Nintendo recently announced the realease date and the price of their new console the Wii U (Nov. 18, $300) which puts them as the first release in the next generation of console. Still no word from Sony and Microsoft.
Gamasutra ran an article that examined the price point of the new console to see how it stacked up to previous console releases. Remember the Wii sold for $250 when it came out in 2006. From that article comes this great graph:
Mobile games are growing both in popularity and in marketshare (yes those two things are separate) and it looks like that shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon.
Richard Firminger, managing director of EMEA territories at metrics firm Flurry Analytics, told a GDC Europe audience today that revenue that is coming from the iOS and Android is killing off the handheld video game market, where dedicated portable game systems like Nintendo’s 3DS and Sony’s PlayStation Vita currently compete.
However, it’s worth noting that marketing is more important than ever in the new moblie gaming space, also from the article linked above:
Given the circumstances, an understanding of the target demographic is vital. Firminger explained issues like male and female spending habits (“Women are thrifty. Men binge.”) and how “generation X pays while generation Y plays.” According to Firminger, these are elements that should be taken into consideration when pursuing a new project.
For me, the key fact is that 64% of mobile users play games daily – a higher percentage than social media, news and music.
To help gain a rudimentary understanding on what games are doing well and those that aren’t quite so successful I’ve found that App Annie is a good starting place. The site tracks both Android and iOS apps.
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