When speaking of information goods, one can hardly ignore various kinds of video games in the market. This is an industry that has generated 25.7 billion US. Dollars in 2015. (Statista, 2016). American giant, Blizzard Entertainment is one of the major players in this booming market.
As developers and publishers of Starcraft, Warcraft and Diablo, Blizzard is known for epic, delicate-designed games. In fact, the company has obtained 1.121 billion US dollar income in 2015 (Activision Blizzard, 2016). However, there are hundreds and thousands of games being released every year, and the “gaming” trend changes rather frequently and repetitively. From real-time strategy (RTS) games like Starcraft, to First-person shooter (FPS) games such as Call of Duty, and to Multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) games for example League of Legends, this decade has witnessed so many major shifts in players’ taste. Facing fierce competition, it is vital for Blizzard management team to make decisions that not only can keep their current market position, but also generate more profit.
Blizzard’s answer to its rivalry is innovation, disruptive innovation to be precise. They break the boundaries of different game genres and this is how Overwatch has been created. Overwatch is a team-based multiplayer first-person shooter video game that has been released by Blizzard in May 2016 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. Players are shooting each other in a team of 6, with predefined characters （FPS）. These characters each has their own movements, attributes and ultimate ability, which is an obvious feature of MOBA games. Blizzard was never known for FPS games, but Overwatch still topped May’s digital revenue rankings with $269 million in earnings across all platforms (VG247.com, 2016).
To summarize, innovation is vital for company success across industries. With information goods like video games, creativity never dies.
What do you think could be the new trend in the gaming industry?
References:
Activision Blizzard, (2016). Activision Blizzard 2015 Annual Report. [online] Available at: (http://files.shareholder.com/downloads/ACTI/2949944978x0x887600/BE853918-329D-4E90-ABDC-E669E9D097B9/Activision_Blizzard_2015_Annual_Report.pdf [Accessed 4 Oct. 2016].
Statista, (2016). Video game, gaming industry revenue. [online] Statista. Available at: https://www.statista.com/statistics/278181/video-games-revenue-worldwide-from-2012-to-2015-by-source/ [Accessed 4 Oct. 2016].
VG247.com. (2016). Overwatch earned $269M in digital revenues across PC and console – SuperData. [online] Available at: https://www.vg247.com/2016/06/23/overwatch-earned-269m-in-digital-revenues-across-pc-and-console-superdata/ [Accessed 4 Oct. 2016].
