Growth prospects are important …
The video game market in France is doing well in mid-year, with performances at the moment similar to 2014 and significant growth prospects, according to research Sell, the syndicat des éditeurs de logiciels de loisirs, published this Tuesday .
A total turnover of 770 million euros
Sales in the sector reached as last year a total turnover of € 770 million from January to May, according to these estimates using the firm GfK and presented to the IDEF ( Interactive and Digital Entertainment Festival ), the video game trade show in Bordeaux.
“The video game is the only cultural market have been growing over the year 2014 and the coming months will announce very promising,” said AFP Jean-Claude Ghinozzi, President of Sell. With an average expenditure of 126 euros per year per consumer, the industry stands ahead of sales for books (119 euros), video (75 euros) and music (50 euros).
“The cultural property offered as”
“Video games are also offered as cultural property, it shows a strong appetite of younger generations of players and it is a strong point for the industry as it ensures the renewal of buyers,” says Jean-François Boone in charge of interactive entertainment for GfK Panel & video.
The arrival of the eighth generation of consoles, including the Xbox One (Microsoft) and PS4 (Sony) at the end of 2013, thus continues to bear fruit.
The turnover on the material has instead decreased
“The players have quickly and massively adopted the eighth generation and boosting the market that experienced in 2014 its first return to growth since 2008,” recalls Jean-Claude Ghinozzi. This stabilization of sales in a highly cyclical ordinary market is a positive signal as it comes after a 7% increase in 2014, following several years in decline.
GFK accordingly provides a market up 8% over the full year (hardware, software on physical or dematerialized supports for consoles like PC and the accessories).
After the strong enthusiasm generated last year by the new consoles, the turnover on the equipment (hardware) has consistently decreased (-13%), to 181 million euros, of which 94% is achieved by the eighth generation. The area of the new consoles, and portable furniture, is now in 6.5 million French households, against 4.1 million at the end of May 2014.
Highly anticipated titles for Christmas
Sales of game software (software), however, are growing (5%) as a whole, especially since the latest catalog of consoles is now widely expanded since their release.
“This is the classic phenomenon of renewal consoles through a new generation, which benefits initially the hardware as we saw last year and then in the software market, what was observed in the first months of 2015 “says Jean-François Boone.
For Hugues Ouvrard, director of Xbox France, “the end of the year promises to be very rich with high quality exclusive titles like Rise of the Tomb Raider and Halo 5 “.Sony, meanwhile, will have by the end of 2015 on games that also come out on his rival console like Star Wars Battlefront and Fallout 4 .
One million mark passed since the beginning of the year
Accessories, the last link in the chain, is showing renewal period of the equipment are also up 9% over the period.
In this regard, Philippe Lavoué, deputy general manager of Nintendo France, hopes to “sell over one million in calendar 2015”, confirming the popularity of the players for interactive figurines.
