The Growing Gaming Industry
By Sonya Senkowsky
Jen Herman
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Chris Ulm: Innovation suffers as console industry grows
Game designer Chris Ulm didn’t show a standard Powerpoint. Instead, his presentation was punctuated with screams and whinnying and blades clashing, all underscored by a dramatic movie-style score.
Chris Ulm’s California-based company High Moon Studios, Inc., just finished its first big game, Darkwatch, — “probably the first vampire western” game ever — coming out in August from Capcom. The company focuses on developing new gaming stories and concept art, with the intent of creating a franchise. Part of the strategy involves putting out the concept art and stories in advance of game development.
The industry is continuing to grow, said Ulm. The top 17 companies in the industry reported revenue of $24.5 billion dollars, and combined sales of pc and console games is predicted to exceeding $40 billion by 2009. The audience is still mostly male, but growing older, with the average age 29 years old. As a result, the industry is demanding more adult themed software.
Ulm said he thinks innovation in the industry is declining as financial risks mount. There’s a heavy reliance on pre-sold franchises, such as the NFL-based games. “That means it’s harder and harder to get new ideas out there.”
Ulm also discussed technical advances to be expected in console game development, including more fully realized emotional experiences and more realistic representation of human expression, such as eye movement.
It’s important for creativity to be encouraged in the industry, said Ulm. “If we’re not innovative we’re not going to expand the market.”
Mobile Gaming: Women making gaming the next big thing for phones
When Jen Herman first told her parents she was going to work for a mobile gaming company just over three years ago, they were skeptical. She is now senior director of licensing for I-play, a company with an 11 percent share of the global market – and her parents don’t question her judgment any more:
The influx of the money into the industry is steady, the number of mobile devices capable of playing games is growing steadily, and mobile gaming is predicted to bring $8.3 billion by 2008.
Most people still don’t know what their phones can do, though, said Herman, and consumer education is a major focus of the industry. “The mass market needs to learn they can do more with their phones thank talk,” she said
The market for cellphone gaming is far different than console gaming; whereas console games traditionally attract men, recent statistics showed about 60 percent of those downloading mobile games were women, who are expected to continue to drive the industry. These tend to be “casual games,” a category aimed at players grabbing a few minutes of spare time between errands.
One top game in the category is Jewel Quest, a “casual game,” that may be downloaded from multiple sites online. Simple concepts that translate easily into brief descriptions are important in this category. Another casual game due for release in summer 2005 is Skipping Stone, a simple concept that is what it sounds like.
Covering Games: Some tips
WKC Fellow Kelley Carter, of the Detroit Free Press, shared a few tips for covering the game beat:
• Find out who the local musicians are who are involved with the games. Games have launched music careers, and the industries are entwined. It may also at times be easier to learn information from the musicians than from the game companies.
• Know the local gamers to tap into what the popular games are.
• Know the consoles for the various game systems.
• Know the various series. People follow different game series just as they might follow a movie and its sequels.
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