The “Growing Pains” for the Game Companies

There are some buzz words that you must know: PlayStation3, PSP, Xbox, and Wii. Some game consoles that are very popular nowadays. It is reported that there has been several chaotic accidents among the buyer in order to obtain the newly released console Sony PlayStation3. Most people will say that the game companies are making great profits from these enthusiastic gamers. However, the game companies are worrying seriously about their future, because the “enthusiasts” are becoming adults.
The game industry is a special industry that aims at entertaining the young er generations. However, “as so-called Millennials -- a large swath of population born between 1980 and 2000 – mature,” there might be a devastating decrease of gamers, which means a “lapsed” economy. The main reason for the losing-interests-while- growing- into- adult phenomena is said to be that most games are time consuming. It usually takes “tons of hours of playing to complete” and being adults of course cannot devote much time on playing games since they now have more responsibility for work and family. Besides, people are getting bored with the contents or the procedures of completing a game. They are requiring a new way of playing video games. Let’s take the Nintendo Wii for example; gamers finally found a new way of playing games more virtually and with the movement of the body. Playing games are now a new kind of exercise. Moreover, the games consoles are being developed more complicated that before. People are playing video games for relaxation, not to get overwhelmed by the complex usage of joysticks and numerous buttons.
The concern from the game industries is not a meeting the trouble halfway. This can be illustrated by one of the demand shifters we learned about in class, the preferences. People are losing their interests or say their preferences about the game consoles. This will definitely lead to the increase of demand, which means a loss for the game industries. Fortunately, the game industries oversee this coming trouble and are trying their best to arouse the interests of the gamers. One way is to develop new consoles that are exciting and in big differences than the traditional ones, like Wii. Besides, I think they should adjust their game contents to meet the whole family’s needs. Games should be welcomed by everyone, not just the young generation, after all. "You cannot sustain growth just by taking more money from the same people." To sum up, just get rid of the stale and bring forth the fresh!