Comparison of Product Launch Strategies for Home Gaming Consoles
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EmmaMae Hendrickson COMPARISON OF PRODUCT LAUNCH STRATEGIES FOR HOME GAMING CONSOLES Germany and Finland International Business 2018 VAASAN AMMATTIKORKEAKOULU International Business TIIVISTELMÄ Tekijä EmmaMae Hendrickson Opinnäytetyön nimi Comparison of Product Launch Strategies for Home Gaming Consoles: Germany and Finland Vuosi 2018 Kieli englanti Sivumäärä 42 + 1 liitettä Ohjaaja Ossi Koskinen Interaktiivinen viihdepeliteollisuus on jatkuvassa kasvussa ja kasvun ennustetaan jatkuvan edelleen. Merkittävä osa tätä alaa ovat pelikonsolit. Tämän opinnäytetyön tavoite on selvittää, miten uusia pelikonsoleita tulisi menestyksekkäästi julkaista Saksan ja Suomen markkinoilla. Opinnäytetyön teoreettinen osuus käy läpi tuotejulkaisun perusteet ja tekijät, jotka on tärkeää huomioida. Teoriaosuudessa käsitellään myös Michael Porterin kilpai- lustrategiateoria sekä Yleisstrategiat, joiden pohjalta laatidaan toimiala-analyysi viihdepeli teollisuuden alasta. Opinnäytetyön empiirisessä osassa analysoidaan opinnäytetyötä varten toteutetusta kyselytutkimuksesta. Kyselytutkimus toteutettiin yhdistäen sekä määrällistä, että laadullista menetelmää eli niin kutsutta monimeneltämätutkimusta. Tutkimusai- neisto kerättiin verkkokyselyn avulla. Kyselytutkimuksen avulla saatiin tietoa teki- jöistä, jotka vaikuttavat ja ohjaavat suomalaisten ja saksalaisten kuluttajien interak- tiivisten viihdepelien kulutusta. Tutkimuksen viimeinen osa tiivistää tutkimuksen tulokset sekä esittää mahdolli- suuksia tutkia aihetta edelleen. Tutkimuksen perusteella Saksa olisi vahva vaihto- ehto uusien pelikonsoleiden julkaisumarkkinaksi. Suomalaiset vastaajat sen sijaan olivat enemmän PC käyttäjiä. Suomalaisten kuluttajien konsoleiden ostoaktiivisuus oli juuri uuden julkaisun aikaan tai huomattavan ajan kuluttua julkaisusta. Maiden välillä oli huomattavaa päällekkäisyyttä kun verrataan tekijöitä, jotka vaikuttavat eniten ja vähiten kuluttajien ostospäätökseen. Avainsanat Interaktiivinen viihdepeliteollisuus, Porterin kilpailustrate- gia, Porterin Yleisstrategiat, monimenetelmätutkimus VAASAN AMMATTIKORKEAKOULU UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCES International Business ABSTRACT Author EmmaMae Hendrickson Title Comparison of Product Launch Strategies for Home Gaming Consoles: Germany and Finland Year 2018 Language English Pages 42 + 1 Appendices Name of Supervisor Ossi Koskinen The interactive entertainment industry is continuously growing and is expected to continue expanding. A significant portion of that industry is home gaming consoles. The aim of this thesis was to determine ideal launch behaviours for home gaming consoles in the German and Finnish markets. The theoretical section of the thesis presented the fundamentals of launching a prod- uct and what factors need to be considered. Furthermore, Porter’s five forces and three generic strategies were also discussed and followed by an analysis on the in- teractive entertainment industry. The empirical research section examined the study that was conducted. The re- search was completed using a concurrent mixed method research technique, to al- low for quantitative and qualitative data collection in one single phase. The data was collected through a questionnaire that was distributed online. The results of the research showed insight into German and Finnish consumers in the interactive en- tertainment industry, what influences consumer purchase behaviour, and what be- haviours consumers follow. The final section includes a summary of the research results and suggestions for further research. The research shows that Germany would be a strong focus country for new product launches for home gaming consoles. Finland respondents stated that PC was their chosen hardware for playing games, and that the majority of their activity in console purchases was during the launch window and years after launch. Furthermore, there was overlap in the results in regard to the most and least im- portant influential factors and launch behaviours used in making a purchase deci- sion. Keywords Interactive entertainment industry, launch behaviours, Por- ter’s five forces, Porter’s three generic strategies, concurrent mixed method CONTENTS TIIVISTELMÄ ABSTRACT 1 INTRODUCTION......................................................................................... 8 1.1 Aim of the Thesis ................................................................................... 9 1.2 Structure of Thesis ................................................................................. 9 2 LAUNCH STRATEGIES FOR HOME GAMING CONSOLES ................. 11 2.1 Fundamentals of Product Launch Strategy ........................................... 11 2.2 Interactive Entertainment Industry Analysis ......................................... 