DieGrootHammer
Daddy TK
It seems that over the years, the gaming industry has defaulted into a specific pattern of releasing games. The first being the March to May window, and the other the October to November. During these two windows most AAA titles for the years gets released.
Working in the retail industry, it is very understandable why these two time periods are the favorite for launching new games. These time periods, noticeably the months of March, April, November and December, are notorious within the retail sector for being months with typically the most sales. This is due to the holidays that are present in these months, with Easter at the beginning of the year, and Christmas at the end.
The gaming industry has capitalized on this trend in a big way, with most big AAA title games launching within these two time periods. The following graphs shows this trend better (source Wikipedia List of Games per Year):
These trends shows that more games are competing for our valuable game time during the peak seasons. It may be bad for a game though. Studies have shown that play time and revenue declines rapidly after the first week or two of a games release. With a calendar as convoluted as the current one, I wonder if some games won’t do much better financially if they rather made their release dates during the off peak seasons.
So, what’s the point? Well, I for one feel that some games will benefit more from a launch during off peak seasons, and I feel that the current trend is making it difficult for me to get all the games I want, because most of the time they come out at the same time.
What do you think of this? Let loose your comment and opinions. Is it a good thing all games are bunched up to serve a greater capitalist cause? Does it even effect you in any way?
Working in the retail industry, it is very understandable why these two time periods are the favorite for launching new games. These time periods, noticeably the months of March, April, November and December, are notorious within the retail sector for being months with typically the most sales. This is due to the holidays that are present in these months, with Easter at the beginning of the year, and Christmas at the end.
The gaming industry has capitalized on this trend in a big way, with most big AAA title games launching within these two time periods. The following graphs shows this trend better (source Wikipedia List of Games per Year):
These trends shows that more games are competing for our valuable game time during the peak seasons. It may be bad for a game though. Studies have shown that play time and revenue declines rapidly after the first week or two of a games release. With a calendar as convoluted as the current one, I wonder if some games won’t do much better financially if they rather made their release dates during the off peak seasons.
So, what’s the point? Well, I for one feel that some games will benefit more from a launch during off peak seasons, and I feel that the current trend is making it difficult for me to get all the games I want, because most of the time they come out at the same time.
What do you think of this? Let loose your comment and opinions. Is it a good thing all games are bunched up to serve a greater capitalist cause? Does it even effect you in any way?