subject: Video Game Makers Hopeful For 2011 Sales [print this page] Video game makers leave behind a year of slow sales in 2010, but they are hopeful that a new generation of games for tablet computers, mobile phones and Web social networks will spark a return to growth in 2011.
The explosion of mobile games like "infinity Blade" and "Angry Birds" on smartphones has lured new consumers into playing games. Video game company Zynga has turned social network Facebook into a hugely successful gaming platform with its hits like "Farmville" and "CityVille."
"Before we were figuring out how to make social games, now we are mastering the art of making social games," Mark Skaggs, vice president of product development at Zynga, told Reuters.
He said the next generation of Facebook games will have "deeper gameplay, more polish, and be much more and better social experiences."
North American sales of video game hardware, software and accessories are expected to reach $20.9 billion by the end of this year. According to Jesse Divnich, vice president of Electronic Entertainment Design and Research, that figure is down four percent from 2009.
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Despite the economic slump that continues to impact gamers' disposable income, industry players expect 2011 to bring a wave of new revenue from items like downloadable content, mobile games, and in-game micro-transactions.
Arvind Bhatia, senior research analyst at Sterne Agee, told Reuters that he sees U.S. and European game sales up 5 percent for 2010 and another 5 percent for 2011.
Companies like Samsung and Verizon will unveil new smartphones and tablet devices to extend the reach of games to more consumers at January's giant International Consumer Electronics Show (CES).
Michael Cai, the head of video game research at Interpret, told Reuters' John Gaudiosi that over half of tablet owners today are playing games on their devices.
"I think one of the big trends of 2011 is cross-platform gameplay, that is, game experiences that are continuous across mobile, television, PC, social media, console and interactive toys," Jesse Schell, assistant professor of entertainment technology at Carnegie Mellon University, told Reuters.
"As these technologies get more and more ingrained in our lives, game experiences across them will become more connected and more continuous," he added
Last week, Activision Blizzard Inc. announced that its "Call of Duty: Black Ops" game racked in over $1 billion in sales in 2010.
Sony is expected to showcase stereoscopic 3D games like "MLB 11: The Show," "Killzone 3D," and "Motorstorm: Apocalypse" at the CES.
Sony and Microsoft jumped into the motion controlled game this fall with PlayStation Move and Kinect for Xbox 360.
"There had been doubts on whether the casual consumer, who ballooned industry sales in 2008 and 2009, would return given the plethora of much cheaper entertainment options such as mobile and social networking games," Divnich told Reuters. "With November 2010 sales being up across the board, it is clear that the casual and mainstream base is still willing to make significant video game purchases."
