How will the recession effect the game industry?

An open thread.

Article 1: Sony cuts 16,000 jobs. almost 5% of workforce.

Reuters Reports:

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's Sony Corp said it will cut 16,000 jobs, curb investment and pull out of businesses to save $1.1 billion a year as the financial crisis ravages demand for its electronics products.
The job cuts are the biggest announced by an Asian company so far in the crisis and underscore the challenges facing Sony, which has fallen behind Apple Inc's iPod in portable music and is losing money on flat TVs.
Sony said it would cut 8,000 regular workers, or roughly 4 percent of its workforce of 185,800, and an equal number or more temporary and contract staff.

"I'll wager sixty finest English pence that you defeat Big Sister in the end by shagging her to death."

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I think the whole talk about the gaming industry being recession proof is bullshit . Its bound to be affected . But EA had visited our campus a few days ago and are hiring over 100 interns for summer . They said this is significantly more than then number of interns last year . The HR did say that recession is hitting them but there arent going to massive lay offs or employment freezes .

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The last thing I need right now is a huge flat screen Bravia, or even spend £300 on a PS3.  I'm renting most of my games and trading in the ones I bougnt.

The last two games I paid full price for and still own are Left 4 Dead via Steam and Prince of Okami.

Im sure there are many more like me, to whom short/accessible games no matter how good eg Gears 2 are automatic rents.  This time next year - a game like that would be on my shelf to stay.

On the other hand I dunno whether this will just cause devs to make cutbacks and sacrifices - or whether it will stimulate better/longer games ie worth £40 a pop for the average punter to shell out.  The main game would need to last at least more than Blockbuster's 1 week rental time.

2pac


I think the whole talk about the gaming industry being recession proof is bullshit . Its bound to be affected . But EA had visited our campus a few days ago and are hiring over 100 interns for summer . They said this is significantly more than then number of interns last year . The HR did say that recession is hitting them but there arent going to massive lay offs or employment freezes .

Yeah, they are also slashing 600 workers Shit

It hits smaller developers hard.  They don't get paid until they ship their game so tey rely on loans to pay their employees.  If they can't get loans they can't pay their employees.

"If you knew how good I am you would think I'm modest."

locopuyo


It hits smaller developers hard.  They don't get paid until they ship their game so tey rely on loans to pay their employees.  If they can't get loans they can't pay their employees.

Exactly. While huge corporations like EA, Activision Blizzard, MS, Sony, Ninkido etc. will make it through just fine. Maybe a few layoffs but they'll be hiring after the economy begins to rebuild.

I dont want to celebrate, I want to sell you hate.

I doubt the gaming industry will flinch much.  We've been following the trend of the larger developers eating the smaller guys for some time now.  Sony did cut back on it's work force but were they part of the gaming division? 

"This is sad. There's no other word for it. The person who invents a way to punch someone in the face over the Internet will make millions from the demand generated by people like this." Youtube comments

I don't know about videogaming itself, maybe just a flat drop in sales across the board for a while.  But I think the time of brand recognition for most "electronics" companies is over.  People used to buy TVs because they were Sony, now they really don't care and are wising up to comparing functionality, an example is little companies like Vizio are growing. 

You can say there are certain things like apple products that still sell on brand recognition, but their products basically have no competition in their appeal, or sexiness, if you will.  There are very few consumer laptops as sexy looking as macbooks (not to mention mac os exclusivity), or any mp3 player/phone as sexy as iphones and ipods.  If competitors had the artistry to create beautiful mp3 players and phones apple would take a hit.  They are going to have to specialize more in niches, some property of their product has to be unmatched by the competition, as crappy as things like Ipods and Wiis are, they both have qualities which competitors don't match.
 
Sony's shit is just too overpriced for what it is, I was looking for a laptop this weekend and their VAIOs are much more expensive than other equally equipped laptops, sure they look nicer than most, but not for that much of a price difference.  There was a $1800 laptop I was looking at, and right across from it was a Lenovo with *better* specs for $1200 and a macbook with comparable specs for $2000, that's why their shit doesn't sell.   People would rather spend $200 more and get a mac, or save $600 and get the lenovo, and both brands are considered to be of higher quality as well.

We'll see a few games getting canceled and cutbacks in most of the larger developers/publishers. I suspect sales at retail will be down, but most companies will amend their projections and production volumes. There's not much that can be done to reduce losses due to poor sales, but i don't think Microsoft, Sony, EA, Activision etc... will really be affected. Nintendo could easily see a drop in sales of both hardware and software (after Christmas ofcourse) because of the nature of their current end user, but it's not like it'd trouble them much at all if it did. They could easily slash their prices seeing at their production costs for Wii must be next to nothing per unit now.

