We all know that games sold quite well over the holidays and continue to do so. In addition to the conventional product (weighted toward console titles), we’re seeing good volume for casual and online titles. So everything should be great for developers and publishers…but somehow it’s not.
EA’s woes are widely documented, including closing the door on the Wii horse a bit late. THQ now seems in dreadful shape, with only Activision Blizzard truly flourishing among the majors. There are endemic issues with the existing models for game sales, and as we move to digital distribution, it remains difficult for the big publishers to find the right way to that transition.
When you look at smaller publishers/larger developers, the current economy is painfully throttling, as development of a conventional title takes a significant period of time, and is generally dependent upon debt or external funding for some portion of the cycle. Alternate models are able to coast a bit at the moment, and hopefully will find a way to thrive; many online startups were funded last year and continue on that investment. -The word is that A rounds are not happening, but Bs are solid, although it’s hard to get real stats on that sort of thing.
With various low-overhead casual intitiatives (including iPhone) thriving, I suppose it’s a nice time to be a garage developer. But the two entities that are doing fantastically well are Activision Blizzard and Gamestop. Activision because it’s sublime in management, cash-rich and, in World of Warcraft, owns the leading online game entity. And Gamestop because it’s highly effective in taking advantage of the benefits of increasing game sales, without suffering from the downside of an inefficient publishing model. -It also happens to be about the only retail chain that’s doing really well these days, so they’re in an incredible position to negotiate real estate. What will they do with this additional footprint, to say nothing of the existing footprint, when things move further to online distribution? It’s hard to say, but the power that being the strongest player standing in games today, combined with the pause that the economy is creating, give them the best possible shot at bridging to the next era. A question has been raised about whether GameStop’s influence over the industry is entirely positive at the moment. But I don’t believe the problem, if there is one, comes from them; it’s rather lack of vision from publishers, and an inability to move forward appropriately.
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Just like in the music business Majors will have hard time if they do not own the Worldwide number ones .Hardware Manuacturer understand boxes should disappear , and new economic model is Itune and Iphone/Ipodtouch – It is a revolution , and it’s very surprising that most of our revolutionary industry did not see from the wind was coming – Steve Jobs was one of the fathers of the Home Computing , did revolution the music business and will revolution the video game business because he now own the best and largest store worldwide and the coolest hardware – It is a new approach where developers could become stronger than publisher or at least as strong – It is a new approach where everybody would have to learn new ways to deal with creators , new ways to market , and even new ways to play . I have left the industry for few years and when I came back instead of finding people looking to the future , I only found people check numbers about what did work by the past to understand what they should copy to make some Dims – It is all wrong Activision Guitar Hero is a killer because it was a new experience coming from nowhere well connected to the worldwide ROCK trend at the same time when fashion , music , etc… was all rock – Visions create the trend and trend creat big hits – Trend Books could only create good bread and butter …
i’m not sure how useful or edifying it is to point out two multi-million dollar companies that are thriving in a recession.
The point is that most large entities in the industry are not thriving (despite growth of the category), rather than that two are. But I do strive to edify, so feel rather desolate that I have failed you.
Marc, I couldnt agree more. As of this week, the company I have worked for have gone under.
We have created online multiplayer casual games for social networks and youd think that with over 1,000,000 million games plays a week on or flagship game we would be ok.
It’s the looking back part I really agree with.. I have lost count the times our MD/Sales have said ‘well that game works, lets rebuild it’, this is a cause of low moral and bad sales…
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