Holidays: 90% of Kids Want Games, Gaming Taking Over
September 29th, 2008 | Written by Anthony Perez | Topic: Industry News
Hasbro must be really pissed. Remember the days when board games used to bring the family together, everyone would have a good time, and there was peace as everyone roasted marshmellows over an open fire (or radiator). Technology has ended all of that. Look at their circa 1999 Web site. They must be bleeding money because there is no longer any room for dice-throwing-board-piece-moving experiences with these damned game consoles taking over. Really, how do you compete with this (suggested click)? It’s almost unfair. Hell the only way they can make money is by suing Facebook rip-offs.
Unfortunately, the future doesn’t look any brighter. In a survey of nearly 1,000 boys and girls aged 8- to 17-years-old, 90% said they wanted a videogame for the holidays. Much to my dismay, kids wanted Guitar Hero: World Tour a little more than Rock Band 2 (17% to 15%).
While it’s nothing new that kids want games for Christmas, there are a couple of interesting factoids that back up my prediction of videogames enslaving the human race instead of robots. The biggest key is just how bigender the movement is. The survey was nearly an even split between the two chromosomes – 488 boys to 477 girls – and for 90% of all respondents to say they want games means that this industry is becoming a pretty big deal.
Game industry sales skyrockted 43% last year, and it’s been steadily rising this year. What’s particularly exciting is that games still haven’t reached their full potential, especially as a story telling medium. It’s still frustrating how low many developers prioritize a game’s story. We’re slowling reaching critical mass, where a videogame system will be as natural in the home as a DVD player. One way we can reach that point is if there’s a healthy group of developers and publishers who don’t see videogames as merely interactive toys, and put a little creative muscle into making games deeper.
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