Esa Mäkijärvi
KonsoliFIN Alumni
Nappasin Bloombergista tämän.. ajattelin ensin postata Nintendo-osastolle, mutta päädyin lopulta pistämään sen tänne. Lukekaa ja kertokaa mielipiteenne:
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Sony Faces Challenge as Nintendo Lures Japan's Game Designers
By Yoshifumi Takemoto
Tokyo, Jan. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Japanese video-game software makers are working to prevent Sony Corp.'s PlayStation series of consoles from dominating the $20 billion industry, which last year saw new entries from Microsoft Corp. and Nintendo Co.
Game software makers say they're betting on Nintendo's GameCube, the game console the Kyoto-based company unleashed in the U.S. in November. With its emphasis on game play, the GameCube will probably take market share away from Sony's PlayStation 2 in coming years, game designers said.
``It's best when two or three console makers co-exist,'' said Keiji Tanaka, a managing director at Namco Ltd., the company behind Pac-Man. ``GameCube and (Microsoft's) Xbox can compete against PlayStation 2 and expand the video-game market.''
Before Sony entered the business, Nintendo was the leading console maker. Nintendo's leadership gave it the power to dictate the fees designers paid to develop games. With PlayStation 2 now dominating the market, there's a threat that will happen again, giving Sony sway over the profit margins of gamemakers through its influence on the software retail market.
``GameCube may not become as dominant as the PlayStation 2, but will sell far better than its predecessor, the Nintendo 64,'' said Ken Uryu, an analyst at Merrill Lynch Japan Inc. in Tokyo. ``Nintendo is succeeding in luring software developers.''
Banner Year
Makers of consoles, games and accessories are heading for a banner year. Video-game console shipments are projected to reach 49 million units this year, up from 29 million units in 2001, according to Gartner Dataquest Inc.
While Sony has racked up PlayStation 2 sales of more than 23 million units worldwide since the console reached store shelves in Japan, it has been largely unchallenged. That may change.
Sony last week said it sold more than 5 million PlayStation 2s worldwide during the holiday shopping season. Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said his company had sold 1.5 million Xbox consoles and is selling more than three game software titles per system in its first foray into the video-game market.
Nintendo has said it expected to sell 1.3 million GameCube consoles by the end of 2001 and an additional 1.4 million in Japan. GameCube debuted in the U.S. Nov. 18 and on Sept. 14 in Japan. That's encouraged software makers who design games for the GameCube, a device that comes in purple, black and orange.
``We received many orders for video-game software for the newly launched console,'' said Jiro Sakaguchi, director of Tose Co., a Kyoto-based maker of versions of popular game software for other companies. As a result ``earnings for the fiscal year to August may exceed our initial forecast.''
Still, concerns that Sony will continue to dominate abound. Nintendo's shares have declined about 16 percent since Jan. 1 compared with Sony's 1 percent rise.
Even with the recent drop, though, Nintendo's shares have still gained since the GameCube's Japan debut. The shares are up about 22 percent since sales began on Sept. 14. Software may have a big role to play in that performance.
Nintendo, the creator of video-game classics such as Donkey Kong, will have 41 titles available in the U.S. for the GameCube by March, Mori said. Software will include games exclusively developed for the GameCube, including `Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader' by LucasArts and Sega Corp.'s `Sonic Adventure' and `Virtua Striker3.'
Game Design
For its part, Tose says it's busy making software for GameCube on behalf of Sega and Capcom Co., creator of the `Biohazard' series of shooter games.
Well known for its long-lasting relation with Nintendo by modifying games originally made for PlayStation into versions for Nintendo's game machines such as the Gameboy Advance handheld player, Tose said in October it would beef up the number of software developers at its Chinese subsidiaries from 175 to 400 in the three years to August 2004.
``Software titles such as Virtua Striker will attract users currently unfamiliar with Nintendo machines'' like the Nintendo 64 game console, said Takashi Oya, an analyst at Deutsche Securities. ``GameCube will gain more than 30 percent of the market by 2005 while Playstation 2's share will be 60 percent'' six percentage points lower than PlayStation's current share.
A flourishing video-game industry spells good news for companies such as Nintendo and Sony. Tokyo-based Sony's game business accounted for 14 percent of its revenue in the quarter ended September.
Sony Dominates
Sony succeeded in the video-game business by offering a business model more profitable for software makers.
Instead of storing its games on cartridges, which are more expensive to make and don't have the ability of deleting data once information is stored, Sony opted to use compact discs. Software makers could then reuse the discs of unpopular game titles returned from retailers, thus reducing costs.
The result: PlayStation's share of the video-game market will probably soar to 66 percent by March compared with 27 percent for the Nintendo 64, a comparable console, according to Deutsche Securities estimates.
With the GameCube, Nintendo opted for a digital versatile disc instead of a cartridge to store games.
Because software makers fear the console market may be dominated by a single company, they've begun developing games for a number of different consoles. Ultimately, game console sales are determined by the availability of software, analysts say.
Companies such as Namco, which had stopped designing games for Nintendo's N64, are returning to the fold. Namco will release `Batman Dark Tomorrow' and `Soul Calibur2' for the GameCube.
``The Nintendo Gamecube is more developer-friendly than the PlayStation 2,'' said Yoichi Wada, president of Square Co., developer of the `Final Fantasy' series of PlayStation games.
Square is seeking agreements to make video games for Nintendo, Square's Wada said in an interview. Square has been out of favour with Nintendo for about five years since it switched in 1996 to Sony's PlayStation format, supplying `Final Fantasy' games exclusively to Sony.
