week 2 EOC

 



               The following quotes while showing gaming to be in the question mark category can be misleading due to the time of year that market research was done and the fact that big game title debutes were postponed and yet to be announced. ("But last month, videogame sales plunged by a record 29% year over year, according to market-research firm NPD Group. Meanwhile, sales of consoles such as Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 and Nintendo Co.'s Wii plummeted 38%. The steep drops came on top of a gradual sales decline that began in March." WallStreet Journal July 28,2009 )  This quot shows microsoft , xbox and Nintendo consoles to be question marks. Although the sales dropped last month the following quote ( "As recently as six months ago, the videogame industry was racking up strong growth even as other businesses reported sharp declines in sales and profits. U.S. videogame sales jumped 10% in January as consumers snapped up $60 to $70 games, which can bring dozens of hours of at-home family entertainment." WallStreet July28, 2009)     shows a jump in January witch could return and potentially bounce back sales making these consoles cash cows at that time. Although there are other quotes in the same article witch could also project theses consoles to becoming dogs. mainly the quote: "Many console and PC game sales are also being cannibalized by digitally downloaded games and alternative entertainment sources like Apple Inc.'s iPhone, which offers thousands of games that can cost only 99 cents or even nothing at all."  There are factors such as the following quote    (  "But the recession has clearly exacerbated the falloff. "It's highlighting the weak months because if people don't really have a reason to go out to the store, they're not," said John Taylor, a financial analyst for Arcadia Investment Corp. in Portland, Ore., alluding to the industry's tendency to see the biggest sales during the year-end holiday season." WallStreet july 28, 2009) That would suggest that the gaming industry in general would be question marks due to many factors such as time of year that sales are calculated and the postponing of game debuts. It is the coming debut of big game titles being released by nintendo and x box 360 gaming consoles.