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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Hey guys, why does Paul have to leave? I know you’ve been saying you would leave if you didn’t get enough comments, so I’m sorry I didn’t post last episode! I’ll miss you being on the show, glad we still get some more episodes with you, you have a fun energy and insight into gaming that makes the show great.
It’s also terrible about that story about the young woman committing suicide, another sign of ignored infrastructure of our roads, bridges and mental health of the people. This isn’t politcast though (joke for Dan Q).
I want to know if Jonah has been playing the Pillar’s of Eternity, I’ve been playing quite a lot and enjoying it. I think it really recaptured the feel of the Infinity Engine games, great writing and even improved upon it. For example the Text Adventure choices were a nice addition to the game. They also fixed old abuses like with the Rogue being able to stack a bunch of traps and cheese kill a boss, you can only place one trap per area so no insta kill. Not to mention the pickpocketing merchants and selling the items back to them.
@Game Time commitment: I agree with you about the time issue, getting older I have less time and this is why I stopped playing World of Warcraft and avoid all MMO’s. I only play games that I can quit out of at a moment’s notice if needed to. I’m still into RPG games; PoE isn’t as open world as Skyrim was. Paul is right about story, a game can have a great story but if the gameplay is boring grinding of fighting to get your XP up enough to advance to the next area you just don’t want to bother.
@Lego Dimension characters: I love the idea of Doctor who we need some games these characters, I think DW should have a puzzle game series it’d fit the character and show idea more than what they have done so far. A Lego DW will have to do for now I suppose. For me I’d want the older Doctors like the 7th or 8th doctors, I loved the Victorian Tardis those two had.
@Nintendo Theme Park: Excuse me while my inner child goes berserk with sheer joy. I would die of just pure happiness being able to walk through a Hyrule castle or Mario land. Paul is right the Nintendo IP’s deserve a large scale area of rides, exhibits, games, and more. I mean I’m actually thinking there needs to be some sort of bounce house where you can step or jump on goombas, have a Yoshii Ride and so on. I also loved the Harry Potter world stuff and hope the Nintendo theme park will be as good as that. Could you imagine a foam sword fighting as Link? I can!