Gamers around the world are going to feel the pain in the 2009 holiday season after the economy shakes apart many great development studios. Electronic Arts feels the pain of being a public company as their investors complain about lackluster revenue, THQ deals with closing studios to extend their runway and other firms will lose more headcount in the coming months.
It’s not all bad. But, it’s going to get ugly before it gets better.
The financial market has played tricks on everyone in our global economy and companies across all industries are going to feel a bit of a tightening around the belt. Investors are shaken and doing their best to protect their investments and cutting loose those that aren’t projecting profits in the near future. Game studios are going to slow their financial burn rates, trim a bit of the fat and hunker down the long term. The end result, next years holiday season will have a few less games because those games are being dropped to the floor now.
Mid-sized studios within larger firms may find their projects canceled or put on hold and their employees re-structured or let go while big studios assess what projects will make the long haul. This is the ugly side of the business, having to make a decision on what games stay and what games go with the grief of having to tell some of your best talent “goodbye.”
The bad part of the industry is occurring today, with publishers posting mediocre profits and trying to convince their investors to be patient and trust they’ve got a firm hold on their destiny. The game industry is not alone in this, many firms are reducing head count and many startups are finding themselves without series A or B funding; they’re closing their doors because the money is being directed to more stable ventures.
What’s the good in all of this?
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Great show guys!
@Final Fantasy: This was one of my favorite series growing up I started with the very first game when it came out! So imagine having spent hours playing that first game, then when FFIV(2 in USA) came out it looked like leaps and bounds in improvement. To me FF6 was an improvement in graphics, story and characters over FF4. Hearing Paul having trouble differentiating between 4 and 6 got me thinking that the characters may have been a bit bland in comparison. As there is no other “green summoner girl” besides Rydia and no other Dragon Knight other than Kain. I haven’t played those games in years and I still remember their names. The characters in FF6 were very different than in FF4. Also bad Paul getting my hopes up that I had perhaps missed a sequel to FF6 when he had been thinking of FF4 sequel.
@Backwards compatibility: The problem for me is that the old hardware breaks down and they stop making the older systems so it’s not as easy or cheap to get a hold of. I looked on Ebay for fully backwards compatible PS3 and most were very expensive AND had “Yellow light of death”.
@Kinect: If they want me to buy a next gen system they SHOULD make a Star Wars Lightsaber or some sword dueling game. There was a Red Katana or something for Wii but that was a FPS with a few sword fights peppered in there. If either the Xbox or PS4 came out with a sword fighting game, especially one I could play with friends I would buy it in a heart beat. Obviously they don’t want me as customer.
QorW: I think Animal Crossing: New Leaf counts right? I’m having fun playing this with my wife and daughter we go on the island tours. I am like Jordan though I don’t play many portable games I’m mostly a PC guy.
Oh and sorry for spelling errors in last weeks comments. I think I had a dyslexic moment myself and I always think Indy when I see Indie. It’s hard not to when he was a childhood hero of mine.
I forgot to mention I loved hearing the Clue reference to Mrs White’s bit. That’s one of my all time favorite movies.
I never understood being a Final Fantasy person VS a Phantasy Star person, can’t one enjoy both series? I particularly enjoyed Phantasy Star 3 with it’s Family generational story, I don’t think there is any other game that has you going down the line of a family tree while trying to save the world. I thought it was a pretty great concept that I would love to see more of.