15 2.3 Porter’s Five Forces and Three Generic Strategies ............................... 22 2.4 Analysis of Console Launches ............................................................. 27 2.5 Nintendo Switch .................................................................................. 28 2.6 Microsoft Xbox One ............................................................................ 29 2.7 Sony PlayStation 4 ............................................................................... 30 3 EMPIRICAL RESEARCH .......................................................................... 32 3.1 Quantitative Research Method ............................................................. 32 3.2 Qualitative Research Method ............................................................... 32 3.3 Reliability and Validity of the Research ............................................... 33 3.4 Questionnaire Construction .................................................................. 34 4 RESULTS OF THE RESEARCH ................................................................ 35 4.1 Demographics of Respondents ............................................................. 35 4.2 Launch Behaviour ................................................................................ 39 4.3 Qualitative Questions ........................................................................... 44 5 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................... 46 5.1 Summary of Research Findings ............................................................ 46 5.2 Limitations of the Study ....................................................................... 48 5.3 Reliability and Validity of the Study .................................................... 48 5.4 Suggestions for Future Research .......................................................... 49 REFERENCES .................................................................................................. 51 APPENDICES 5 LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES Figure 1. Development of marketing plans across stages of the product development process. – Guiltinan (1999) p. 11 Figure 2. Two-Sided Networked Video Game Market. – Eisenmann et al (2006) p. 18 Figure 3. Global Revenue by Region 2016. – Newzoo (2016) p. 19 Figure 4. Porter’s five forces framework. – Porter (1980) p. 21 Figure 5. Porter’s Three Generic Strategies. – Porter (1980) p. 26 Figure 6. Age of respondents from both countries. p. 34 Figure 7. Hours Finnish respondents spend playing video games per week. p. 35 Figure 8. Hours German respondents spend playing video games per week. p. 35 Figure 9. Preferred hardware among Finnish respondents. p. 36 Figure 10. Preferred hardware among German respondents. p. 36 Figure 11. Consoles currently owned by respondents. p. 37 Figure 12. How closely Finnish respondents follow console launch activities. p. 38 Figure 13. How closely German respondents follow console launch activities. p. 38 Figure 14. Consoles purchased within two weeks of launch. p. 39 Figure 15. Consoles purchased within three months of launch. p. 40 Figure 16. Influential factors among Finnish respondents. p. 41 Figure 17. Influential factors among German respondents. p. 41 Figure 18. Influential behaviours among respondents. p. 42 6 Table 1. Chronology of major console platforms. – Rabowsky (2010) Clements (2013) Microsoft (2013) Layden (2016) Martin (2016) Nintendo (2017a) Nintendo (2017b) p. 15 Table 2. Comparison of Finnish and German responses. p. 47 7 LIST OF APPENDICES APPENDIX 1. Interactive entertainment industry questionnaire 8 1 INTRODUCTION The interactive entertainment industry is continuously growing at remarkable rates, and reaching more consumers than ever before by incorporating new platforms. In total, the interactive entertainment industry is currently valued at $99.6 billion in 2016, of which $25 billion represents console sales. Furthermore, the industry is expected to grow through 2020, reaching a total of $118.6 billion. (Newzoo Games 2016; SuperData 2017) The home entertainment market continues to be dominated by the same key players – Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony – each of which introducing new gaming consoles as tech- nology advances. The most recent consoles released are the Switch, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4, respectively. The high investment prices and competitiveness of the market increases the importance of a successful console. Moreover, a successful console launch is crucial to gaining market share, which then turns into cooperation from third-party de- velopers which can increase a console’s success. (Byrne 2017) To gain a thorough understanding of the home entertainment industry and the intensity of competition, a structural analysis will be done using Porter’s