Week 2 EOC: Boston Consulting Group - Video Games

First I’ll start with the X-box 360 and the PS3. I have placed them both in the cash cow section. In an article done by William D’Angelo, the year to date sales are shown in comparison from 2010 to 2013. "In 2011 X-box sold 5.8 million consoles where the PS3 sold 7.2 million. In 2013 those numbers drop to 3.5 million for X-box, a 39.7% drop and 5.2 for PS3, a 26.9% drop."(http://www.vgchartz.com/article/251339/2013-year-on-year-sales-and-market-share-update-to-september-28th/)

I put in cash cow because I don’t see any growth in the market but I don’t see a lot of gamers being able to afford the new X-box One and PS4, leaving them a high relative market share. I place both the X-box One and the PS4 in the star category for a few reasons. They’re both new and have many pros and cons, but I don’t think the main focus of sales will come from the United States. China recently lifted a ban that prevented the sale of video games. The ban was made back in 2000 because of the public complaining video games would rot their children’s minds. "The lifting of the ban means that companies like Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony will now be able to actively market their products to China’s population of 1.35 billion people. Such a large consumer base could significantly alter the types of games that we see coming to market." Aaron Colterhttp://www.digitaltrends.com/gaming/chinas-13-year-ban-on-video-games-and-console-sales-set-to-end/#ixzz2hMvBOQXG 

I place the Wii in the dog category. There were only about 1.2 million consoles sold this year. I believe it’s a gun console for a young family, but not many gamers are interested. The Wii U came out and failed miserably. I think game systems like the Oculus Rift, a virtual reality headset for 3D gaming, and the smart phone and tablet games will be what’s coming next. I’d place them in the question mark because there isn't a big market for them yet, but they could grow to be huge. “In terms of long-term outlook, the real difficulty is in handhelds because people gravitate towards tablets and mobile phones,” Woo says. http://business.time.com/2013/02/11/game-over-why-video-game-console-sales-are-plummeting/#ixzz2hMyE7Odx