14 DAY TRIAL // A report from Lazard Capital Markets suggests that the number of hours that so called core gamers are spending on video games is bigger than ever but that less involved players tend to abandon the console eco system attracted by new gaming possibilities that are less expensive and have attractive business models.
It seems that those gamers that have fueled the rise of music titles like Guitar Hero and Rock Band and made Wii games successes are now moving on to browser based games and mobile titles, resulting in the decline of the music market and the falling sales of Nintendo Wii software.
The reports says, “The bad news for the console market is that the number of casual or infrequent gamers outnumber core gamers, resulting in a slight tilt toward less time spent overall playing console games.”
The console titles that now generate a lot of interest are Call of Duty: Black Ops, Red Dead Redemption, Halo: Reach and Gran Turismo 5, suggesting that the core gamer is aware of the biggest games on the market and interested in trying them out.
Even if Black Ops leads the pack it appears that gamers are also interested in Medal of Honor, with 17% of Call of Duty fans also interested in the revived franchise.
The Lazard report notes, “Importantly, given the broader interest and timing with gift purchases, we expect Call of Duty will still sell at least three times the number of units as Medal of Honor, although game reviews remain a key variable in determining core gamer interest.”
Apparently gamers also responded well to the Move and Kinect motion tracking system, with Sony off to a good start in September and with Microsoft able to sell about 4 million units of its peripheral before the end of the year.
The Lazard report is based on a survey of 314 console owners, with many of them having more than one device in their home.
73 percent of them said they were active console gamers while also being interested in other platforms.