You know exactly why.
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Superdata: Gaming hits $91 billion in 2016 (Mobile $41B, Retail $26B, free2play $19B)
- Thread starter Nirolak
- Start date
You know exactly why.
Fixed.
hanspampel
Banned
correct. the overall number of people playing on console is shrinking, but the $ spend is growing.
the casuals left and the hardcore base is concentrating
Today $99 early access games sell well. we have MTX and DLC as additional revenue driver
you can sell $149 controller. the tie ratio for consoles is growing. both Microsoft and Sony release new expensive console models instead of just a cheaper slim version
All that is driving revenue and $ spend.
What the console market lost? a cheap $249 / $99 Wii
I guess it doesn't help that budgets are ballooning too. This seems like a problem that no one seems to be addressing.
LordRaptor
Member
If that's how you choose to interpret that data, you do you.
A more nuanced approach might be to observe that only 5 titles account for around 30% of all console revenue, whereas the top 5 grossing titles are less than 15% on PC, with the top earner singlehandedly account for the majority (75%) of that.
Or in other words, one platform has much fewer games, and those few games hoover up all the money.
lensoftruth
Member
Can't be much profit for a lot of these console top 10s considering the advertising they get.
Sad Affleck
Member
To be honest I understand the argument that the poster is trying to make, it's just that it needs a couple of qualifiers and asterisks so that it can be presented correctly. It is clear that console gaming, taken as a whole, still holds a commanding lead over PC gaming in the big budget triple-A part of the market. Between the big console exclusives, the GTAs, the CODs, the Battlefields, the Destinies, and the FIFAs, there's no question that these games sell a lot more copies on consoles taken as a whole compared to PC. For the average Gaffer who is mainly interested in these experiences that is all that matters.
However, in my opinion console gaming's almost complete reliance on these mammoth franchises isn't healthy. Over the last few years PC gaming has managed to expand to lots of different genres, countries, age groups and business models. The amount of variety is insane and I think it's a safeguard against the collapse of one particular part of the market. The console gaming industry hasn't managed to achieve the same goal and it seems content in milking the existing userbase instead of expanding it.
Jonneh3003
Banned
It's rude and ignorant, glad someone stepped in so soon.
ArtHands
Thinks buying more servers can fix a bad patch
Well its better to have a single gaming PC that can does both (PC exclusives & better version of console games)
lensoftruth
Member
They're generally boring and require investment for the average player, hence fifa and cod popularity.
yep it is i think you just proved my point lol,nice quote from 2015 btw
Pancake Mix
Copied someone else's pancake recipe
Why are you baiting console gamers, the home base of most AAA titles? Many would say the same about PC and the potential bullshit with drivers and upgrading. In fact, they require more investment than a console purchase that could last about 7 years without a true successor.
This bickering reminds me of a quote from a very wise man:
"Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those master racers and console warriors so that in glory and in triumph they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a market. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the gamers of one corner of the market on scarcely distinguishable gamers of some other corner of the market. How frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the gaming universe, are challenged by F2P and mobile gaming. Our ideal form of gaming is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from mobile." - Carl Sagan
..And for the average PC gamer who is mainly interested in those other experiences that is also all that matters.. Certain segments of the market doesn't vanish from reality in a puff of smoke just because someone out there with an inflated ego have zero interest in it.
Saucycarpdog
Member
The Xbox 360 sold 1.6 million in Japan. What's the "foothold" that Microsoft has in Japan today?
And what's wrong with a source from 2015? Did you check your own source at all?
Not even close, Black Ops 3 did 550m in first 3 days. That is Digital only.
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/call-of-duty-black-ops-3-generates-550-million-in-/1100-6432185/
because it does not get mentioned here enough:
console is digital pay2play games only.
so no ps+ or xbox live gold and no free2play console revenue (is not that big, but still a bit of the pie)
also no physical game sales and no hardware + accessories
here is an overall revenue breakdown estimate from newzoo
Wow @tablet Holly Jesus didn't know it was this big.
