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US video game sales have record quarter as consumers stay at home

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Re: US video game sales have record quarter as consumers stay at home

#101

Post by duxup »

city41 wrote: post #33
Grimm1 wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Off by a factor of 10, looks like it was 500k but still, I think that is a function of VR headset ownership which is only at like 2% of the market or something. Adjusted for the market it was likely pretty big. I grant that within the wider videogame market it is not nearly as relevant though.

Although I’d argue the real goal of Alyx was to entice more people to take the VR plunge. That’s bad luck with the pandemic, as I’m sure the $1k price tag (more if you need a better computer too) is hard to do for many in this climate.

It's funny it took them this long to add something like that.

Most companies when they introduce a platform do try to push it with some of their own high profile content. Valve not so much until recently.

Re: US video game sales have record quarter as consumers stay at home

#102

Post by username90 »

trynewideas wrote: post #88
ping_pong wrote: post #4

I've bought several games for the Switch for my kids, including Animal Crossings. I don't understand it, but anything to keep them quiet for an hour (or three). One question I have is, is this revenue rate sustainable or it is an unnatural pump that will die out in a couple of years? Once people can go outside without fear I'm thinking that it won't be a long term investment.

> is this revenue rate sustainable or it is an unnatural pump that will die out in a couple of years? The revenue rate already isn't sustainable for anyone who isn't Nintendo, Sony, or Microsoft (and as the story notes, Nintendo won the quarter in part by taking enough business this quarter from Sony and Microsoft for them to end _down_ even with some big announcements and releases). There's a real fear in studios th…

Gaming is an inferior good so it doesn't follow the normal market dynamics. When people have less money they can't spend their time doing expensive activities, so they spend more time gaming since it is one of the cheapest ways to spend your time.

Re: US video game sales have record quarter as consumers stay at home

#103

Post by mercer »

grawprog wrote: post #83
sixothree wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Likewise. But gaming feels more pointless to me than ever. I have a hard time describing it. But games that lack a clear goal and don't guide you towards that goal are where I feel it the most. For in instance Cities Skylines building out cities leaves me feeling empty instead of accomplished. I used to treat Skylines and Civ like solitaire - play a few hours mindlessly to burn away a bit of time. But even solitaire…

>For in instance Cities Skylines building out cities leaves me feeling empty instead of accomplished. Actually, I understand exactly what you mean. I spent yesterday trying that game. I ended up getting it for free. In the beginning it was fun, I was excited to watch the city grow. By the time I finished, I felt like I'd just wasted hours doing absolutely nothing. Everything was shallow and pointless. Didn't help tha…

I recently started playing Cities and felt the same way.

But then I also started playing Minecraft again on server set up by a friend of a friend. And the feeling is completely different. While most of us (5 players) spend out times doing our own thing much of the time, just the occasional visit (and surprises left behind) makes all the 'pointless' home improvement feel worthwhile.

And it actually is, to a degree. I'm chatting with the other players (some of whom I've never met IRL) about strategies, what to get where, and interesting things to do. And while our homes are far apart and we rarely visit each other, we're working on a massive railroad project to connect all of these homes.

I forgot how much fun this 'pointless' stuff can be when there's a social component to it!

Re: US video game sales have record quarter as consumers stay at home

#104

Post by k__ »

jabroni_salad wrote: post #99
k__ wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I had one and it didn't work, but this was 5-6 years ago. Did the controller story for mobile get better? The XBox controllers on desktop work like a charm, even with browser games.

On Android, if you are playing a game that supports a controller, you can just pair a ps4 controller via bluetooth with no fuss.

I guess Minecraft is so well known that this could work.

Are there any stats on how many Android games are playable with such a controller?

Re: US video game sales have record quarter as consumers stay at home

#105

Post by vkou »

duxup wrote: post #101
city41 wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Although I’d argue the real goal of Alyx was to entice more people to take the VR plunge. That’s bad luck with the pandemic, as I’m sure the $1k price tag (more if you need a better computer too) is hard to do for many in this climate.

It's funny it took them this long to add something like that. Most companies when they introduce a platform do try to push it with some of their own high profile content. Valve not so much until recently.

The whole reason Steam exists is because Valve pushed it with high-profile content, over a decade ago - initially Half-Life multiplayer (To a ton of community backlash), followed by Half-Life 2, as Steam exclusives.

