Matt Piscatella: Sub. growth has flattened & sub services account for only 10% video game spending in the US. |UP| Game Hardware Market Peaked in 2008
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Beautiful, Piscatella again doing magic with dollars spent. Now let's think back to 2008 and what might have happened in hardware sales, hmmm.... something that exploded in popularity beyond the usual market and died a few years later? there must have been something...
its absolutely insane how Xbox has the media in a chokehold like this
did you see them say of this shit for the past 14 years????
no, but as soon as Xbox goes to shit we are seeing these narratives everywhere
My dude, dollars is the most flattering comparison possible especially considering it's not adjusted for inflation.
Units sold through that generation dwarfs the ones that came after.
It's not about 1 console.
What was the console market like in 2007-2009?
PS3
Xbox360
PSP
DS
Wii
I don't think dedicated console hardware sales in the US will ever get back to those numbers ever again in a post mobile world.
Matt is totally wrong.
The mountain of the 2008 peak is a very unique exception that won't repeat, a perfect storm wher Nintendo had their unique success of their record sales -by far- in home consoles plus the all time record in handhelds. Plus it's the only gen when MS competed at Sony levels against the PS3, plus the PS2 was still alive and selling, plus PSP being then the only non-Nintendo portable who made good sales.
But if we ignore that generation and look at the rest of the graph, it has been growing since 1995 and it's now over 6x times higher than then, and keeps growing, so at some point will pass the 2008 peak.
PS2 too, wasn't discontinued until 2013. That generation we had:
- The best selling home console ever by far (PS2)
- The best selling non-Sony home console ever (Wii)
- The best selling portable console ever (DS)
- The best selling non-Nintendo portable console ever by far (PSP)
- The best selling Xbox by far, the only one who was at Sony levels (360)
- Another PS console that did it well but worse than the other PS ones (PS3)
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Mat Piscatella: US Video Game Hardware Market Peaked in 2008, young people not buying consoles much; Every company looking to expand beyond consoles.
Xbox peaked in 08 so that means the entire industry peaked.
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Yeah you can easily tell that in terms of HW they peaked right there. The PS2 kept selling until late 00s even early 10s. And then you had all the 7th gen consoles, plus the portables.
It's only natural they peak and stagnate. Game Consoles were the quintessential late gen X/Milennial entertainment device. Those generations were able to see how the industry developed alongside them. And it was also a generation that was used to purchase devices that had a single purpose (walkmans, hi fis, discmans, VCR, DVD players, cameras... you name it) so consoles were second nature for them. Hard resets were never questioned as it was the name of the game.
But for the generations after that it's a whole different ball game. They look for devices that are more versatile and allow cross platform compatibility.
Gen X/Millennials will continue carrying console gaming for a while, particularly PS and Xbox. It's no coincidence that games got more mature as those generations aged. Maybe we will see Master Chief and Kratos/Drake with arthritis or bladder issues. Or continue with the remake/remaster train focusing on 90s and early 00s classics.
Nintendo has a slightly younger demographic.
It's only natural they peak and stagnate. Game Consoles were the quintessential late gen X/Milennial entertainment device. Those generations were able to see how the industry developed alongside them. And it was also a generation that was used to purchase devices that had a single purpose (walkmans, hi fis, discmans, VCR, DVD players, cameras... you name it) so consoles were second nature for them. Hard resets were never questioned as it was the name of the game.
But for the generations after that it's a whole different ball game. They look for devices that are more versatile and allow cross platform compatibility.
Gen X/Millennials will continue carrying console gaming for a while, particularly PS and Xbox. It's no coincidence that games got more mature as those generations aged. Maybe we will see Master Chief and Kratos/Drake with arthritis or bladder issues. Or continue with the remake/remaster train focusing on 90s and early 00s classics.
Nintendo has a slightly younger demographic.
It's sad that Microsoft started this narrative that younger generation don't care as much for console gaming, and now everyone is just running with it.
It's not true and has no basis in reality. Zoomers love console gaming just as much as Gen X/Gen Y.
Zoomers were the kids playing the ps4. This whole idea that Gen Z doesn't care about consoles is ridiculous. I can't wait when we revisit this conversation when GTA6 releases.
"Beyond consoles"
Sony had a Ratchet and Clank movie in 2016, Ubisoft had Prince of Persia with Jake Gylenhaal, Resident Evil movies. Doom, FF7 Advent Children.
This always existed and nobody was saying it was a way for them to reach new markets because consoles are failing.
This new narrative created by Phil Spencer is so idiotic and watching Mat fall for it is pathetic.
Sony had a Ratchet and Clank movie in 2016, Ubisoft had Prince of Persia with Jake Gylenhaal, Resident Evil movies. Doom, FF7 Advent Children.
This always existed and nobody was saying it was a way for them to reach new markets because consoles are failing.
This new narrative created by Phil Spencer is so idiotic and watching Mat fall for it is pathetic.
Maybe dollar spend is the most flattering comparison possible, especially considering it's not adjusted for inflation, but I'm not questioning that in itself.
It's Mat's insistence on using these metrics to prove points in the here and now that I'm continually left shaking my head at.
Back in 2008, as others have pointed out, there were pretty unusual circumstances in the hardware/platform market. Ps2 was still lingering on doing multiple millions as well as all the platforms you mention, big point being handhelds were still an included and discrete thing. But it wasn't the golden years Mat's dollar-spend chart suggests, and there's little value in comparing now to then, especially in dollar spend terms.
Look at Nintendo - they had 2 platforms there that did a combined >20M that year by themselves. One had a very atypical and notoriously difficult to monetise userbase beyond the existing Nintendo fans that bought in by default (i.e. the grannies and other "casual" demographics buying into the novelty of the Wii), one that was far more reluctant to spend on software, the other a notoriously and widely pirated handheld. Despite obvious successes, the 2 platforms struggled in certain ways and did arguably less than they could/should have to build the industry based on their install base. PSP also suffered similarly. Half the platforms, way over half the units sold and dollars spent, all very far removed from what console gaming was and is and that suffered in their own ways... but Mat wants us to look at dollars spent on the boxes to prove a decline in console viability today. If he was genuine in his motives he could very likely come up with far more compelling and discussion-worthy talking points than money spent on boxes... especially when Nintendo are the most far removed of all form the razor/blades model of loss-leading on the hardware and now have a hybrid single-platform strategy that negates many millions of users having to purchase multiple devices and inherently spend more on them.
My point is Mat's trying (really damn hard) to suggest console gaming in 2024 is going down the shitter any chance he can, because that narrative is one he's clearly been tasked with airing. Doing so by comparing 2008 dollars spent on hardware in the US to now is an utter nonsense for myriad reasons, only some of which I've outlined above. You could say he should know better, but that's to assume he's dim and doesn't know his arse form his elbow - but that's not the case, he knows exactly what he's doing and he does it a lot of the time with dollar spend metrics because they're easy to paint the kinds of pictures he wants to portray.
As has been mentioned, that graph should naturally rise as it travels to the right, and without the anomalous 2008 era it seems to be doing just that. Not taking into account covid and what happened around then with any of this is also a big red flag.
Mat kinda sucks.
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Every damn time.... Mat's response as he wakes to his phone blowing up...
Usually followed up by saying he's been taken out of context or it's all the fault of the warriors in the comments not letting him have his way. Big 'ol baby.
Usually followed up by saying he's been taken out of context or it's all the fault of the warriors in the comments not letting him have his way. Big 'ol baby.
