of the market with the widest net.

Distribution methods are also covered by Perry.  Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony, former kings of brick and mortar distribution methods, have changed their tune and opened online distribution channels.  As soon as ISP penetration reaches the tipping point, Perry sees physical media such as cartridges and DVD’s going the way of the dodo bird.  The players to watch in the digital distribution battleground?  Facebook, MySpace, Google, and Apple.

While Perry’s list covers a wide range of money making gaming ideas, his microtransaction side is of particualr significance, pointing out even staunch anti microtransaction publisher Blizzard’s recent dipping of toes into the ‘let’s measure their reaction’ pool:

Micro-Transactions

These are small, impulse-driven purchases bought for reasons of vanity, saving time, better communications, or even moving up a level more quickly. (Levels are a player’s ranking within a virtual society.) They’re generally paid for using virtual points, either earned in the game (by playing), or bought for real money (which is a massive time-saver). A new trend is offering virtual items in exchange for access to a player’s real-world friends. So for example: “You can have this magic sword, if you invite a friend to play.” Getting that balance right can mean stunning revenue growth, which makes it even more important for you come up with offers the gamers really want. This technique works well on social networks like Facebook as friends are just a click away. If you can get more than a 1 to 1 ratio, the game goes viral, which results in exponential growth. That’s the goal here.

The image that Perry chose?

Pointing out Blizzard’s new ‘recruit a friend’ campaign whereby new comers and those that recruited them can now gain ‘triple xp’ and summon each other to each other, thereby saving a great deal of time.  The recruiter also has the opportunity to receive an exclusive in game mount if the recruitee follows through on certain terms and conditions.  See it any way you want…but it looks like a crack in Blizzard’s armor.

View Perry’s article at Business Week.

View Perry’s slideshow at Business Week.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in industry news | No Comments »

 

NPD Group releases Games Segmentation 2008 Report

Thursday, August 14th, 2008

The market research firm the NPD Group recently released its 2008 Games Segmentation Report which reveals some staggering numbers.

According to the US Census population clock, there are currently 304 million Americans.  This includes all living breathing persons within the American borders.  While some of these people do not fall into the range of NPD’s survey (ages 2-65+), NPD found that there are approximately 174 million Americans playing games.  Even if we were to take the entire US population, that means that 1 out of every 2 Americans is playing some type of game on some type of platform.

The report divides the total number of gamers into 7 distinct “gamer segments” and analyzes their usage and ownership patterns.  The breakdown looks like so:

  • 3% are Extreme Gamers
  • 9% are Avid PC Gamers
  • 17% are Console Gamers
  • 14% are Online PC Gamers
  • 15% are Offline PC Gamers
  • 22% are Young Heavy Gamers
  • 20% are Secondary Gamers

Young heavy gamers make up the majority of the survey with a whopping 38 million strong.  These gamers tend to favor portable platforms, make up at least one third of the system owner’s group with 6 out of every 10 owning a DS and/or PSP.

On the other side of the coin, Extreme Gamers, those classified as playing a total of 22.3 or more hours per week, and having purchased nearly 24 titles across all their gaming platforms in the past three months, show a strong preference for the PS3 and Xbox 360.

“Although Extreme Gamers are heavily involved with the industry, they represent a small portion of the potential market for any new game that comes to market,” said NPD analyst Anita Frazier. “In order to promote continued growth, we must better understand all of the gaming segments.”

While the PC is used more than any single console for gaming, Extreme Gamers, Console Gamers, and Young Heavy Gamers are more likely to use consoles than a PC to play.

The study also found that Console Gamers; those that play on a console system, on average 8.2 hours/week, and purchased 3.2 games in the past three months, that own a PS3 are most likely to own other current gen consoles.  In contrast, only 10% of PS2 owners also own a PS3.

Regarding micro transactions, the NPD Group found that more than half of the Extreme Gamers and just over a third of Avid PC Gamers said that they would definitely download a feature to enhance a specific game that they own.

Speaking of downloads, 14% of games purchased in the past threee months across all segments were digitally acquired, with Avid PC Gamers making 27% of their purchases digitally.

About the NPD Group Study:

The data was collected from more than 20,000 members of NPD’s online consumer panel, ages two to 65+.  Responses for consumers ages two to 12 were captured by instructing a parent to take his or her child in this age range to the computer to answer the questions, either with or without the parent’s assistance. Qualified respondents reported they personally play video games on a PC, on a console or portable system, or on another device such as a mobile phone.  The following four key variables were used to create the gamer segments: ownership; usage; frequency; and purchased/received video games. Final survey data was weighted to represent the U.S. population of individuals ages two and older.  Fieldwork was conducted from January 11-February 5, 2008.

Note: This study was conducted in January, meaning that questions that refer to consumer behavior in the past three months include the Christmas/Hanukkah holidays.

Games Segmentation 2008 differs from Gamer Segmentation II (May 2007) primarily in the revised sampling methodology and the revised and updated Segment definitions. Gamer Segmentation II used a sample of individuals age 6 to 44. Games Segmentation 2008 uses a sample of individuals 2 to 99. By including all gamers, NPD will be able to continue to use and trend these segments for future waves.

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in industry news | No Comments »

 

Paul Thelen presents Big Fish findings on casual gamer profiles and the casual game industry

Monday, July 28th, 2008

At least week’s Casual Connect Seattle, Big Fish Chairman and CSO Paul Thelen presenting some outstanding data regarding the casual gaming market.

The outline to Mr. Thelen’s presentation reads:

The terms “Casual Games” and “Casual Gamer” are very broad terms that mean different things to virtually everyone involved in this area of the overall games industry. The complexity of defining casual games is due to the evolutionary and revolutionary changes that occur each year and the diversity of products and services, breadth of consumption methods and wide variety of business models that have emerged. In this keynote address, Paul Thelen presents the results of new study performed by Big Fish Games, in collaboration with NPD Group, of the US games industry with an emphasis on the casual gamer. The study profiles distinct casual segments of the market and the resulting business opportunities as well as comparing and contrasting these casual segments with the traditional core games market.

Some of Big Fish’s findings include:

Segmenting gamers into two buckets is misleading

Combining Casual and Core gamers, there are 14 distinct segments

This business is complex

  • 14 customer segments
  • 17 Platforms
      PC, Mac, Mobile Phone, Touch Phone, PDA , Xbox 360, XBLA, Playstation 2/3, PSP, Wii, Gameboy, DS, WiWare, IPTV, In-flight entertainment, Basic Browser, Social Networks
  • 10 business models
      Pay-per-day, Try-and-buy, Multi-game subscription to won, Multi-game subscription to rent, Advertising supported, Advergames, Micro-transaction item sales, Single game subscription, Skill game wagering, Bricks and Mortar sales

With this massive amount of data, Big Fish and NDP have clearly presented us with a picture of complexity.  14 different customer segments to contend with.  17 different platforms for you and your developers to wrangle with.  10 different business models, all having their own merits.  Getting your game off the ground and to market is complex enough.  Why not take one worry right off the list?  How are we going to monetize the game?  Simple.  If you’re heading towards the growing trend of micro transaction based, free to play games, you’ve landed in the right spot.

fatfoogoo is a full service provider and offers you a turn-key solution to operate a marketplace including payment, clearing, settlement and in-voicing; all within your game’s environment.  fatfoogoo does what we do best: monetize your game, allowing you and your team more time to focus on what’s important, the game itself.

Zemanta Pixie

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in industry news | No Comments »

 
« Older Entries