2009 Mar 27 2009
The state of the game in Spain by the ADES
The ADES, Spanish Association of Publishers and Distributors Entertainment Software, has released its data in 2008 (my comments in brackets):
- The video game sales continue to lead the audiovisual entertainment with 57% market share in Spain. (Whenever this leadership position is strengthened more and more).
- In Spain the use of videogames reached 1,432 million euros in 2008. This represents a slight decrease of 1.5% over the figure recorded the previous year. (There is a crisis, but it seems that video games are not the most affected).
- The video game sales in Spain rose by 3%, while the number of consoles sold was down 6%. The home console sales in Spain rose by 5% but a decrease in sales of portable consoles of 14% over the previous year. Leading the sales ranking for specific games consoles, with a total of 16,883 units sold (-3% compared to 2007). Regarding PC games were reached 3,523 units sold (-21%). The top selling games console is the action, which account for almost half of sales. We follow the racing games and sports. In the market for PC games, strategy games dominate with more than one third of sales, followed by action-adventure. (Down on the entire PC, which is already very sharp decline, and laptops. Have you taken into account in the PC game World of Warcraft and the like? Nothing new in preferences by gender).
- Spain has Europe's fourth intake of interactive software and console sales, behind the United Kingdom, France and Germany. The European market in value almost reached 15,000 million euros, an increase over 2007 of 2,000 million euros. In this sense stands above all the United Kingdom, with a 28% increase. Regarding the number of consoles sold in Europe in 2008, the number was more than 29 million consoles, representing an average growth of 15%. (Spain is in the same place, but stagnating sales records when in other European countries continue to experience large increases. What's wrong? I have the answer).
- Of the games released in 2008, 55% were classified as suitable for +3 years (for all audiences), and only 5% have been explicitly labeled as +18 (for 18 years). Continuing self-regulation, according to data released by Self, in 2008 there has been only one complaint about the advertising game. The complaint, which was initially accepted for processing, was finally dismissed. Self received a total of 287 prior consultations on video game advertising, of which only scored negative for dissemination. (Data sing. Is less fierce wolf as it looks).
- As for the advertising investment of the video game industry continued to increase during 2008, reaching 237 million Euros, representing a 60% increase over 2007. According to data provided by Infoadex. (As far as I know, this year will still be less investment in TV and magazines and the Internet continue to grow, so ... Let us sharpen the claws).
The government reacts
It seems that finally the political class is becoming aware of where the shots go in the entertainment industry and all groups in Congress have supported an initiative of the PSOE would elevate video games to the same cultural category that music and film . The game developers and receive the same grants and subsidies that the rest of the entertainment industry. It is clear that our country is a hotbed of professional video game and you have to avoid brain drain.
I think it's a great initiative in the face of the crisis that will not bear fruit until a few years, but it is very important to place our country on the right track. You can expand the information in the article "A respect for the game" in The Country .
Related Articles:
" Debate on the state of the consoles
" Reviewing the situation of the consoles in Spain
" EA has a Take-Two in the pot
