Tuesday 3 March 2009

An Elixir for Success



I recently recorded an episode of the Big Red Potion podcast (http://bigredpotion.com) with StridentUK (blog writer for the Cranky Gamers) and the show's host Shoinan a.k.a Sinan Kubba (writer for TheGameReviews and EGC Games). In the show we discussed the often tricky subject of Sony's relative demise. I say relative, because any product that sells 20 million units cannot be considered a failure.

I personally found it a very rewarding discussion and one which I think video game enthusiasts would have thought about themselves over the last 18 months. It did however get me wondering just how important our opinions are to the wider world? I certainly have influence over the buying decisions of friends and relatives; that could account for maybe 20 sales. I have been known to dish out advice to strangers in a store if I think they are getting bad advice (I once sold a Mac to someone in PC World!); so that could influence another half a dozen people. Would they pass on my views and advice? Possibly. But it would have increasingly less impact.

I guess what I am mulling over is how much influence do gaming enthusiasts have over the general console buying public? My conclusion is actually very little. Movie critics have very little impact on what films make it to number one, and similarly, gaming enthusiasts can only ever hope to influence each other.

Anyway, listen to the podcast and leave feedback for Sinan on iTunes and his blog. It was a pleasure to record the show and I hope you enjoy it.

http://shoinan.com/2009/03/02/big-red-potion-episode-4-how-to-sell-a-ps3/