GAME CEO: “Consumers Want New Hardware”
Struggling UK retail chain GAME believes that the industry needs new hardware launches to be revitalized.
After a 17.6% slump in sales over Christmas, GAME admits that it might not meet some of its EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) covenants. But CEO Ian Shepherd thinks that the market will grow with the arrival of new hardware, telling MCV:
The weakness in the overall numbers was partly driven by the economy and consumer confidence issues. It was also driven by where we are in the hardware cycle. The hardware market was much more negative than the software market. That tells you the industry and the consumer is ready for more innovation there. Whether it is in the handheld space with 3DS and Vita or in the home space with Wii U – all of that will excite the consumer in coming back to the games market again.
Unfortunately for GAME, at CES Kaz Hirai insisted that the PS4 would not be revealed at this year’s E3, meaning that the next generation of PlayStation could still be some years away. But do you want new hardware? Let us know in the comments below.
11 Responses to “GAME CEO: “Consumers Want New Hardware””
So you admit it’s partially due to a struggling economy that game sales are down, yet you want the consumer to spend hundreds of dollars on new hardware AND software? When the current gen of HD consoles are fully tapped, yet the best quality games possible can come out on them? Revitalizing the market with new consoles won’t work right now. The 3DS and PSV launches so far have shown that, not unless you make them extremely affordable, which probably isn’t possible for a brand new console.
“The hardware market was much more negative than the software market.” This just means that most people have chosen the platform(s) they want to game on, and are buying up software for their consoles. I still think the PS3 is hitting its stride. Heck, even the 360 found some way to hang in there with the Kinect (as much as I dislike it, Microsoft marketed the hell out of it and it sold like crazy). The PSP however is quite dated, and the Vita seems like a worthy successor. All of which can be bought online – these brick & mortar stores need to do something to entice gamers to buy from them instead of Amazon or some other big online store.
“these brick & mortar stores need to do something to entice gamers to buy from them instead of Amazon or some other big online store.”
I agree with you 100%. Sometimes people would have to wait 6 months or more for local retailers to drop the price of a newly release game while at Amazon you can buy it at half price in several weeks after launch.
I want new hardware bad. I love the ps3, but i want a ps4. I know i will still be able to play my pa3 games and i will still buy them like i did/do with ps2/1 games, and i know a lot of people will do the same. Need more power!
Sure I’m interested to see what a PS4 could do, but I’m much more interested to see how long the PS3 can go. Imagine how much longer it would go if they reworked the XMB, made messaging and friends QUICKLY available in game rather than waiting for the whole XMB to load icons that can’t even be used unless you quit the game, and put in an extremely decent web browser rather than one that freezes nearly every time you use it and can’t load 75% of the things on the internet. Perhaps automatic updates for EVERYBODY. That or cloud saves. I know that lowers the appeal of PS Plus, but it increases the appeal of the PS3 as a whole. More games with custom soundtrack. I know that’s a lot to ask, but when you have a ‘feature’ that is broken (such as the web browser) then it is no longer a feature.
I’ll give someone 10 monopoly dollars if they can find out when the last firmware update was that did anything to the web browser.
“Consumers Want New Hardware” Nope its “Xbox Owners Want New Hardware” LoL
2010 + 2011 was an amazing PS3 gaming year
i.e LOADS of PS3 Exclusives + LOADS of Multi-format games to. If SONY can keep it up then i am happy with my PS3 for now. It seems to me its Xbox owners moaning more about wanting a next gen console but if they do get one i doubt MS will give them any more Xbox next-gen Exclusives anyway unless you like Kinect-baby-games 
+ £45 for a game, GAME? No wonder no one shops at GAME.
I won’t be surprised when a FW update comes out in Feb. that adds a new method to access the PSN and the Web since the Vita is based on Android which is a distant cousin to the FW/OS of the PS3. This could be a major reason that the “OtherOS” was removed so that they could move to a more Androidcentric OS for the PS3.
I can’t take this statement seriously being that it came from Gamestop’s foreign cousin. Nintendo needs new hardware because the Wii isn’t capable of competing with the PS3 and 360. Granted they sold a crap-ton of Wii’s but I would bet that 90% of those sales came from casual owners and the Wii is all the power they need because it allows them to exercise or play board games on the TV. I know this is a Playstation focused site but the Xbox isn’t really in need of an update either. It is still the superior system for most multi-platform games. And we all know the PS3 still seems like it just came out and with the ability to revamp just about any feature on the PS3 through firmware the PS3 is quite future proof. I think that we might see a reveal of the new Xbox at E3 with release next year (although I also think there is an equal chance that Microsoft will just finally come out with hardcore games that use the Kinect and possibly release some new IPs in an attempt to compete with Sony). Then depending on the reception of that Sony will decide how much of a threat it will be and reveal the PS3 according to that.
Do you want new hardware?
Hell no.
Sounds more like GAME’s CEO thinks that new hardware will revitalize his business. But I put about as much stock in what GAME thinks as a pile of leaves. After all, these were the guys who outed NFS 13.
They’re just making as much noise as possible in the hopes of saving a dead company.
No, PS3 games already look amazing and have great gameplay.