Video game hardware sales slump 30 per cent
Video-game industry sales are continuing to slump in the US, with NPD figures for May released this evening showing a 23 per cent drop year-on-year, with falls led by hardware sales.
It’s hard to imagine any improvement till the holiday season, barring early price cuts for the consoles. Major game releases also seem to be “back-end loaded”, compared to last year, when there were big hits earlier in the year, such as Grand Theft Auto IV (GTA). Read more
Nintendo rejected motion-sensing camera idea
Nintendo tried and rejected the motion-sensing camera technology that Microsoft and Sony are now adopting to try to catch up with their rival in the home console market.
Satoru Iwata, Nintendo president, told the FT’s Robin Harding that Nintendo obtained better results from the accelerometer that was eventually incorporated into its Wii Remote handheld controller. Read more
The FT’s Lex column considers the three-way war for the living room, and concludes that with little console innovation on the horizon, Nintendo’s Wii, the current leader, could be vulnerable:
Microsoft has an opportunity to catch up on Nintendo. The US software giant has the cheapest console on the market at $199 in the US, for something that is more capable than Nintendo’s $250 machine. Read more
Nintendo Wii console sales pass 50m
Nintendo’s Wii, clear leader in the next-generation console race, has just passed another major milestone.
Satoru Iwata, Nintendo president, told the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco today that global shipments had now passed 50m, making it the fastest selling hardware in video game history. Read more
EA cuts games business to the core
Electronic Arts chief executive John Riccitiello, a keen gamer, must have that stuck-on-the-same-level feeling after the video game publisher’s latest results.
He returned to EA in April 2007 with the task of improving an underperforming giant of the industry. Read more
| About this blog | Blog guide |
Richard Waters has headed the FT's San Francisco bureau since 2002 and covers Google and Microsoft, among other things. A former New York bureau chief for the FT, he is intrigued by Silicon Valley's unique financial and business culture, and is looking forward to covering his second Tech Bust.
Chris Nuttall has been online and messing around with computers for more than 20 years and since 2004 has reported from the FT's San Francisco bureau on semiconductors, video games, consumer electronics and all things interwebby.
Maija Palmer has been writing about technology for the FT since 1999 and is fascinated by cybercrime, privacy and all the other issues of the information society. Based in London, she covers European tech companies and hopes that they won't all get acquired by American rivals.
Robin Kwong is the FT's technology, media and telecoms page editor in London. Formerly he was the Taipei correspondent and wrote about the companies that manufacture the vast majority of the world's computers and gadgets. He is interested in the intricacies of the technology supply chain and how China is increasingly changing the tech landscape.
Tim Bradshaw is the FT's digital media correspondent, and has just moved from London to join our team in San Francisco. He has covered start-ups such as Twitter and Spotify, as well as the online ambitions of more established media companies, such as the BBC iPlayer. He also covers the advertising, marketing and video-game industries. Tim has been writing about technology, business and finance since 2003.
