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Saturday, 03 November 2012 16:04

The Video Game Industry, Just How Big Is It?


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How big is the Video Game Industry? About 10.5 Billion dollars a year (in 2009), according to the ESRB. Only .5 Billion or so came from computer game sales, leaving the other 10 Billion or so to come mostly from dedicated game consoles. This data accounts for both new and used video game purchases, as well as rentals. According to figures from September, 2012, about half of the video game market is digital, rental, or used sales.

Why does this matter? Because the next generation of consoles from both Microsoft and Sony are rumored to have very strict DRM policies. The main point of concern is that games would be bound to the system they were first used on. This means once you play the game on your home console, you can't lend it to a friend, because it won't work on his machine. You couldn't buy a used game from the mall, because it wouldn't work on your machine. Effectively, the entire used and rental game markets would be put on death row.

This move will cost thousands of American's, not to mention other nationalities, jobs as their means of livelihood are programmed into oblivion. The only way that this would not hurt overall video game sales is if the price for new games was dropped by about 50% to compensate for the soon to be vaporized market. Attempting to force people to pay more for essentially the same product doesn't usually tend to work in the case of non-essential entertainment items.

Would you spend $40 to $50 dollars on a game that you could likely obtain for around $30 used? Let us know what you think of Microsoft and Sony's plans on our Forums and Facebook!

Read 3934 times Last modified on Saturday, 03 November 2012 16:13

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