Towards the end of 2008, gamers were absolutely flooded with must-play titles. There’s no two ways about it, and many gamers are still trying to play their way through the glut of late 2008 releases.
Far Cry 2, Fallout 3, Red Alert 3, Mirror’s Edge, Fable 2, Gears of War 2, World of Warcraft: Wraith of the Lich King, Dead Space, Call of Duty: World at War, Prince of Persia, Left 4 Dead and Little Big Planet were some of the highly anticipated titles released around the last 3 months of 2008.
This may be the most profound avalanche of big gaming releases yet seen, and by the sounds of EA’s latest press statement, it will be the last of its kind for some time to come. Or at least the last that EA plays any active role in.
In a discussion with gamesindustry.biz, EA admits openly that releasing the majority of its high profile titles in such close proximity along with other big name titles was a mistake.
After all, the video game industry, like any consumer based industry is a slave to the rule of supply and demand. What happened in late 2008, was that the general demand for big titles was quickly sated with a slew of big releases. However, the publishers continued to put more product out, effectively tipping the balance, and essentially ending up with far more supply than demand. This ultimately led to a situation involving a high quantity of quality titles not meeting their potential sales targets.
Essentially, publishers cannibalized the market by not playing their cards very carefully.
Although titles like Mirror’s Edge and Dead Space were both excellent titles, their sales figures were relatively disappointing, and if they had been released in a quieter time period they would have sold far more. EA registered a third quarter loss of $641 million, which has obviously given them a lot to think about.
It sounds like the publisher has learned that releasing a slew of big titles in the three months leading up to Christmas is not necessarily the smartest way to go about things, mentioning that GTA IV was launched in May and made $500 million. Sure game sales will increase over the festive season, but what we have is essentially an evergreen industry with gamers buying games throughout the year.
The sooner publishers catch on to this, the more they will be able to effectively target their relevant audiences.
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