> A couple of points. First aren't the leading video game franchises
> war games or sports games - Call of Duty or Madden NFL football? Not
> exactly reflexive or anti-empire.
Here are the biggest sellers:
http://vgchartz.com/worldtotals.php
Only a few action games in the top 50, and they're a small share of the total market.
> Also it seems that most gaming occurs on one of two platforms - either
> the Sony PS3 or the Microsoft Xbox.
The most dominant platforms are actually cellphones and handheld gaming devices (DS has sold 130 million units, PSP 58 million). In the console world, Sony's last-generation PS2 sold 136 million, Nintendo's Wii sold 71 million, Microsoft's Xbox360 40 million and Sony's PS3 34 million. Data is up here: http://vgchartz.com/weekly.php
Gaming used to be driven by corporate monopolies -- Nintendo owned 90% of the market in the late 1980s, then Sony had 60% of the market in the early 2000s. But with the proliferation of platforms, no single company has dominance anymore.
-- DRR