Week 2 EOC: Boston Consulting Group - Video Games

Tennis for two, the first electronic sports game, created over 50 years ago, was the very beginning, the birth of the video game. “Two people played the electronic tennis game with separate controllers that connected to an analog computer and used an oscilloscope for a screen.” (http://www.bnl.gov/bnlweb/history/higinbotham.asp) Today, there are numerous types of digital games and gaming consoles that would have been incomprehensible and virtual worlds that were unimaginable to that day in age. Since the first creation of the video game, games and consoles have been in a constant growing competition with each other. The top consoles that come to my mind are Playstation, Xbox, Nintendo, and PC. Some of these brands have been established for decades and have been paving the way for consumer entertainment.

The success of video games and consoles can go drastically in a positive or negative direction or at times just hang in there. There are some consumers who stay loyal to one system while others are searching the video game market for the next best thing. By using the BCG analysis technique, the video game market can be divided into four categories including cash cows, question marks, dogs, and stars. Conducting a BCG analysis can help consumers decide which video games are worth investing in and help the companies in the video game industry see their strong and weak points.

Star: iPhone games

Cash Cows: Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS, Playstation, Xbox 360 With Kinect

?: Tablet Games

Dogs: PC Games, Xbox without Kinect, Facebook games

Gaming systems and outlets travel through the BCG growth share matrix for example Facebook games were once a cash cow, but they usually lose their popularity. Last weeks top selling video games by unit included four games for Nintendo, three games for Playstation, two games for Xbox 360, and only one game for PC (http://www.vgchartz.com/weekly/41112/Global/). While Nintendo took the lead in popular games for the week, according to Top Ten reviews, the Xbox 360 is rated the best game video game console stating “If you are interested in online gaming or simply want a gaming console that has a little of everything, the Xbox 360 is the system for you.” (http://video-game-consoles-review.toptenreviews.com/) I peosonally own a Nintendo DS and Wii, Playstation 2 and 3, and an Xbox 360 with Kinect and currently mostly use the Playstation 3. I use the different consoles for different reasons and games and it is too hard to choose just one.