Last weeks Essay: Dangerous Days for Video Games

Video Games have become a way of life for most teenagers today. When people don’t know what to do with there free time video games is always something they can do to keep them busy. I probably play on average 4-5 hours of video games a week and I would say that is low for most college students. Even with this being said, video games are not being sold as much as they used to and a lot of video game companies like Xbox and Playstation are struggling right now.

Call of Duty Modern Warfare came out last week and this was one of the most anticipated releases for a video game in a long time. Even with this being said, companies like Wal-Mart and Amazon are handing out $20 discount coupons to lure in buyers. “As of October, according to the research firm NPD group, sales were off 12% in the U.S.” Anita Frazier believes this is coming from the economy. Call of Duty coasted the company about 200 million to launch the game and about 40 million to develop says Michael Pachter, a Wedbush Morgan Securities analyst. Predictions say the Call of Duty will still be down money unless Christmas bring a surplus.

Video games are very popular but the companies are still struggling. I think maybe it is because on how expensive it costs to buy them. Most video cost 60 dollars when they are popular and for most college kids that is very expensive. When I am working there will be obstacles that will come my way. If what I am doing isn’t working I will need to try something else to be successful and do whatever it takes to get done what needs to get done. In the case of these video game companies they need to find a way to get sales back to what they were. Decreasing price is a possibility but they are spending a lot to make the game so that may not be the answer.