Christmas video game sales soar towards record
Adults buy them Adults play them
The highly secret world of video game development
Who creates these leaps into fantasy?
Parksville BC Canada,(PRWEB) November 4, 2003: Coming off a banner year for Christmas sales in 2002, October 2003 sales figures reveal that the North American video game industry is headed towards an even better holiday marketing season in 2003. Sales could exceed 10 billion this year.
Adults buy them Adults play them
And no wonder, with uncertain markets, terrorism and war in the Middle East many people prefer to live, at least for a while, in a fantasy world. And that might explain why the purveyors of fantasy are doing so well.
Contrary to popular belief, it's not only kids who play video games. According to the Interactive Digital Software Association, sixty percent of all North Americans age six and older, or about 150 million people, play computer and video games. The average age of a game player is 28 years old and, forty-three percent of game players are women. The vast majority of people who play video games do so with friends and family. Ninety percent of all games are purchased by adults over the age of 18.
The highly secret world of video game development
Enter a world that keeps tightly guarded secrets about what's being developed and why, as companies continually vie for a larger share of the billions in annual sales of computer and video game software.
The industry is comprised of two basic levels, publishers like Sony, Nintendo, Microsoft and other multi-national corporations who fund game development and market the games worldwide. Once the decision has been made to invest in a new game, developers are hired by the publishers to create the new entertainment.
One such development company is Exile Interactive Inc. Located in the ocean playground of Parksville on Vancouver Island, Exile Interactive Inc is a premiere developer of entertainment software and co-developer of such best selling titles as Sega's World Series Baseball line・
It can take as much as two years and cost between $2 million and $5 million to develop a game. Marketing the game could cost four or five times that, before you even get to worry about the cost of production and distribution.
Exile interactive President and CEO Dan Tudge won't talk sales figures, which publishers they're working for and even what kind of games they're developing or thinking about developing, and that is reflected in the working environment.
In the company's second-floor office space, the art department, game-designing area, offices, engineering room and game-playing zone share the floor with a room closed to the outside world. It's hidden behind blinds and the door is always closed when outsiders are around -- that's the testing and development area for the next big thing.
"Our publishers are making a very bold move with what we're doing and they don't want to show their hand," says Tudge, noting there likely won't be any kind of advertising splash until just before the new game is released in 2005. "You want to make the most of the pre-release hype."
Who creates these leaps into fantasy?
Not everyone in the game development business is located in the Silicon Valley. In communities all over the US, Canada, Great Brittan and around the world talented and experienced people are drawn to the cities and towns that best suit the individuals chosen life style.
An interesting and talented cast of characters is one way to describe the people at Exile who make some of the biggest interactive Video Games in the world. Exile attracts superior skills and talent for a number of reasons including experienced management, creative freedom, games that reach market and location, location, location. Parksville is one of the few places on the west coast from San Diego to Alaska where one can swim in the Pacific Ocean without experiencing hypothermia. A winter's day can find you skiing in the morning, golfing in the afternoon and planning a surfing weekend; all available either on your doorstep or within about an hours drive.
Professionally, Exile's software development team have worked on almost 50 popular game titles during their careers. In addition to Sega's World Series Baseball line・ Toxic Grind・and T.J. Lavin's Ultimate BMX・readers will recognize names like The Simpson's Road Rage, Impossible Creatures, NHL All-Star Hockey, FOX Sports NBA Basketball, NHL Powerplay 2002, FIFA World Cup and Dark Summit.
The creative atmosphere combined with the interaction between team members as a game comes to life, makes working in the game development industry fun, exhilarating and financially rewarding. Once the team has agreed to the design and execution for a game, they will employ up to 82,000 hours over the next 12-24 months creating thousands of lines of code and millions of computer generated 3D building blocks before the product is ready for market. As the process unfolds, there is a continual flow of new ideas making each days work a fresh and stimulating experience.
Along with creating the next great game Exile recently re-branded itself or rather, it adjusted its image to reflect more accurately what the company has actually become, a solid, successful developer of world class AAA games; something they do so well, they were recently awarded the contract (top secret) to develop the next great game
As millions of people enjoy playing their own new interactive games this Holiday season they'll hardly be alone. An astonishing 35 percent of North Americans identified computer and video games as the most fun entertainment activity surpassing even the movies and television.
As for the people who create and develop these games, theyre also hoping Santa will leave something interactive and enormously challenging in their stockings this Christmas.
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Further information:
Ian Macaulay ・250.744.7931 or 250.658 5332 ian@amacaulaygroup.com
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