Investigation Part 1

PC games are losing the interest of mainstream gamers, with major stores sidelining their PC games, in favour of console–exclusive titles. Certain electronics shops, such as EB Games, are now phasing out PC games and placing their entire PC inventory on sale for discounted prices. Chain-stores, such as K-Mart or Target, have dropped their areas devoted to PC games from large, two section isles, to 5 ft shelves with only 15-20 titles. Stores devoted entirely to PC gaming are also on the decline, with stores either removing their PC Software inventory, marking down their prices, or simply going out of business. On the 26^th of February, PC retailer GAME closed down 43 of its UK stores, with 247 members of staff losing their jobs, and American electronics retailer CompUSA had their holiday revenue half from 2005 to 2006, store-restocking shipments are not being scheduled past February, forcing them to liquidate their remaining 103 stores. After closing 20% of its stores in the autumn of 2008, electronics chain Circuit City hired four liquidators in early 2009, in order to sell the inventory of its remaining 567 American stores. It was reported that Circuit City lost its market share as a result of chain-stores like Wal-Mart (which exclusively sell console games) undercutting their prices.

As the graph above shows, sales of console games have nearly doubled over the last ten years, with the introduction of the Playstation 2 and 3, the Nintendo GameCube and the Wii, as well as the introduction of higher-powered handheld consoles, including the Nintendo DS and the Sony PSP. Microsoft, eager to keep up with their competition, released the Xbox in 2001 and the Xbox 360 in 2005.

Clever marketing on the part of Nintendo has also opened up the gaming demographic to the public. When the Nintendo DS was released in 2004, one of the first game slated for release was Nintendogs, a game involving the raising and care of a virtual puppy, and a game far outside the current (at the time) demographic for video-games. In the first week of its release in Japan (April 18 to April 24), its sales totalled over 168,000 units. This title game also boosted the Nintendo DS system sales by over 4.2 times the previous week to 95,000 units, up from 22,000.Nintendogs also had very successful launches in North America and Europe, with first week sales of over 250,000 and 160,000 respectively, making it the fastest selling Nintendo DS game in both regions to date.

‘Dr Kawashima's Brain Training: How Old Is Your Brain?’ (known as ‘Brain Age: Train Your Brain in Minutes a Day!’ outside PAL regions) is another Nintendo title that’s worked hard to pull gaming into the mainstream. Marketed at middle-aged to elderly men and women, the game has sold over 20 million units worldwide, and spawned a number of sequels.