Will the looming worldwide recession impact the VG industry?

[7th lutz]

Some industries are more resistant to economic downturns. Some are even more profitable when money is tight. The movie and game industry are in the sub-set that are oft times more profitable. Inexpensive entertainment is prime in hard times. Sporting goods fares well also. Instead of going to Disney World or Hawaii many families will go to Oshmans grab a bunch of camping gear, fishing equipment and other outdoor goodies and take the week or two long summer vacation at a state/national park.

Walt Disney world may not be affected as much as Hawaii. Walt Disney World offers a free dining plan. You only have to pay for tips with the free dining plan.

This is the 3rd or 4th year Walt Disney World offers a free dining plan.

Here is the info for this year http://www.wdwinfo.com/disney-dining-plan.htm#rest.

The dates mentioned on the link are for United States Citizens only. Citizens of other countries get different dates to get this package.

Free food is a big help for families. It cuts downs on travel expenses for a whole family. families only have to pay for their hotel stay, traveling costs, and admission to the theme parks.

Places that offers stuff like free dining every year would not be as affected by an economic downturns.

[chrisbid]

Some industries are more resistant to economic downturns. Some are even more profitable when money is tight. The movie and game industry are in the sub-set that are oft times more profitable. Inexpensive entertainment is prime in hard times. Sporting goods fares well also. Instead of going to Disney World or Hawaii many families will go to Oshmans grab a bunch of camping gear, fishing equipment and other outdoor goodies and take the week or two long summer vacation at a state/national park.

how is gaming 'inexpensive'? sixty bucks a pop for a new game?

quick question... if you lose your job tomorrow, would buying video games be on the top of your list of things to spend money on?

[XYXZYZ]

No way man, it's the international banking dynasties! The Morgans, the Rockefellers, the Rothschild family... If they want a worldwide recession, they'll create one! Just like they orchestrated the great depression, the Jewish holocaust, the Vietnam War, 9/11, New Coke...

We'll still have video games so we'll be occupied with them instead of discovering the TRUTH. Don't you see that arcades are dead because they switched to Namco's token currency, taking value (thus POWER) away from the Federal Reserve's quarter? Don't you people know about the secret Alladin's Castle assassinations?

[Rob2600]

how is gaming 'inexpensive'? sixty bucks a pop for a new game?

I own a Wii, so a lot of good games debut at only $20 or $30 each (Link's Crossbow Trianing, House of the Dead 2 & 3 Return, Mercury Meltdown Revolution, Endless Ocean, Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection, etc.).

[jb143]

The difference about this recession compared to past ones is that for the most part (outside of complaining more about it) everyone is pretty much ignoring it. Sure we'll complain about gas prices but instead of buying more fuel effecient cars like in the 70's people are still buying SUV's.

Also, It's worth mentioning that were far from another great depression...A lot of people seem to think that the stock market is doing poorly but it's actually been in record high territory for the past several years. It was mentioned earlier that only certain markets are in a recession...others are doing quite well. My company just had a record breaking year and we build equipment for the swimming pool industry.

Unless things get really bad, I doubt peoples entertainment budgets will change much.

Wait...did I say bugdet? What's that? Off to the game store...

[Jimid2]

china is booming due to US consumption, there will be no disconnect when the bill finally comes for all the debt spending

Um, far be it from me to contradict Ameri-centric myopia, but China is booming because of many, many reasons, including world-wide expansion by Chinese foreign investment (they are THE power block of note in Africa right now). Ultimately, a slowing of growth in some countries does not equal a "recession", particularly if those countries have been growing explosively over the last decade. In truth, the only major economic power in the world that's likely to suffer substantially due to this US recession is the United States. The rest of us are really much better off than that economically...

[7th lutz]

The difference about this recession compared to past ones is that for the most part (outside of complaining more about it) everyone is pretty much ignoring it. Sure we'll complain about gas prices but instead of buying more fuel effecient cars like in the 70's people are still buying SUV's.

You forgot to mention gas prices is causing airlines to layoff employees. Airlines like Midwest Express said they laid off workers because of gas prices. Midwest Express actually told the local media that. The same week midwest express reduced their workforce, 2 airlines declared bankruptcy. The 2 airlines blames gas prices also.

Gas prices is affecting the price of items in stores. Products get shipped to stores. Products or goods in a store are not getting any cheaper as a result. Some products get shipped by truck.

There is a chain affect with gas prices. The gas prices are not high enough to to show a major effect yet.

Gas price complaints are more than people paying at the pump. It also is about the increase prices goods in store.

[jb143]

I didn't forget to mention anything...I just choose not to write a book mentioning everything affected by everything else.

Of course high gas prices are going to effect other things. My point was that just because there's a recession in some industries others will actually improve.

But as far as todays society goes...it seems that many people would rather go deeper into debt than to actually cut back on anything.

[MachineGex]

Nope. How many bills does an average 13-25 yo have these days? Young people will always have money for this stuff because they are still young and have money to blow on videogames because they have nothing else to pay for.

The bread & butter of most game stores are the 25-40 year old males. Teenagers really don't have enough money to matter as much. Sure they may buy a game every month or two, but they just don't have the income like the older males. Mom's with smaller kids (children like 7-12) make up a pretty good share as well.

I think the whole country is gonna be in a little bit of trouble with the economy. Video games will do better than most. I tend to believe the worst is yet to come(like the next 2-3 years). Wait til gas is at $4 next year. You will see some people experiencing some "real" hard times. Everyone who pulled all the equity out of their homes to buy new cars and toys are gonna have a wake up call. I have a friend who bought a house in 1990 for $96,000. He has re-financed his house so many times he now owes $300,000. If he was smart, it would have been paid off by now. He liked buying a new car every two years and paying down credit cards so he could run them up again.

[chrisbid]

http://market-ticker.denninger.net/
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/
http://patrick.net/housing/crash.html

have fun

[Icarus Moonsight]

how is gaming 'inexpensive'? sixty bucks a pop for a new game?

quick question... if you lose your job tomorrow, would buying video games be on the top of your list of things to spend money on?

Compared to other forms of entertainment Movies and games yield some damn good bang for the buck. I budget about $50-$100 a month for gaming. To put equal time in another form of entertainment that budget would have to double at least. If you are talking concerts and such then the factor would be well over 10 times...

If I were to lose my job tomorrow the first thing I would do is get another job. That query was rather silly anyways. Entertainment money is always the first to get sacrificed for needs. My point is, in most cases there is a little left. Even when money is tight. You try to optimize your "play money" in those situations and you can do much worse in terms of value than gaming.