Video game industry sales hit $17.9 billion last year with sales up “an astounding” 43 percent, reports research group NPD. Nintendo DS and the Wii are the top sellers. “By the end of 2007 we were sold out of virtually all hardware, and much of our stock of software and accessories was sold out as well,” said Cammie Dunaway, the EVP at Nintendo of America.
I’ve said this before, if you’re a media exec and you don’t own one of the top video game consoles, go buy one. It’s just as important as owning a TiVo in the early days to understand how the TV business is changing. I believe that video gaming is just scratching the surface — beyond the fact that game consoles are becoming the de facto media centers for young people — because gaming will soon transform into virtual reality communities. For example, would you rather watch a History Channel special on the Aztec Ruins or explore them yourself, in high-def, replicated in minute detail from the real thing? With Aztec history buffs? With your friends? As televisions have been windows to the world, video games will become interactive portals to social virtual experiences, both “real” and imagined.
