遊戲主機平台之競爭策略研究-以Xbox為例

Abstract

論文摘要 過去10年來家用電視遊戲機的軟、硬體銷售持續成長，創造出一個有別於以往由電影及音樂主宰的新娛樂市場，遊戲產業已經成為一個足以跟電影工業相提並論的經濟活動。加上美國、歐洲以及日本等國休閒主義的日漸抬頭，使得娛樂經濟已經成為新一代的商業發展契機。在一份由美國互動數位軟體協會（Interactive Digital Software Association；IDSA）委託NPD Group所做的一份消費者調查報告中顯示，除了看電影、看電視等休閒娛樂活動之外，玩TV/Console game已經成為目前一般家庭共同的日常休閒活動，遊戲主機扮演著家庭娛樂中的重要角色。 近來因為資訊科技的進步與網際網路的發展，使得原本各自獨立的遊戲機、 娛樂影音產業產生了互相影響的現象。在這個互相影響的過程中，遊戲產業的結構將會面臨轉變，原來的競爭規則與架構也必須跟著做調整。 本研究目的在探討遊戲產業所面對的轉變，研究分析遊戲主機平台的競爭。 主要的研究目的可歸結如下： 1、 整理架構標準、 網路效應、及平台競爭等理論，歸納出競爭構面並加以分析。 2、 分析微軟在遊戲主機競爭構面的策略。 本研究經由整理架構標準、平台競爭以及相關的文獻歸納出遊戲主機廠商競爭的五個構面：核心產品、使用者、軟體、硬體、主機競爭者。最後使用「個案分析法」分析微軟在這五個構面的競爭策略，得到微軟在遊戲主機競爭的優勢有以下幾點： 1、雄厚的財力支援 2、Xbox強大的硬體效能 3、簡易的開發環境 4、較低的授權門檻 5、Xbox Live的網路服務 6、成為家庭娛樂中心

THESIS ABSTRACT Title of Thesis：An Exploratory of Competitive Strategy of Microsoft XBOX Name of Institute：Graduate Institute of Business Administration National Taiwan University Name：Fu , Kawn-Hao Month/Year：May 2004 Advisor：Professor Hsu , Mu-Lan The continuous growth of software programs and hardware devices for TV games over the past decade has created a new entertainment market, which is different from the one dominated by the film and music industries. Nowadays, the games industry has become an important economic activity, comparable to the film industry. In addition, with the growing awareness of leisure activities in the U.S., Europe, and Japan, the entertainment economy has created new opportunities for business investment. In an attempt to understand the phenomenon, the Interactive Digital Software Association (IDSA) authorized the National Purchase Diary (NPD) group to survey consumer behavior. The report showed that TV games have become daily recreational activities for families, in addition to regular activities, such as watching TV or going to the movies. In other words, TV games now play an important role in a family’s indoor recreational activities. Recently, in conjunction with the growth of IT and the development of the Internet,the TV games industry and the audio-visual industry, which were originally independent of each other, have become inter-dependent. As a result, the games industry has faced great structural changes, and earlier competitive strategies have had to be adjusted accordingly. This research project focuses on the changes the games industry has faced, and analyzes competition among games platforms. Our major research goals are as follows: 1. Organize the theories, such as structural standards, network effects, and platform competition; and summarize and analyze the dimensions of the competition. 2. Analyze the competitive strategies applied by Microsoft in relation to TV games. In this paper, we discuss five dimensions of competition by analyzing structural standards, platform competition, and related literature. We then qualitatively analyze the strategies of Microsoft in terms of these dimensions: product, user, software, hardware, and platform competitor. Finally, we conclude that Microsoft has a competitive advantage in TV games because of the following factors: 1. Abundant financial support 2. Excellent hardware performance of Xbox 3. Simple development environment 4. Lower authorization threshold 5. Network services of Xbox Live 6. Recreation center for the family.