11/11/2004

Halo 2

On Wednesday, Microsoft announced that 2.4 million copies of Halo 2 were sold within the first 24 hours of the game being on store shelves. Sales reached up to $125 million! That’s 25 % more than what was predicted. One retailer sold 200,000 copies of Halo 2 before daybreak!

This is exciting news for Micosoft! I think it is amazing to have such hot items to keep a company in business after their main product has already reached an almost mature stage in its life cycle. Halo 2 provides an incredible competitive advantage for this company. I find the video game industry very interesting in terms of business and technology.

On a different note, just to spark some conversation, what does this news tell us about American culture? In just one day of sales, over 2.4 million copies were sold. How many of those do you think are burned and copied by now? That means, at this moment, at least 2.4 million people and their friends are crowed around a T.V. playing a video game! Just think how many people will be playing this after Christmas morning?

There are so many issues that this news can spark...

3 comments:

Ernie said...

Callie, I also find the video game industry fascinating. The most fascinating being the demograhic reality that is now showing that most video gamers come from the 18-34 age group. Aren't video games supposed to be for kids? Not anymore, with games out like Grand Theft Auto and many others, consumers are more likely to be male adults in their twenties.

Kristin and Scottie said...

Video games are becoming the next big hobby. People would rather be online playing these games, rather than out playing physical games. This I think is normal for the generation. My little sister doesn't seem to care much for going out and playing tag like I did when I was younger. She wants to play Sims or go online. We are just in a new fad and video games are huge. Microsoft did what they needed to in order to keep their customers.

Dr. Tufte said...

I can't see a lot of economic theory here, but here's an economics fact: video games are a bigger industry than movies. And they appeal to a younger demographic.

How does that make you feel about movie stars that try to use their celebrity status to influence voting? Think they have some egos on them, or what?