Financial Educational Board Games (Toys and Game Industry) Research Paper

Financial Educational Board Games (Toys and Game Industry) - Research Paper Example 5,856.20M El Segundo,  CA Namco Bandai Holdings Inc. 4,083.77M Tokyo,  Japan Hasbro, Inc. 4,002.16M Pawtucket,  RI LEGO System A/S 2,272.69M Billund,  Ribe (hoovers.com, 2011) Consumers spent 25.1 billion on video games, hardware and accessories in 2010 (Entertainment Software Association, 2011). The best-selling Computer Games are Family and Children’s Games (19.8%), Shooter games (14.4%), Role-Playing games (12.4%). The Best-selling Video Games Genres are Action (30.1%), Sports (11.3), Racing (11.1%), Children and Family Entertainment (9.3%), Shooter 8.7%), Role-Playing (7.8%) (Entertainment Software Association, 2011). The US board games and puzzle market, alone, is estimated to be worth about $400 million, and ?50 million per year in the UK (Maclean, 2009). The toy and game industry in Australia has a revenue of two billion, and annual growth of 3.6% (2006-2011) (ibisworld.com, 2011). Industry Trends â€Å"Going Green† is a current trend in the industry. It involves three aspects. They are: sustainable materials, resource-saving packaging, and content that communicates sustainable action and values through play (nurembergtoyfair.com, 2011). Another industry trend is moving games from the digital realm to physical board game space. A recent example is Mattel’s â€Å"Angry Birds.† Keeping a foot in both digital and physical realms makes good business sense, in the face of increasing competition (Douban, 2011). One of the most potentially profitable trends is the transition to selling products inside virtual worlds. For example, you might go to a virtual pizza shop, in avatar form, and a pizza icon might pop up, enabling the user to order a real pizza, without leaving the virtual environment (boardofinnovation.com, 2009). The diversity of virtual worlds means a huge, untapped potential for a diversity of products. Other trends include pro-social and e-connected, cooperative games; games that can be constructed and reconstruc ted, allowing for continually new play experiences; games that involve action and sensori-motor experience or emphasize speed (a trend reflecting child obesity as a health concern); games that are designed for creative learning (toyassociation.org, 2011). Game Industry Growth and Decline An indicator of demand for toys is the manufacturers' shipments of miscellaneous durable goods, which rose 7.2 percent in the first six months of 2011 compared to the first six months in 2010 (hoovers.com, 2011). Furthermore, toy sales the world over, in 2010, increased 5% over 2009, to $83.3 billion, especially reflecting strong performance in Asia (npd.com, 2011). Fifty percent of global toy sales are accounted for by the top revenue countries: USA, Japan, China, UK, and France. Emerging markets with strong growth are Brazil, Russia, India (npd.com, 2011). The Online Game portion of the industry is growing. Table 2. Annual online game revenue in billions of U.S. dollars from 2006–2011 (Rive llo, 2011) Americans spent more than $3 billion in video game subscription fees last year. A new report by market research firm Pike & Fischer estimates that Americans will spend $5 billion annually by 2015 (boardofinnovation.com, 2009). Board games went through a slump when they had to compete with video and computer games, but now they are making a big comeback, due to the economic crisis (Thai, 2009).