• - GameCo -

    GameCo is a fictional video game company developing their marketing budget for 2017.

    The analysis is of physical game sales from 1980-2016 to get a better understanding of how GameCo games may fare in the market.

    The company's current understanding is that regional sales have remained the same over time.

     

    Objective

    To see if GameCo's current understanding is still correct, who the main competitors are, and how game, genre, and platform popularity has changed over time.

    Data

    Skills

    • Grouping and summarizing data in Excel
    • Cleaning data
    • Performing descriptive analysis
    • Visualizing and presenting results

    Tools

    • Microsoft Excel
    • Microsoft PowerPoint

  • Sales Have Changed Over Time

    Line chart of global video game sales from 1980-2016

    Global Sales

    Looking at sales over time, we can see that physical video game sales have been declining. Sales in 2016 are 90% lower than in 2008, the peak of game sales.

    Pie chart of sales by region

    Regional Sales

    Regional sales have also changed over time.

    Generally North America is the largest market, but this changed in 2016 with Europe making up the most sales at 38%.

    Pie chart of platform sales in 2016

    Platforms

    In 2016 the platform with the most game sales was the PS4.

    Platforms experience high sales for a short period before declining. The exception is the PC (personal computer) but it makes up 2.89% of all sales.

    Bar chart of sales by genre from 1980-2016

    Genres

    Recently the most popular genres are Sports and Shooter, but Action games are still the third highest selling genre in 2016.

     

    All three genres are the most popular in the two largest markets, Europe and North America.

    Infographic of the top 10 selling games of 2016, their publishers, and genre

    Publishers

    Historically the top 10 selling games have all been published by Nintendo. The landscape of 2016 is very different, with multiple publishers in the top 10.

    Majority of sales from the top 5 publishers were in the top 3 genres, but there are some gaps that can be taken advantage of.

    For example, Ubisoft, Sony Computer Entertainment, Namco Bandai Games, and Activision didn’t sell any Sports games in 2016.

  • Conclusion & Recommendations

    Regions & Genres

    Focus on Europe and North America. Prioritize Action, Shooter, and Sports genres. These are the most popular, and there are still gaps in other publisher’s genres to take advantage of.

    Platforms

    Release games on multiple platforms to increase accessibility, but older platforms should be lower priority. These will eventually lose sales as new consoles launch in the future.

    Monetary Models

    With the decline of physical sales, consider other income methods like online sales, in-game purchases, subscriptions, etc.

    Current Fanbase

    Current customers should still be considered and can be surveyed for insights. There may be demand for a sequel or genre that will boost sales.

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