Harsh Parmar the Gaming Industry Marketing
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Caucasus International University Harsh Parmar The Gaming Industry Marketing Master’s Educational Program of International Marketing Master’s thesis is done to obtain Master’s degree in Business Administration in Marketing Supervisor: Prof. Dimitri Kobakhidze PHD of Business Administration Associate Professor at CIU Tbilisi, 2020 Abstract The world of gaming is growing and improving with time since it was first introduced in 1970s. digital gaming has always been centering of attraction for kids and even adults who still like to play games, either alone or with their friends. With the help of internet, I have gathered information on gaming industry, why it is important and why it is integral part of almost everyone’s life. I have started with the history of gaming and showed how this industry has transformed as we see it now. Also I have provided information why, even in this COVID 19 pandemic this industry hasn’t been affected much. The gaming is constantly present in the life of a man and is required both for the individual and the general public as a result of the social association that the members of the game. The advancement of innovation and the Internet has engaged the developing of another sort game. Video game are progressively supplanting customary games and directly affect how web client occupy their full time. The developing interest for computer games open another modern branch 1 Contents Introduction .................................................................................................................................................................... 3 1. History of Gaming ............................................................................................................................................ 6 1.1. Early history .............................................................................................................................................. 6 1.2. Gaming in 1970s ...................................................................................................................................... 7 1.3. GAMING IN 1980s .................................................................................................................................... 9 1.4. GAMING IN 1990s ................................................................................................................................. 11 1.5. GAMING IN 2000s ................................................................................................................................. 13 1.6. Seventh era consoles (2005–present) ........................................................................................... 15 PlayStation ..................................................................................................................................................................... 16 1.7. Console History ..................................................................................................................................... 16 1.8. PlayStation controllers ....................................................................................................................... 20 1.9. PlayStation Marketing Mix (4Ps) Strategy ................................................................................... 24 Xbox 27 1.10. Console history ...................................................................................................................................... 27 1.11. Xbox controller ...................................................................................................................................... 31 1.12. Xbox Marketing Mix (4Ps) Strategy ................................................................................................ 32 1.13. Main Threats and Opportunities to Microsoft Xbox ................................................................. 35 Comparison between the rival gaming companies’ marketing strategies (PS 3 VS Xbox 360).............. 37 1.14. Competing in global success of the games produced ............................................................... 39 1.15. Racing in financial success (Comparing Units Sold worldwide)........................................... 40 1.16. PS4 VS Xbox one .................................................................................................................................... 41 1.17. Console Vs Pc ......................................................................................................................................... 44 1.18. Battle between consoles ..................................................................................................................... 47 REVENUE OF GAMING INDUSTRY ............................................................................................................................ 51 1.19. Piracy ........................................................................................................................................................ 51 1.20. Gaming shows ........................................................................................................................................ 51 1.21. Tournaments .......................................................................................................................................... 53 1.22. Employment ........................................................................................................................................... 55 1.23. Online platforms ................................................................................................................................... 60 1.24. GAME OF THE YEAR AWARDS ......................................................................................................... 63 Conclusions and Recommendations ....................................................................................................................... 64 Bibliography.................................................................................................................................................................. 67 2 Introduction This thesis is a wide view into the world of videogame industry and how it has progressed and grown in the past years. There are multiple reasons to the growth of the industry, this thesis will try to clarify the multiple reasons for the growth and how it has been possible. The topic area is very relevant and very interesting at the moment. Video game industry has risen to be the most dominant industry in the entertainment sector. It has risen its productivity massively in the past 10 years. In 2018 the industry’s total market was worth $137,9 billion. It is calculated to grow exponentially with the coming years. By 2021 it is expected to grow to $180,1 billion in revenue (Wijman, 2018). With the casual gaming on the rise, more and more people who are not categorized as “gamers” are playing video games. In 2018 already, tablet and smartphone games made 51% of the whole video game market revenue. According to experts the growth will continue to grow and with it the revenues (Wijman, 2018). Gaming and the gaming industry are here to stay. $137.9 billion is a big number but it is quite hard to grasp upon, for example Finland’s GDP in 2018 was $251.8 billion. The revenue of the videogame industry alone was more than half of the Finland’s whole GDP for the year 2018 (Trading Economics, 2018). These growth numbers and more will be looked more in-depth further on the thesis. At the beginning of this thesis there will be notes on how the research has been done on this work and where most of the information come from and how the author decided to include these sources on this paper. With the research questions chapter, the paper will start to dwell deeper into the subject. There the reader can see the main questions of the thesis; these questions will be answered more in-depth in the chapters following. As the overall image on the thesis has been created the paper will start to focus on the details that make the big picture. Subjects like mobile gaming, new target audiences, business models, digitalization, etc. Each of these subjects are closely related to the growth and to the main thesis questions. Towards the end of the thesis, there will be a closer look into a videogame company Electronic Arts. The function of this is to show the reader how a videogame company utilizes the aspects 3 that have made the industry grow and how they have participated in the growth of the industry. Goal: The goal of this research is to understand how diverse the gaming industry is, its career option, having a good time with friends, to set marketing strategy which will aim the product to various age group, also clearing its spoiled name in front of parents as “gaming is for kids”. Importance of the study: 1. This research is important how gaming industry is providing employment to new game developers. 2. This research is important in in proving how gaming industry is contributing to country’s development and growth. 3. This research is used as secondary research material for new game developers. There was time when gaming was only considered for kids but we have come as far way from that and ever since gaming industry has proved its worth to everyone, whether it’s a little enjoyable experience with friends or having entire life depend on it as a job of software engineer, art designer, music director, visual effects artist etc. this year gaming industry revenue was 160 billion dollars, which has seen