By David Farrier
The videogame industry in New Zealand experienced record growth in the last 12 months.
Sales results of over $170 million were achieved and it’s not just down to violent shoot ‘em ups, as some would have you believe.
“I believe the age demographic has changed,” says Mark Goodacre of the Interactive Software Association of New Zealand.
“It used to be 18 to 35, now it’s four to 70-year-olds getting into gaming.”
The trend itself is not new, however the money New Zealanders are forking out for gaming is.
The latest figures show sales in 2009 were up 12 percent on the previous year – that’s three times greater than the growth in Australia, which was up four percent.
Family games contributed to 27 percent of software sales.
This week’s charts reflect the widening appeal of games – the top four are all very accessibly Nintendo games – with Mario Kart at number one.
It is only when you get to number five that you have your first-person shooter game; the award-winning Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - a title which holds the record for the largest entertainment launch in history, making more money in its opening weekend than any film, album, book or other game ever released.
“You saw the Wii come out a couple of years ago, which you don’t have to be an absolute advanced gamer to play,” says Aaron Scott of nzgamer.co.nz.
"There has also been huge family gaming franchises like Singstar, Buzz and the Rock Band games."
Of course the more hardcore and slightly nerdier games still have massive appeal – Zachary Quinto (Spock from the latest Star Trek film) is adding his voice to Star Trek Online, a much hyped game which is out next week.
It is the first Star Trek themed massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORGP) game ever – no doubt Trekkies will be ironing their uniforms and taking the week off work.
New Zealand's Top 5 Game Sales Chart (for the week ending January 17, 2010):
- Wii Mario Kart (with wheel)
- Wii Fit Plus
- Wii Play
- Wii Sports Resort
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (PS3)
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