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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Hi guys.
Thanks for the episode 🙂
Even if I don’t play that much since my partner died, I still like to Listen to your podcast. I hope that’s ok for you if I comment anyway, even if I can’t say that much to the topics you talk about.
I still played a lot Pokémon go and tried the new TCG Lorcana. It’s really fun and I did not know that poGo is that complex!
Do you guys know more mobile games like ingress and Pokémon go? Does anyone of you play one of these both?
Besides these I don’t play that much mobile games, so I sonst care about Apple Arcade being shut down 🙂 (I know there are games not only for mobile, but for me it feels that way).
I still plan to play BG3 when it gets a little bit cheaper and I feel like playing such a massive game 🙂
I am really looking forward Silksong which hopefully will be released this year!
Stay healthy guys and keep on the good work.
Greetings,
Ralf