Time Crisis is So Real

In September 2010, Microsoft's first-person shooter game "HALO: Reach" was launched and its 1st day sales in the United States alone recorded a whopping USD 200 million. while the developer of that game celebrates its success, the rest of the gaming industry is facing a huge concern.

the problem with such blockbuster game is that, gamers really enjoy playing that one game, they tend to stick to that game for quite some time to the point of not needing to purchase another game for months. this will create a drop in sales of the other game titles launched after that.

this problem can be related to the economic term ‘opportunity cost’. a simple definition of opportunity cost is; the cost of passing up the next best choice when making a decision. any gamer only has a certain amount hours each day to spend on playing games. he will have to decide which game that will give him the most enjoyment and satisfaction. after the decision is made, he plays that game at the expense of not playing the other games in that period. in the case of a really awesome game, people really enjoy the benefit (read: fun) of playing that game, that they do not mind sacrificing the experience of playing another game.

Like any other activity (or inactivity) that we do everyday, we are doing it at the cost of the the next best alternative activity (and its benefits).