Pancake Mix
Copied someone else's pancake recipe
I really hope that's not the case, and I don't think it will be, now that there's only two big fish, Sony and Nintendo. Less competition.
Microsoft went hardware agnostic for their software.
Man those numbers are bleak.
Console gaming looks doomed.
Going to be a lowest denominator free to play mobile future.
Consoles are still growing, just not as fast as the mobile bubble (well hopefully it's a bubble but I doubt it). Keep buying console games and they'll keep coming.
Handheld is dying though, no question.
Omega Kirby
Member
Mobile will replace handheld, not like that bothers me. Mobile gaming is more than just f2p stuff and even then some f2p stuff like Vainglory and Clash Royale are pretty good
Small? It's still a huge market just not very big digital yet, retail still dominant, remember those are Digital figures.
Man those numbers are bleak.
Console gaming looks doomed.
Going to be a lowest denominator free to play mobile future.
Do you even read before posting? Digital figures only lol but yeah Doomed OMG
Aztechnology
Member
Man those numbers are bleak.
Console gaming looks doomed.
Going to be a lowest denominator free to play mobile future.
I wouldn't sorry about this. Consoles won't be as strong going forward, less exclusives etc as the market begins to change. But consoles will exist for a long time. The options ore growing, not shrinking.
In general things like exclusives are going away in favour of more agnostic solutions and far more options which I think is a positive. But the core experience of high end games I think will always be supported. Where there's money to be made, someone will do it.
Also the reason mobile has been so trash traditionally is because of relatively low competition and barrier to entry. That's changing very very quickly. Now there's a ton of noise in mobile gaming which means the games need to do more to standout. And as more of the big players/publishers diversify into mobile gaming they'll create higher quality mobile games as well.
Mobile gaming's bubble is bursting.
What I keep trying to point out yet people keep hammering revenue revenue revenue is that digital is more important and more profitable than retail. So while physical is the biggest revenue it's not the most profitable sector.
Booted up Rocket League no problem from my bed. What's the issue here?
LastOne2100
Member
Hey look, a company that understands how to make an graphic that actually makes sense and compares things that actually make sense to compare lol.
Aztechnology
Member
It's funny that they keep getting quoted, I'm almost positive at this point they were making that as a "But GAF says" kind of post but did it poorly.
Sarcasm in text sucks.
That is true, but people are reading those numbers wrong.
Ukie 2015 statement:
Digital Console and PC: 1224 (£m)
Mobile gaming: 664 (£m)
And UK has a pretty decent mobile adoption rate. Globally this might differ, as there are a lot of countries where nobody has a console at all.
But it is not like that pc or mobile are 10x bigger than console gaming. The graph isn't "fair" in that regard.
Aztechnology
Member
Right ok, I see what you're saying. I just want to make sure to clarify why digital has such a strong emphasis from analysts. I'd like to see total profitability analysis more than anything. I imagine mobile is way higher than either.
ArtHands
Thinks buying more servers can fix a bad patch
Why is that depressing? That mobile number shouldnt be performing much better than console gaming?
Can't be much profit for a lot of these console top 10s considering the advertising they get.
It's digital sales only and for all we know even that is not accurate.
Falchion
Member
Totally didn't realize that, phew.
Aztechnology
Member
People are depressed about the thought of the core market being forgone for the new market of F2P and casual titles.
Remember in some ways, especially going forward where more and more F2P markets appear that it becomes a more risky market. Like I said the competition is just starting to heat up, but you can already see that many F2P titled exist in a winner take all ecosystem. There's one or two that make tons of money and the rest that merely exist somewhere on the fringes.
As long as there's money to be made in a market, things will be made. Everyone isn't simply going to switch everything to mobile yet because console still grows and makes money. They'll just grow and make more mobile games as well.
1st Course
Member
Yeah no sure we can trust these figures.
That VR figure especially looks way too high.
That VR figure especially looks way too high.
