Retailers 'advance to go' as classic games go on line

Discount Store News, Feb 3, 1997 by Robert Scally

The future of computer gaming may rest in the on-line "netherworld" of cyberspace, but old-fashioned mass market retailing will remain the best way to get games to market.

It's doubtful that on-line commerce will replace retail game sales any time soon, according to a panel of on-line gaming experts speaking last month during a seminar titled The Future of Gaming: The Next Wave,, that took place at the Winter Consumer Electronics Show.

"Retail will remain the best way to get multimedia content into the hands of consumers," said Paul Matteucci, president, ceo of Mpath Interactive.

Jeff Leibowitz, head of Engage, a developer of online games that is partially owned by multimedia game maker Interplay, agreed.

"Just as mail order has failed to eliminate retail, on-line won't replace retail," Leibowitz said.

In the future, games will come complete with versions for solitary, network and head-to-head play, and those games will be purchased at retail, Leibowitz said. The social experience of gaming begins with the purchase, he said.

"The social element is what will come back in games," Leibowitz said. What appeals to people is people. You want to sign on where everybody knows your name."

Board games and retail will not wither, and CD-ROM and on-line games will only add to the universe of gaming experiences available to consumers, he said.

While on-line gaming does represent a significant new development in how players can interact in one game, the very nature of gaming itself will probably not be altered by cyberspace play.

"Even though our industry is incredibly arrogant, I don't think we'll be able to change the course of gaming," Leibowitz said.

The violent shooting games and complex roleplaying games that are prevalent today are already giving way to other types of play that could eventually draw millions or more casual game enthusiasts to the on-line realm.

"Action is not necessarily the driver [of on-line gaming]," said Chris Holden of Kesmai Corp. "The best multiplayer games will push the social component." On-line gaming is likely to become more mass oriented, with easier-to-learn and easier-to-play games, Holden added.

It is likely that such comments were music to the ears of panel member Tom Dusenberry, president of Hasbro Interactive.

Hasbro Interactive has made a splash in the multimedia and on-line gaming worlds during the past few months, with computer game adaptations of some of its classic board games, such as Monopoly, which sold 200,000 units in the first six weeks after it went on sale last year, and the classic word game Scrabble.

Monopoly has an on-line component, and between 2,000 and 3,000 games are played on line each week, Dusenberry said.

"Hasbro represents a mass-market approach to the business," Dusenberry said. "We'll support any viable mass market, and on-line is definitely becoming a mass market."

In a little more than a year, Dusenberry, who helped launch Hasbro Interactive in October 1995, has proven that classic board games can be success translated into effective CD-ROM games. eight major titles, and six of those titles have sold more than 100,000 units, Dusenberry said.

Several of Hasbro's CD-ROM games, including Monopoly, Scrabble and Battleship, feature 3-D graphics and Internet-play options.

Toward the end of 1996, Hasbro Interactive was able to boost sales of some of its games by lowering the street price to $19.95.

Dusenberry said that Hasbro Interactive has major expansion plans for 1997, including creating five games for the Sony Playstation.

The Playstation game lineup will consist of two new games developed for the set-top format and three classic games. The first of the games will be released in May, with two titles streeting in July, followed by two more in October, he said.

Hasbro Interactive is still evaluating the development of games for the new Nintendo 64 platform.

CD-ROM versions of a number of Parker Brothers a Hasbro division) and Hasbro games, such as Sorry, Boggle and Pictionary, will lead Hasbro's release schedule this year. The company will extend its successful Monopoly and Scrabble properties by releasing versions for the Macintosh.

Hasbro Interactive has also realized some success with cross-pollinating through some of Hasbro's toy brands.

The Tonka Construction title (released last year) lets kids play with animated versions of the classic Tonka trucks in a variety of settings, was a surprise hit, Dusenberry said. A sequel tonka Construction is planned for later this year.

This year, the company will develop a game for the Playstation and PC CD-ROM formats based on Hasbro's Beast Wars line of Transformer toys.

According to Dusenberry, Hasbro Interactive wants to create computer games that offer something for everyone.

Consumers that Dusenberry calls "soft-core gamers," a group of about 10 million to 15 million people currently, is the market that Hasbro is hoping to reach, in addition to providing game plays that also satisfy some of the 2 million to million "hard-core" gamers.

"We're pursuing an everyman strategy," Dusenberry said. He believes that the CD-ROM games market has become far too "hit-driven."