The 2008 ScreenBurn Festival
March 7 - 11, 2008
Austin, Texas

While there are few industries that can claim to be truly recession-proof, the video game industry is showing little sings of slowing down in light of what most analysts agree to be an overall economic downturn. According to the NPD Group, a leading market research company, the latest data available for March of this year shows that U.S. retail sales of game consoles, software and accessories grew 57 percent to $1.1 billion. “You’d never know the U.S. economy was under distress,” said Anita Frazier, NPD’s video game analyst. “People still want to be entertained and to enjoy a diversion from their everyday concerns.” In a research note to clients earlier this year, Colin Sebastian, an analyst with Lazard Capital Markets, wrote that the video game industry is entering the “largest, most robust cycle in history” with software sales predicted to exceed $10 billion in 2008. As if on-cue the latest installment of “Grand Theft Auto” from Take-Two Interactive Software Inc., which was released this April, sold $500 million in its first week on shelves, and Amazon.com has already sold out of pre-orders for the much anticipated addition to the Nintindo juggernaut, “Wii Fit,” an exercise game aimed at groups not traditionally associated with video game sales.

These figures bring up an interesting point. What has driven this unprecedented growth? And can that growth really be sustained in the face of a lagging economy? In a gamasutra.com interview, Ed Barton, Screen Digest said, “Of greater importance to industry growth is the hardware cycle and games release volume and pipeline rather than the wider economic environment.” With the expanded market provided by Nintindo’s Wii fueling the interest of the casual gamer, and high profile established title releases like GTA keeping the hard-core gamers in tow, this seems to hold true. But as Nick Williams of OTX Research says in the same interview, “While the expansion of the market beyond hardcore gamers has undoubtedly contributed to the record growth in 2008, these new gamers will likely be the first ones to stop buying games if they need to cut their entertainment budget.” If the this industry is to thrive in the coming year, it may be on the backs of the hardcore gamer. “Although the hardcore represent a small percentage of all video games consumers,” said Ed Barton, “their purchasing power and frequency should not be underestimated.” An April 22, 2008 NPD Group report on consumer entertainment spending would seem to back that up. A little less than half of those who responded to the survey thought they would spend the same amount on entertainment in 2008 as they did in 2007. “Teens were the only age group where spending tipped positive; 30 percent believed they would spend more than last year, versus 25 percent who thought they would spend less.”The report went on to say that “consumers who plan to spend more on entertainment this year are primarily focused on buying new devices (e.g., Blu-ray Disc players and the latest gaming consoles), rather than on purchasing new entertainment content (e.g., DVDs, music)… The uncertain state of the U.S. economy, and worries about disposable income had little to do with these consumers’ entertainment spending outlook.”

As the summer sun drifts higher in the sky, and the days get longer and longer, let us not forget the fun times we had just a few short weeks ago at the 2008 SXSW Interactive Festival in Austin, Texas.

To jog your memory you may want to check out gamespot.com for a day by day wrap up of the 2008 SXSW Interactive and Screenburn Festivals, as well as some SXSW Film Festival highlights. Homer Rabara, Managing Producer for Gamespot, takes viewers on 5 short video tours (one for each day of the festival) highlighting ScreenBurn panels, the ScreenBurn Arcade and the iF Tradeshow.

Also featured are videos specifically highlighting the ScreenBurn Arcade and the very popular Dorkbot party. Homer Rabara shows off the Championship Gaming Series event and takes time out to chat with Amy (aka Valkerie) of the frag dolls and former pro-gamer Kristen Reilly from Hewlett-Packard about their SXSW ScreenBurn Arcade experiences. At the Dorkbot party Homer talks with Rodney Gibbs about “electricity, robots and beer” and John-Mike Reed from Bleep Labs shows off a light controlled analogue synthesizer called the Thingamagoop.

Grand Theft Auto IV outdoes anticipated sales figures by achieving the $500 million mark in sales in the first week since the release of the title. This increases the anticipation in the recent proposition Electronic Arts made to acquire Take-Two Interactive, Grand Theft Auto’s publisher. “The significance of the sales extends beyond buoying Take-Two, a company that has had its share of legal, financial and management struggles in the last few years. The company is the subject of a $2 billion hostile takeover effort by Electronic Arts, which is offering Take Two shareholders $25.74 a share for control of the company. If Take-Two can exceed sales expectations on Grand Theft Auto IV, it has the potential to drive up the share price and force Electronic Arts to raise its offer,” reports the New York Times . Who’s hands will be behind the wheel?

Bummed ’cause you missed that don’t-you-dare-miss-it panel at the 2008 SXSW ScreenBurn festival? Bummed ’cause you couldn’t make it to the 2008 SXSW ScreenBurn festival at all? Really bummed ’cause you did go, but can’t seem to remember a thing? Never fear, podcasts are here! Now you can listen to full length podcast recordings of all the SXSW 2008 ScreenBurn and Interactive panels sessions by clicking on the podcast page.

Join Susan Wu (pictured above) for Human and Property Rights in Virtual Worlds. This session addresses the real question of what form online property rights take. Beyond property, what is the shape and form of online human rights in virtual worlds and how do we get there from here? And The Female Takedown of Casual Gaming will explore the evolving demographics of the growing and changing casual gaming market. Panelists will discuss - and debate – how gender and age play a role.

Visit the podcast page each week for new additions to the line up.

Future game developers won’t want to miss out on the next ACC Video Game Seminar “Introduction to Mac Game Development,” presented by Michael Agustin & Daniel Treiman from Gendai Games.

The Mac platform is undoubtedly getting much attention these days because of new products such as the MacBook Air and the iPhone. In this lecture, Michael & Daniel will give a jump start overview of the development tools and API on the Macintosh platform, as well as the Objective-C language. They will also cover the Mac and iPhone game markets, and how they are compelling for both startups and established companies.

Be sure and join us Wednesday, May 7, from 7pm to 9pm in room 301.0 of the Highland Business Center for this free seminar!