Anita Frazier Retail Quotations

It goes without saying that the full impact of next generation consoles on the consumer market won't unfold until later this year when Sony and Nintendo's video game consoles hit U.S. retail shelves.

While we have seen retail sales of PC games decrease for several years now, we know from talking to consumers about their online gaming behaviors that playing games on the PC, whether it's via online casual sites or through massive multi-player online (MMO) subscription play, has been increasing.

The introduction of the Xbox 360 was a defining moment for the industry in 2005. However, it goes without saying that the full impact of next generation consoles on the consumer market won't unfold until later this year when Sony and Nintendo's video game consoles hit U.S. retail shelves. The real story for 2005 was the incredible expansion of portable gaming. The GBA continued to realize stellar sales, and the introduction of the DS and PSP to the market brought older gamers to the portable format.

The monthly/annual subscription fees can be hugely significant, as they are for WoW from Blizzard, but unless you get a critical mass of players to make the game interesting to participate in, it's likely to die quickly. So it can be profitable or not, depending on its retail and subscription success.

They did a great job of creating the hype. The 360 has largely been out-of-stock at retail since its launch last November. So clearly, selling out is one sign of performance, but you can't say that its market potential has been even close to tested with the limited supplies available.