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‘Bring on the gizmos’ A retailer writes of his hopes for 2010 and the potential benefits the High Street can expect from the launch of Project Natal and Sony’s Motion Controller… WE MADE IT. We survived 2009, despite the naysayers predicting we’d all go under in the financial equivalent of Domino Rally. Obviously, I know we’re not out of the water yet, but a good couple of weeks of Christmas sales (and no small amount of champers at New Year’s) saw me enter 2010 with a much brighter outlook on things. If we can manage to survive 2009, this year shouldn’t be much tougher, right? So let’s share my newfound optimism. What are we all looking forward to in the next 12 months? For me, the most important thing that will be gracing my store’s shelves this year will be Microsoft’s Project Natal for the Xbox 360 and Sony’s motion wand thingy for the PS3 (why haven’t they picked a named for that yet? Do you think they are taking suggestions?).
Why am I so excited about these? Because it’s new hardware. One of the most exciting times for a retailer is the launch of a new console or handheld or some other gadget. Oh sure, game launches are all well and good but – with
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back at launch. And yet there’s not been any new hardware for a good few years now. All of the current consoles have been out for at least three years – four in the case of the 360. Usually we have seen or at least heard about the next
More and more people will be introduced to gaming, just as they were with the Wii, and many of these might be kids. An optimistic retailer
Modern Warfare 2 being the very rare exception – even the biggest games tend to come and go within a few weeks (or at best a month or two) after they’re released. Hardware lasts so much longer. We’re still selling Wii and DS like there’s no tomorrow – although obviously nowhere near as quickly as we were
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generation from the Big Three but there’s no word on anything new coming out in the next year or so. New SKUs aren’t the same. A bigger hard drive or a larger screen does not a massive sales boost make. And sure, we had the PSPgo, but that’s not exactly been a sterling success has it?
But with Natal and the Wand, we’ll have something new, properly new. There will be new types of games coming out so more and more people will be introduced to gaming, just as they were with the Wii. And given how easy these controllers will be to use, many of these might be kids, which would be fantastic – there are too many sweaty teens coming into my store. Can I have some more parents please? I read in MCV that Microsoft is even planning to treat Natal like a new console launch, so gamers will be pretty hyped for it by the time it comes out and I’m sure Sony has similar tricks up its sleeves. A massive launch event is always something to look forward to, whether it’s a triple-A game or something like Natal and the Wand. Yes, they may look a little gimmicky, and the novelty might wear off like it did with
the Wii. But all of the consoles are starting to see a definite decline in sales. In the absence of brand new games machines, these new controllers should be the shot in the arm we need. I say bring on the gizmos. An optimistic retailer
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