TORONTO, Digital Journal — “If last year [2002] was the Year of the Console, this year [2003] was really the Year of the Videogame Sales,” says Michelle Liem, Senior Marketing Manager for Buena Vista Games, a division of the Walt Disney Company.
Liem is speaking on the state of the gaming industry in Canada after looking over the latest figures released by AC Nielson and NPD Intellect. The numbers tell the story: We Canadians love our games. According to the two marketing information companies, sales of interactive titles in Canada shot up 41 per cent in 2003, for a total of $803 million (all figures in Canadian dollars). That’s the gross sum of console, video game and PC games sales across the country.
In fact, the gaming industry is one of the few entertainment sectors that is actually growing. For example, the Canadian music industry (which was worth $1.4 billion five years ago) showed sales of just under $900 million ― a half a billion-dollar loss. The sharp decline is blamed on file-sharing services like Napster and Kazaa.
But even the mighty movie industry is experiencing some shrinkage. “We know that even now, the game industry, in terms of revenue, is bigger than the movie industry,” says Liem. “And once again this year it is. The movie industry declined by four per cent, with revenues of just over $9 billion in 2003, whereas the interactive [gaming] industry in North America ended up with $11 billion and grew about 10 per cent.”
So, what are Canadians playing these days? Well, according to AC Neilson, the top genre is Action with $139 million in sales. That’s 2.9 million titles sold, up 59 per cent. In second place, Sports titles sold $77 million, with 1.5 million units sold (up 45 per cent). More than 103,000 of those Sports games were copies of NHL 2004, the second best selling game in Canada in 2003. I guess the cliché is true ― Canadians love their hockey.
Surprisingly, the Adventure genre (which some people claim is “dead” despite the success of companies like Toronto publisher The Adventure Company) was the third best selling genre in Canada for 2003, with $50 million in sales. That’s 1.2 million units sold, representing 14 per cent growth.
“There wasn’t really a breakout title, like Grand Theft Auto last year,” observes Liem. But there were tons of really strong performers, like Mario Kart Double Dash and of course NHL 2004 in Canada…[there are] lots of very strong video games. That to me was one of the most impressive things, just to see the growth of videogame sales. I also think it is an indicator that this market is continuing to move more into the mass industry.”
Another trend that some might find surprising is the fact that violent and controversial video games get all the attention, but not necessarily all the sales. From October to December 2003, only 14 per cent of games sold were rated M for Mature (more than 50 per cent were rated E for everyone). This is true even in the face of the raging success of the M-rated Grand Theft Auto series. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City was the top-selling video game overall in 2002.
The top publisher in Canada was Electronic Arts, which had $78 million in sales last year, up 42 per cent (and they just opened up a new Montreal studio in mid-March). While it is pretty good growth, it’s still not the fastest. Gotham Games was the fastest growing publisher in Canada with an astonishing 173 per cent growth. Ubisoft, which has a huge presence in Quebec, grew 92 per cent, and Disney leapt ahead 63 per cent.
Liem credits Disney’s growth to its sales of Nintendo Game Boy Advance titles. So, they’re planning to launch 17 more GBA titles in 2004.
So what can we expect next? What is the future of the gaming industry?
Liem says, “I think it’s going to be the next generation consoles, when they come out. They’re really going to be offering the complete home experience, being able to bring together all sorts of mediums into one home. I think that’s going to bring the industry to a mass level like the music industry, and even like the movie industry.”
