Neowin.net - Video Game Sales Up 10 Percent in 2002

Video Game Sales Up 10 Percent in 2002

Posted by Tom Warren on 28 January 2003 - 10:12 · 8 comments & 1386 views

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Sales of video game hardware, software and accessories rose 10 percent in 2002 to $10.3 billion, according to data released on Monday, even as revenue from game consoles actually declined. Market research service NPDFunworld, which tracks the video game industry, said 2002 eclipsed 2001's $9.4 billion in sales on the strength of a 21 percent rise in software sales on a dollar basis, and a 15 percent rise on a unit basis.

Hardware sales -- covering Sony Corp.'s 6758.T market-leading PlayStation 2 and earlier PlayStation, Microsoft Corp.'s MSFT.O Xbox and Nintendo Co. Ltd.'s 7974.OS GameCube and handheld devices -- fell 4 percent to $3.5 billion from $3.7 billion even as unit volume rose 10 percent. Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo all cut the prices on their consoles last May as a way to build their installed bases and drive sales of profitable software.

In a sign of things to come, NPD said 15 percent of the software revenue for advanced consoles from August through December was for games playable online. Sony took the PS2 online in August, followed by Nintendo in October and Microsoft in November. On the basis of units sold, Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. TTWO.O commanded the charts once again. Take-Two's "Grand Theft Auto: Vice City" for the PS2 was the year's top game, while its predecessor, "Grand Theft Auto 3," was No. 2 in 2002 after being No. 1 in 2001.

NPD also said that retail software sales for the personal computer, which includes software from operating systems to games, rose 3.1 percent to more than $5.7 billion in 2002 even as unit sales fell by 4.2 percent. Among the top-selling titles were several versions of TurboTax 2001 and Norton Antivirus 2002 as well as Microsoft's Windows XP; The Sims: Vacation Expansion Pack; The Sims: Unleashed Expansion Pack; and Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos.

News source: Reuters.com

Resellers we've talked to say this particular model costs them £1400 plus VAT, on which they're supposed to stick their own margin...

Many of the models at PC World are "desknote" machines, that is to say they have desktop CPUs inside a notebook chassis. There are particularly good deals on 2.8GHz Pentium 4 machines that use a desktop CPU rather than the Pentium 4M.

We overheard a conversation between one customer at PC World and a salesman there. She wanted a machine with a Pentium 4M but she was told that Intel's "Speedstep" technology only gave an extra 10 per cent of battery life and didn't make a big difference to the heat generated either.

Some wag at Micro Anvika said he had heard Intel was about to release a new technology called "Centrino", which he understood performed "better" than the Transmeta, AMD mobile, and Intel mobile chips. The salesman replied that, yes, it probably would be a "better" technology than those currently available in his shop, but when machines were released they would cost an extra £1000.

So the whole point is this. By April, Intel will have six different CPUs that are built into notebooks – the Centrino/Banias chips, the Pentium 4 desktop CPUs, the the Pentium 4M notebook CPUs, the Celeron mobile chips, and the rather nice Pentium III M processors. By autumn, Intel will have six CPUs that go into notebooks – it will release Celeron P4 desktop processors intended for this slug of the market.

As the undoubted leader in PC technology, we wonder whether Intel could please put into the clearest of English which CPU is best for notebooks. Or is that a positioning statement too far?

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Full name: Tom Warren
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(3 replies) #1 Posted by Solarix on 28 Jan 2003 - 11:14: you mean people are buying them!??!

#2 Posted by Jasco on 28 Jan 2003 - 12:50

#3 Posted by KeR on 28 Jan 2003 - 17:45: lmao suckers

#4 Posted by DrunkenMaster on 28 Jan 2003 - 18:32: See, this explains the decline in music sales. RIAA claims music sales are down by what ... 5 to 10% ? Instead of buying music, kids are buying games since they can try them out first and then buy them and you don't buy the game for one feature ( ie one song ).

#5 Posted by phantomAI on 29 Jan 2003 - 02:12: nice

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