Data Filter: The News You Need in Easy-to-Swallow Gel Cap Form

Electronic Gaming Business, April 21, 2004

News-O-Matic

Whassup?: In a new study on media multi-tasking, BIGResearch discovered that in the 18- to 34-year-old demo, gaming is one of the most popular things to do while watching TV. In looking at active gamers in that coveted age range, BIGResearch also found that 68.1% were male, but that decreased notably to 60.6% when the demo was parsed to 25- to 34-year-olds. More than 55% of gamers in that same post-college range reported being married or living with a partner. Average income for the 25- to 34-year-old gaming segment is $41,741 and more than 40% own their homes, with 59% having attended college. So What?: The best news in this study for the games industry is normality. Young adult gamers are not arrested fan boys but family men and women, many owning homes and with fairly middling incomes for the age group. The study also found that many twenty/thirty-something gamers are professionals or in management. That more women seem to game as they get older is an interesting twist, and it begs for further research about how gaming really integrates with family life. Finally, gamers are massive media multi-taskers. When this group is online, for instance, 37.8% say they regularly watch TV as well. For marketers, this means that cross media promotions (TV ads and on-air placement or promotions that point to Web addresses) should be especially effective with the core gaming demo.

Whassup?: Multimedia handheld gaming device Gametrac from Tiger Telematics rebrands itself Gizmondo. The company claims that GameTrac was "a project name for our strategic partners," but believes that its non-gaming features (movie and MP3 playback, built-in camera, MMS messaging, and GPS) somehow merit a goofier name.

So What?: Actually, Tiger Telematics admits that the renaming was supposed to come at E3, when the device prototype is being shown, but that "pending legal issues" prompted an early name change. Tiger says it will have games to show as well. The company told EGB last month that a pre-release roll-out among high profile trendsetters was planned for this summer, with a full launch later this year.

Whassup?: Piper Jaffray now estimates that console software sales in 2004 will increase 8%, driven by expected hardware discounts, bundling, and a strong release schedule, while sales in 2005 will decline 7% during the transitional 2005. Sony's PSP will give the industry a marginal boost in 2005. So What?: Bless PJ analyst Tony Gikas for finally mentioning a point we have been making for months now. The PSP is "at risk" in its release timing, price point and target market. In fact, if the PSP comes in over $199, it becomes a niche product that will lose money for some publishers at just the point in the hardware cycle when they can least afford it. Worse, the adult handheld gaming target is wholly un-proven as a robust market.

Whassup?: GSN (Game Show Network) successfully deployed a one-screen, synchronized play-along-at-home version of some of its game shows to 388,000 Oceanic Time Warner cable customers in Hawaii. The rollout uses standard Scientific American set top boxes and ordinary remote controls to let audiences play the on-air game. The system uses Gold Pocket technology. So What?: While various other technologies have created this sort of play-at-home experience, this rollout is significant in the seamlessness of the experience, requiring of cable users nothing more than their ordinary connection and a remote. It has the potential to catch on quickly. As ITV in Europe has shown, mass gaming audiences don't need fancy graphics or processing power, just simple and familiar game play and a no-brainer interface.

Whassup?: NPD Funworld data for Q1 2004 shows a slight fall in software revenues from same period 2003, mainly from lost handheld sales (-6%), coming from a weak release period. Overall, game unit sales actually rose 5%, and dollar sales for console games rose 7%. As expected in this part of the cycle console hardware was down 25% from same month last year with games for the PS2. So What?: Both Q1 and March NPD data suggests that Microsoft needs to get more and better software into the market. Xbox game sales went up 81% in March off of moving 362,400 Ninja Gaidens. Nevertheless, NG and two-year-old Halo were the only two Xbox titles to make the 10 ten sellers of Q1. Meanwhile, the "troubled" GameCube was responsible for four bestsellers in the period.

Whassup?: Trymedia Systems closes "B" round funding with an investment from Intel's Digital Home Fund, the newly-formed $200 million capital investment project that encourages technologies that distribute digital content. Trymedia plans to use the investment in part to expand into new vertical categories of content and territories.

So What?: Trymedia's content security product ActiveMark gets added credibility from the investment. Consumer demand and ISPs may drive the digital download model faster than many game companies and retailers would like. Trymedia just inked deals with AOL U.K. and Yahoo Australia/NZ, as well as other worldwide distribution channels, which see digital content delivery as important value adds that they probably will be promoting more aggressively.