> "the rise of advertising has emerged from the collapse of disposable income" I respectfully disagree and argue for the opposite. It is the increase in dispos

> "the rise of advertising has emerged from the collapse of disposable income" I respectfully disagree and argue for the opposite. It is the increase in disposable income that creates a bigger market opportunity, which in turn drives more competition from sellers that want a piece of the market. Because consumers already have too many choices and little attention span, they need advertising to get in the door in the first place. While word of mouth is the holy grail of advertising, many underestimate how long it takes to generate this type of growth engine in a sustainable way, even for the best products. As for the video game industry, a product's typically life cycle is 1 to 2 years, and the entire market changes every 5 to 10 years (e.g. think about how fast the transition went from arcades to home consoles to online/social to mobile phones). The majority of profits come from the first few months' of a game's release; so aggressive advertising is almost essential to success.