It's only been the past several years that Valve has completely stopped making games, and started working on other things.

Re: US video game sales have record quarter as consumers stay at home

#106

Post by komali2 »

karatestomp wrote: post #45
backtracking wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't Sea of Theives a two year old game?

Poster must be a PC gamer who doesn't use the Microsoft store (like most PC users who'd identify as gamers, probably?). It hit Steam this year, was on XBone and MS Store in 2018. Personally, I'd forgotten there was a MS store until I looked this up just now.

And lord was it annoying as fuck to get off Microsoft store. It was something like a 50gb download and it could get version desync, the only way to get around was (in my experience) was to completely wipe it and reinstall. But completely wiping was ALSO super hard to do, because it was saved in like... $APPdata or some weird hidden folder.

All this on top of the fact that my c:/ drive is tiny and I want to install my games on an external harddrive. In fact I think I had a double install going at one point.

Long story short the microsoft store sucks.

Re: US video game sales have record quarter as consumers stay at home

#107

Post by karatestomp »

Grimm1 wrote: post #39
justwalt wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Gardening and playing music are both timeless activities, what do you mean? Kind of unfair to jump down the throat of someone who’s only offering friendly advice.

Both are equivalent leisure time activities that I would never say improve your life as the OP claimed. They improve your life in so much the same way games do, leisure, so their comment is purely "I don't like them so they can't be good" which is complete crap.

I do think, say, acquiring the skill to play piano or guitar tolerably well gains one more general social standing (not just with a subset of gamers) than "I'm fairly good at Rocket League" and also builds a better understanding of music generally, which can be useful and/or pleasant, and gardening produces good food and also carries more social benefits than "I caught all the Pokemon".

I'd agree they're not wildly better. Though if I put as much time into one of those activities as I have into games I'd probably be really really good at them, which I bet would open up some doors if I went looking for them, rather than just being alright at games and knowing some stuff about them, for whatever that's worth (nothing at all).

Re: US video game sales have record quarter as consumers stay at home

#108

Post by komali2 »

paulryanrogers wrote: post #48
wayneftw wrote: post #36

I think I must be a simpleton compared to many people. I am able to play the same video game for years and years before getting bored with it. Currently that game is Rocket League. Before that, it was Skate, Skate 2 and Skate 3 and before that...World of Warcraft.

On the other end I sometimes just enjoy the shopping, buying, collecting games. Even just collecting digital games on sale can be entertaining in its own way. As I age and my family grows it's becoming obvious I'll never complete many of them. But that's OK too.

I think I've played maybe .5% of my Steam account library... and I'll still put new games in there. I dunno, it's just fun.

I'm starting to do the same thing for my Switch. I've just gotten a fat 500gb microSD card for it. I'm even rebuying games I already had on PC just because the portability factor is nice.

My partner says it's bad money management. I dunno, it's a hobby I think. My only concern is that Steam kicks the bucket one day.

Re: US video game sales have record quarter as consumers stay at home

#109

Post by zemo »

wayneftw wrote: post #36

I think I must be a simpleton compared to many people. I am able to play the same video game for years and years before getting bored with it. Currently that game is Rocket League. Before that, it was Skate, Skate 2 and Skate 3 and before that...World of Warcraft.

that's what a lot of the industry is. that's ... exactly why games like fortnite, league, cs:go, dota, etc are all based around monetizing cosmetics and other DLC. lots of people play games like that. a lot of them ... just play fortnite now.

Re: US video game sales have record quarter as consumers stay at home

#110

Post by ryneandal »

rosseloh wrote: post #53
ryneandal wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a tired and archaic take.

Makes you wonder what their response would be when I bring up that one of the more common games I play is Stormworks, where I spend most of my time in the engineering screen figuring out how to build fuel control and PID systems to run jet engines properly. Not quite to realistic levels, sure (it's one of my gripes about the game). But it's not on the level of mindless shooters by any means (which I also occasionally…

Even "mindless shooters" have a tangible benefit to cognitive and social function -- https://www.avondwenm.nl/images/avonden/avond-2019/studiemat...

The benefits of implementing play are vast and are emphasized in evolutionary psychology. Video games are just one means to leverage play.

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