smellslikenintendospirit
09-07-2003, 05:21 AM
Companies Seek to Expand Online Gaming
http://www.gamemarketwatch.com/news/item.asp?nid=2762
While the nascent online gaming segment is still a relatively small part of the overall market, the major players are shifting focus in order to help it grow.
Where heretofore the majority of online games were military themed or other combat-oriented titles, the focus is now on new online sports titles, which are expected to draw in large numbers of more mainstream gamers.
To wit, Electronic Arts, Sony, and Microsoft have all launched online-enabled football games in the past several weeks, along with web sites where players can create leagues and track scores.
"Sports gaming probably has the highest percentage of online interest of any of the genres right now," says Jack Tretton, executive vice president of Sony Computer Entertainment America. He called EA's "Madden NFL 2004" “a juggernaut" that's getting PlayStation 2 users online.
For its part, EA has been "pleasantly surprised" by the interest in online console gaming, according to company spokesman Jeff Brown. "We underestimated the intense enthusiasm shown by hard-core gamers - that crucial group of people who buy 10 to 15 games per year,"
Even though Sony reports several hundred thousand more online users than Microsoft, "The perception is that Microsoft is a bit ahead of Sony" in online gaming, says IDC analyst Schelley Olhava. "Sony is working hard to catch up."
The growth of online console gaming has been "a big wake-up call for Sony," says Olhava. She maintains that Sony failed to aggressively persue online capabilities and as a result lost ground to Microsoft among hard-core gamers.
Microsoft, which released "NFL Fever 2004" for Xbox Live last week, will face its first test in November at the one-year anniversary of Xbox Live, when the large group of early adopters will decide whether to continue to subscribe to the service for $5.99 a month or $49.99 a year.
Peter Moore, corporate vice president of retail sales and marketing for Microsoft's Home and Entertainment Division, says that the subscription fees are low enough to convince the majority of users to stay with the service.
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Read this Nintendo! Super Mario Online...the words are like...musical.
http://www.gamemarketwatch.com/news/item.asp?nid=2762
While the nascent online gaming segment is still a relatively small part of the overall market, the major players are shifting focus in order to help it grow.
Where heretofore the majority of online games were military themed or other combat-oriented titles, the focus is now on new online sports titles, which are expected to draw in large numbers of more mainstream gamers.
To wit, Electronic Arts, Sony, and Microsoft have all launched online-enabled football games in the past several weeks, along with web sites where players can create leagues and track scores.
"Sports gaming probably has the highest percentage of online interest of any of the genres right now," says Jack Tretton, executive vice president of Sony Computer Entertainment America. He called EA's "Madden NFL 2004" “a juggernaut" that's getting PlayStation 2 users online.
For its part, EA has been "pleasantly surprised" by the interest in online console gaming, according to company spokesman Jeff Brown. "We underestimated the intense enthusiasm shown by hard-core gamers - that crucial group of people who buy 10 to 15 games per year,"
Even though Sony reports several hundred thousand more online users than Microsoft, "The perception is that Microsoft is a bit ahead of Sony" in online gaming, says IDC analyst Schelley Olhava. "Sony is working hard to catch up."
The growth of online console gaming has been "a big wake-up call for Sony," says Olhava. She maintains that Sony failed to aggressively persue online capabilities and as a result lost ground to Microsoft among hard-core gamers.
Microsoft, which released "NFL Fever 2004" for Xbox Live last week, will face its first test in November at the one-year anniversary of Xbox Live, when the large group of early adopters will decide whether to continue to subscribe to the service for $5.99 a month or $49.99 a year.
Peter Moore, corporate vice president of retail sales and marketing for Microsoft's Home and Entertainment Division, says that the subscription fees are low enough to convince the majority of users to stay with the service.
-------------------
Read this Nintendo! Super Mario Online...the words are like...musical.