These reports are sold at publishers and investors who are thinking "we are not making enough money! We need to get in on the it thing! What is the it thing? Oh my these fads are making much more money than we do, but we don't know anything about these fads, we must buy this report!".
Always, Always, take free data analysis reports from commercial companies with a grain of salt. They're trying to push a narrative.
Alex
Member
Core market ain't going anywhere.
People are gonna have to get over the F2P boogeyman, though.
Microsoft lost its presence when it lost Japanese developer support that aint gonna happen anytime soon with ps4, to compare Microsoft losing support in japan to ps4 is asinine .theres nothing wrong with 2015 but my point being that was shortly after chinese launch its Apples to oranges to my quote
The Hamburglar
Banned
Can someone explain why pc is so high? Does that include pc hardware sales such as gfx cards etc
Aztechnology
Member
It's high because
A. It's for digital revenues
B. It's reflecting many global markets. PC is reasonably large in the U.S, but huge in China in the same way consoles have been huge in Japan traditonally.
C. No it's not reflecting Hardware sales. That's very hard to unlink from general computer hardware sales too as they often overlap. That would also be a humongous figure though.
https://newzoo.com/insights/article...aches-99-6-billion-2016-mobile-generating-37/
Killroyskbg
Member
I find it interesting that PC gamers spend so little cash on games outside of those areas. Like I said with PC having more or less 100% digital and consoles is like 20-30% and yet beat PC in revenue. If you wonder why PC often have to wait or get shitty ports of AAA this is probably the reason.
uncelestial
Member
And yet, layoffs are a constant thing in the industry.
LordRaptor
Member
No, again, that's because you are not correctly reading the data.
They are not "spending less cash" on retail titles; they are spending ballpark equal cash on more retail titles.
That is entirely different.
Aztechnology
Member
Most AAA ports are not shitty. In fact they are often considered the definitive versions as the have a wider gammut of options, including better visuals, expanded framerate options etc. There's just often more work to be done to bring it to PC as well.
Most the time PC players simply have higher standards that need to be met in terms of system performance. For instance if the game runs like it does on a PS4 with better equipment, then people are going to call it a shit port. A lot of that is often user error or misunderstanding around the settings they are choosing and the performance cost it has. If you want to talk about that you should talk to Durante. He's made a point several times to thoroughly explain the fallacy of people complaining about PC ports when they just turn all the settings to ultra, don't get 60 fps and complain.
Or inversely that they need to make sure it runs on a wider variety of systems including low end systems. Often those people with computers near the minimum spec or even potentially under it get frustrated at the performance they get.
Certainly there are crappy ports, but I'd say that's largely not the case.
Killroyskbg
Member
On digital downloads yes but real retail for PC is dead and on console digital is only third at most of sales.
andthebeatgoeson
Junior Member
I remember the days gaming was celebrating the march to 20 billion on sales. This was before mobile took off.
Now mobile is the dominant force. But gaming is healthy at 26 billion.
People will state that traditional 'consoles' have lost their touch with Japan's slowdown, handheld's slowdown and other things but 26 billion is a great number for a healthy section of gaming.
Now mobile is the dominant force. But gaming is healthy at 26 billion.
People will state that traditional 'consoles' have lost their touch with Japan's slowdown, handheld's slowdown and other things but 26 billion is a great number for a healthy section of gaming.
LordRaptor
Member
That changes nothing.
If you have an airport bookshop that only sells Tom Clancy / John Grisham / Michael Crichton / Steven King books, and you have a bricks and mortar bookshop selling an entire bookshops worth of books, and they both sell +/- 10% the same number of books in a year, you are saying that people spend less money on books from the bookshop, because the sales of Clancy / Grisham / Crichton / King are so much higher at the airport.
Killroyskbg
Member
You mean the same Durante that have fixed several games because the developers could not take the time to do a proper port?
Killroyskbg
Member
How is that a comparisons to this?
You understand that is DIGITAL downloads only?
Yes they spend the same on digital but there is no briks and mortar shop for retail games for PC while on console the briks and morfars it is 3-4 times as big as digital.