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- Esa
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Sony Faces Challenge as Nintendo Lures Japan's Game Designers
By Yoshifumi Takemoto
Tokyo, Jan. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Japanese video-game software makers are working to prevent Sony Corp.'s PlayStation series of consoles from dominating the $20 billion industry, which last year saw new entries from Microsoft Corp. and Nintendo Co.
Game software makers say they're betting on Nintendo's GameCube, the game console the Kyoto-based company unleashed in the U.S. in November. With its emphasis on game play, the GameCube will probably take market share away from Sony's PlayStation 2 in coming years, game designers said.
``It's best when two or three console makers co-exist,'' said Keiji Tanaka, a managing director at Namco Ltd., the company behind Pac-Man. ``GameCube and (Microsoft's) Xbox can compete against PlayStation 2 and expand the video-game market.''
Before Sony entered the business, Nintendo was the leading console maker. Nintendo's leadership gave it the power to dictate the fees designers paid to develop games. With PlayStation 2 now dominating the market, there's a threat that will happen again, giving Sony sway over the profit margins of gamemakers through its influence on the software retail market.
``GameCube may not become as dominant as the PlayStation 2, but will sell far better than its predecessor, the Nintendo 64,'' said Ken Uryu, an analyst at Merrill Lynch Japan Inc. in Tokyo. ``Nintendo is succeeding in luring software developers.''
Banner Year
Makers of consoles, games and accessories are heading for a banner year. Video-game console shipments are projected to reach 49 million units this year, up from 29 million units in 2001, according to Gartner Dataquest Inc.
While Sony has racked up PlayStation 2 sales of more than 23 million units worldwide since the console reached store shelves in Japan, it has been largely unchallenged. That may change.
Sony last week said it sold more than 5 million PlayStation 2s worldwide during the holiday shopping season. Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said his company had sold 1.5 million Xbox consoles and is selling more than three game software titles per system in its first foray into the video-game market.
Nintendo has said it expected to sell 1.3 million GameCube consoles by the end of 2001 and an additional 1.4 million in Japan. GameCube debuted in the U.S. Nov. 18 and on Sept. 14 in Japan. That's encouraged software makers who design games for the GameCube, a device that comes in purple, black and orange.
``We received many orders for video-game software for the newly launched console,'' said Jiro Sakaguchi, director of Tose Co., a Kyoto-based maker of versions of popular game software for other companies. As a result ``earnings for the fiscal year to August may exceed our initial forecast.''
Still, concerns that Sony will continue to dominate abound. Nintendo's shares have declined about 16 percent since Jan. 1 compared with Sony's 1 percent rise.
Even with the recent drop, though, Nintendo's shares have still gained since the GameCube's Japan debut. The shares are up about 22 percent since sales began on Sept. 14. Software may have a big role to play in that performance.
Nintendo, the creator of video-game classics such as Donkey Kong, will have 41 titles available in the U.S. for the GameCube by March, Mori said. Software will include games exclusively developed for the GameCube, including `Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader' by LucasArts and Sega Corp.'s `Sonic Adventure' and `Virtua Striker3.'
Game Design
For its part, Tose says it's busy making software for GameCube on behalf of Sega and Capcom Co., creator of the `Biohazard' series of shooter games.
Well known for its long-lasting relation with Nintendo by modifying games originally made for PlayStation into versions for Nintendo's game machines such as the Gameboy Advance handheld player, Tose said in October it would beef up the number of software developers at its Chinese subsidiaries from 175 to 400 in the three years to August 2004.
``Software titles such as Virtua Striker will attract users currently unfamiliar with Nintendo machines'' like the Nintendo 64 game console, said Takashi Oya, an analyst at Deutsche Securities. ``GameCube will gain more than 30 percent of the market by 2005 while Playstation 2's share will be 60 percent'' six percentage points lower than PlayStation's current share.
A flourishing video-game industry spells good news for companies such as Nintendo and Sony. Tokyo-based Sony's game business accounted for 14 percent of its revenue in the quarter ended September.
Sony Dominates
Sony succeeded in the video-game business by offering a business model more profitable for software makers.
Instead of storing its games on cartridges, which are more expensive to make and don't have the ability of deleting data once information is stored, Sony opted to use compact discs. Software makers could then reuse the discs of unpopular game titles returned from retailers, thus reducing costs.
The result: PlayStation's share of the video-game market will probably soar to 66 percent by March compared with 27 percent for the Nintendo 64, a comparable console, according to Deutsche Securities estimates.
With the GameCube, Nintendo opted for a digital versatile disc instead of a cartridge to store games.
Because software makers fear the console market may be dominated by a single company, they've begun developing games for a number of different consoles. Ultimately, game console sales are determined by the availability of software, analysts say.
Companies such as Namco, which had stopped designing games for Nintendo's N64, are returning to the fold. Namco will release `Batman Dark Tomorrow' and `Soul Calibur2' for the GameCube.
``The Nintendo Gamecube is more developer-friendly than the PlayStation 2,'' said Yoichi Wada, president of Square Co., developer of the `Final Fantasy' series of PlayStation games.
Square is seeking agreements to make video games for Nintendo, Square's Wada said in an interview. Square has been out of favour with Nintendo for about five years since it switched in 1996 to Sony's PlayStation format, supplying `Final Fantasy' games exclusively to Sony.
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- Esa
) auki. PS2 tottakai on myynyt hyvin mutta Xbox ja Cube ovat kysymysmerkkejä... Enpä tiedä, uskon että tulevat vuodet näyttävät, vaikka trendi alkaa olemaan se, että suurin osa peleistä tulee kaikille koneille