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http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/040823/tech_germany_videogames_1.html
Monday August 23, 10:09 am ET
By Georgina Prodhan
LEIPZIG, Germany, Aug 23 (Reuters) - Germans' reluctance to play violent video games and to spend much in a subdued consumer climate are proving stubborn obstacles to the growth of Europe's least-developed games market.
The enthusiasm of the predominantly male and teenaged visitors to Europe's biggest video games fair in the German city of Leipzig last week belied the reality of shrinking German games sales.
Germans spent 1.1 billion euros ($1.4 billion) last year on leisure software, down from 1.2 billion five years earlier and compared with a British market of 1.7 billion, London-based consulting firm Screen Digest says in a report to be published next week.
"Germany is really a special case due to our history. Our government is always making excuses for what happened 60 years ago," said Manfred Gerdes, managing director of Sony Computer Entertainment in Germany. "People hate violent games."
Germany's Nazi past still casts a shadow over the nation's self image, and although teenagers and young adults are the main targets of video game makers and are less likely to be affected, it is often their parents who must pay for games and consoles.
"German mothers are the gatekeepers, and they have a very low tolerance for violent video games," said the chief spokesman for Electronic Arts (NasdaqNM:ERTS - News), the world's biggest video games maker by sales.
Added to that, the Germans' reputation for seriousness is not merely anecdotal, Sony's Gerdes said. "In the UK people play for fun; in Germany you have to play for a reason."
PC BIAS
The German leisure software market is still the continent's third-biggest, but almost half of it is in personal computer games. Germans are loath to shell out for games consoles, including Sony's (Tokyo:6758.T - News) Playstation 2, Microsoft's (NasdaqNM:MSFT - News) Xbox or Nintendo's (7974.OS) GameCube.
Both Sony and Microsoft cut the price of their consoles by one-quarter during the games fair to 149.99 euros ($183.90).
"Unfortunately the PC bias has helped create a large market for budget-priced software and made Germany prone to piracy," Screen Digest says.
Britain spends more on console-based games than do France and Germany combined, the consulting firm says.
Frank Gertzman, a 30-year-old customer support worker from Berlin and one of the older visitors to the Games Convention in Leipzig which ended on Sunday, is typical in his approach.
"I wait until the games are three months old to get them second-hand for half price," he said.
EA hopes to win over new users by developing simpler games controlled by hand and body movements instead of a console, such as those played on Eye Toy -- a camera used with Sony's Playstation that picks up the player's movements.
"We need to pull down the barriers -- the games are too complicated and consoles are too expensive," said Jens Uwe Intat, EA's chief for central Europe.
Sony has enlisted the support of Germany's Sports Association to promote its Eye Toy to try to change the notion that playing video games is necessarily a sedentary activity.
It has also involved celebrities such as German singer Nena in a campaign called "Schau hin!" or "Take a look!", inviting families to video game demonstrations in cinemas, which it hopes will show they need not be violent and can even be educational.
Meanwhile, Germany's surprise hit PC game of the last two months -- World War II strategy game "Panzers" or "Tanks", made by German company CDV (XETRA:OGGG.DE - News) -- shows the contradictions in the national character.
Boys whose parents are probably too young to remember the war played intently at the CDV stand, oblivious to staff wearing T-shirts bearing the slogan: "Get a peace of Panzers" and displaying the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament peace symbol.
Regardless of political correctness, clearly not even German boys can resist what the EA spokesman called "the universal joy of blowing things up".
Monday August 23, 10:09 am ET
By Georgina Prodhan
LEIPZIG, Germany, Aug 23 (Reuters) - Germans' reluctance to play violent video games and to spend much in a subdued consumer climate are proving stubborn obstacles to the growth of Europe's least-developed games market.
The enthusiasm of the predominantly male and teenaged visitors to Europe's biggest video games fair in the German city of Leipzig last week belied the reality of shrinking German games sales.
Germans spent 1.1 billion euros ($1.4 billion) last year on leisure software, down from 1.2 billion five years earlier and compared with a British market of 1.7 billion, London-based consulting firm Screen Digest says in a report to be published next week.
"Germany is really a special case due to our history. Our government is always making excuses for what happened 60 years ago," said Manfred Gerdes, managing director of Sony Computer Entertainment in Germany. "People hate violent games."
Germany's Nazi past still casts a shadow over the nation's self image, and although teenagers and young adults are the main targets of video game makers and are less likely to be affected, it is often their parents who must pay for games and consoles.
"German mothers are the gatekeepers, and they have a very low tolerance for violent video games," said the chief spokesman for Electronic Arts (NasdaqNM:ERTS - News), the world's biggest video games maker by sales.
Added to that, the Germans' reputation for seriousness is not merely anecdotal, Sony's Gerdes said. "In the UK people play for fun; in Germany you have to play for a reason."
PC BIAS
The German leisure software market is still the continent's third-biggest, but almost half of it is in personal computer games. Germans are loath to shell out for games consoles, including Sony's (Tokyo:6758.T - News) Playstation 2, Microsoft's (NasdaqNM:MSFT - News) Xbox or Nintendo's (7974.OS) GameCube.
Both Sony and Microsoft cut the price of their consoles by one-quarter during the games fair to 149.99 euros ($183.90).
"Unfortunately the PC bias has helped create a large market for budget-priced software and made Germany prone to piracy," Screen Digest says.
Britain spends more on console-based games than do France and Germany combined, the consulting firm says.
Frank Gertzman, a 30-year-old customer support worker from Berlin and one of the older visitors to the Games Convention in Leipzig which ended on Sunday, is typical in his approach.
"I wait until the games are three months old to get them second-hand for half price," he said.
EA hopes to win over new users by developing simpler games controlled by hand and body movements instead of a console, such as those played on Eye Toy -- a camera used with Sony's Playstation that picks up the player's movements.
"We need to pull down the barriers -- the games are too complicated and consoles are too expensive," said Jens Uwe Intat, EA's chief for central Europe.
Sony has enlisted the support of Germany's Sports Association to promote its Eye Toy to try to change the notion that playing video games is necessarily a sedentary activity.
It has also involved celebrities such as German singer Nena in a campaign called "Schau hin!" or "Take a look!", inviting families to video game demonstrations in cinemas, which it hopes will show they need not be violent and can even be educational.
Meanwhile, Germany's surprise hit PC game of the last two months -- World War II strategy game "Panzers" or "Tanks", made by German company CDV (XETRA:OGGG.DE - News) -- shows the contradictions in the national character.
Boys whose parents are probably too young to remember the war played intently at the CDV stand, oblivious to staff wearing T-shirts bearing the slogan: "Get a peace of Panzers" and displaying the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament peace symbol.
Regardless of political correctness, clearly not even German boys can resist what the EA spokesman called "the universal joy of blowing things up".
