This month’s E3 expo proved that despite plunging game sales it is far from game over for consoles, claim experts.
UK console game sales fell 26.4% year-on-year in 2012 [ERA] as a result of growth in smartphone gaming and current consoles reaching the end of their lifecycles.
However, the US show, which featured many games for the Xbox One and PS4 machines coming to stores this year, demonstrated that there was a strong pipeline of NPD capable of rejuvenating the market.
“The industry is currently going through an end-of -lifecycle low and it came back kicking and screaming at E3 with a blend of good current-gen products, innovative games and a glimpse of the future generation games,” said Asda games buyer Greg Walton.
A key focus this year was the hard-core gamer, said Nick Gibson of Games Investor Consulting. “This category has been increasingly drowned out by the hubbub surrounding the more casual gamer-oriented mobile, tablet, social and motion-control gaming over the last five years,” he said.
New combat franchises had a big presence. E3 offered the first demos of Destiny, from Halo creators Bungie. Set in the future, it is a first-person shooter with elements of massively multiplayer online games (MMOs) like World of Warcraft.
Also winning plaudits was Titanfall, which allows players to fight inside giant battle suits or on foot as free-running pilots and Dying Light, said to offer a more ‘realistic’ take on zombie uprising survival than similar titles.
Another title with MMO elements was Tom Clancy’s The Division, which allows players to create squads and try and survive in a plague-ravaged city. It has a strong emphasis on multiplayer gaming, as does new Ubisoft racing title The Crew, which allows players to create teams and compete online.
Many of the new console games feature integration with smart devices. For example, The Crew has a companion app that allows players to customise the cars they use, while a tablet app for The Division gives a player an aerial view of the action.
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