History Could Repeat Itself: Video Game Crash Of 1983

In an article on Games Industry, there’s a warning that history could repeat itself with the video game crash of 1983. Too many console choices and not enough buyers could prove damaging to the video game market. A Superdata report shows a survey conducted in March of 1,105 people that 79 percent already own a console. Of that 79 percent, players own an average of 2.6 consoles each.

In that report, the following was stated, “Industry veterans will remember the crash of 1983, when the games market was saturated with hardware devices. Today, the industry runs a similar risk, as [with] a higher-than-ever console installed base, consumers may be resistant to adding more hardware to their living rooms.”

With gaming gaining more momentum as the amount of people playing video games increases, the preferred platform for gaming is changing. In 2008, 42 percent of gamers preferred playing on consoles, 37 percent on PC, and 5 percent on mobile. Now 51 percent of gamers prefer playing on PC, 30 percent on consoles, and 13 percent on mobile.

With PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on the horizon, we may want to be wary on the console situation. While pre-orders are up in the millions, a lot of people haven’t exactly been sold on the new consoles and are opting to wait it out while they continue to support the current gen consoles. We can only hope that history will make console makers be more cautious on how much hardware they’re trying to sell to gamers who might not be purchasing units as quickly as they’re being made.