Week 2 EOC: Boston Consulting Group - Video Games

The video gaming industry was a huge craze as new technology introduced gaming consoles such as PS3, Xbox 360, and Nintendo Wii. Unfortunately, this is not the case now. Sales in the video gaming industry have been declining rapidly. "Its PlayStation games business also saw revenue decline 14% to $1.5 billion due to lower sales of its consoles and game software. As a result, the unit swung to a loss of $45 million from a profit of $52 million a year earlier." - www.latimes.com

With that stated, PS3 and Xbox 360 consoles are the dogs in my BCG analysis. These consoles are not growing rapidly. Even with the addition of Kinnect to the Xbox. Sales didn't raise exponentially. The additional products that are being manufactured for these consoles are not impacting customers enough to make them cash cows, as they once were.

At the moment, I would say that the stars are the video games being made for smartphones and tablets such as iPhone and iPad. This is mostly because of the tablet trend that has been dominating the market this past year. Society has been turning for entertainment in handheld devices for quite a while. With better graphics and faster processing on these newer electronics, it was certain that this market would generate lots of revenue at a fast pace.

The question marks are the handheld video game consoles such as the Playstation Vita and Nintendo Gameboy. These were cash cows when they were first introduced into the market. Sales didn't quite improved after Nintendo's 3D feature on their newer Gameboy model. The Playstation Vita was not able to produce enough to make it a star or cash cow.

"Nintendo Co. says it sold 710,000 Wii units in the April-June quarter, down from 1.56 million a year ago. Nintendo is coming out with a successor, the Wii U, this year. It is forecasting 10.5 million units for the full fiscal year, which ends in March 2013." - www.washingtonpost.com.

Regardless of Nintendo's sales decline, I believe the Nintendo Wii is the cash cow at this time. This console lets the consumer interact physically in the game and is also a lot more family oriented. This is a great selling point. It also seems like the Wii U will be a hit once it hits the market. Wii U has the potential of becoming a star, depending on the consumer's reaction to the product. The Wii maintains its status as cash cow because of the type of games that are being produced for the console. 

"After a 45-year career writing some of the most successful musicals of all time, Andrew Lloyd Webber is set to make his mark on a perhaps less familiar format.

The legendary composer will star in a new video game to be released Sept. 14. The Nintendo Wii game features (what else?) singing and dancing competitions in which up to four players can square off against each other, as well as a "career" mode where players can sing and dance their way to the top of the musical theater chain."- www.latimes.com