They've been next to nothing since the Wii was launched IMO.  Gamecube + IR Sensor + Ducktape = Wii

Their development costs as well.

How to port Zelda from GC to Wii:

Rip GC disc to an ISO
Burn ISO to DVD
Profit

I don't even understand why the released a Wii version, it's the exact same shit and Wii is backwards compatible, marketing ploy.

Very true.  It would have been nice if they just released a dual-compatible game that worked on both systems.  When you played it on the Wii you'd get the waggle controls.  I am not sure why only the Wii version offered 16:9.  I think the GC version was purposely limited.  Pisses me off.  Well it would if I cared about modern Zelda games, anyway.

i dont think putting the wii version of zelda on the gamecube disk would be smart business, it would show the average consumer that the wii is nothing more than a expensive gamecube.

Silentbomber


i dont think putting the wii version of zelda on the gamecube disk would be smart business, it would show the average consumer that the wii is nothing more than a expensive gamecube.

What we need is a return of the Nintendo vs Sega type advertising from the 90s. I would love to see an ad from Sony or MS making fun of the Wii, showing the lack of technical power and similarity to the GC.

I dont want to celebrate, I want to sell you hate.

They won't do it because it's an attractive business strategy, profiting off shit that is worth nothing is any business' dream, there will be alot less pressure "next generation" for powerful hardware because of the Wii.

emofag


They won't do it because it's an attractive business strategy, profiting off shit that is worth nothing is any business' dream, there will be alot less pressure "next generation" for powerful hardware because of the Wii.

If that turns out to be true, Nintendo just pissed on the entire game industry.

I dont want to celebrate, I want to sell you hate.

MS and likely Sony have already invested in R&D for next gen, they won't just turn around and dump their investment.  I think we're safe.

"This is sad. There's no other word for it. The person who invents a way to punch someone in the face over the Internet will make millions from the demand generated by people like this." Youtube comments

Agent Ghost


MS and likely Sony have already invested in R&D for next gen, they won't just turn around and dump their investment.  I think we're safe.

Even so, the Wii's success may have been enough to convince them to go the motion sensing controller route, which we all know would be garbage.

I dont want to celebrate, I want to sell you hate.

immortaldanmx

Agent Ghost


MS and likely Sony have already invested in R&D for next gen, they won't just turn around and dump their investment.  I think we're safe.

Even so, the Wii's success may have been enough to convince them to go the motion sensing controller route, which we all know would be garbage.

Not just that aspect that makes Wii so successful. MS and Sony could of brought motion sensor controls first and would of  failed.  It's the execution and experience in the industry and understanding what brings people to play games for the first time and making the perfect software to translate to new audiences. Sony, MS are not good at this.... not good at anything without the help of strong third parties..


Wii and DS has boosted the Videogame industry into it's healthiest state so far.  Almost doubled it's business.  It certainly would of been in alot worste state over this recession if Nintendo wasnt around. 

Currently playing:
Korg DS 10 (ds) /  Metal Slug 7 (ds)
Rhythm Heaven (ds) /  Fire Emblem (ds)
Super Stardust HD (psn) /  Virtua Fighter 5 (360)
FSX (P

Virtua fighter 5

immortaldanmx

Agent Ghost


MS and likely Sony have already invested in R&D for next gen, they won't just turn around and dump their investment.  I think we're safe.

Even so, the Wii's success may have been enough to convince them to go the motion sensing controller route, which we all know would be garbage.

Not just that aspect that makes Wii so successful. MS and Sony could of brought motion sensor controls first and would of  failed.  It's the execution and experience in the industry and understanding what brings people to play games for the first time and making the perfect software to translate to new audiences. Sony, MS are not good at this.... not good at anything without the help of strong third parties..


Wii and DS has boosted the Videogame industry into it's healthiest state so far.  Almost doubled it's business.  It certainly would of been in alot worste state over this recession if Nintendo wasnt around. 

No . As we have seen from this gen its 'gimmicks' that brings people to play games for the first time and then never buy a game ever again which I am pretty sure hurts the publishers .. 

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Sony, MS are not good at this.... not good at anything without the help of strong third parties..

And the Nintendo isn't good at either. Maybe one day they'll understand that we want games by Nintendo(not fucking Nintendogs either), not 50 half-baked ps2 ports.

How is it healthy for software that costs 10% as much to make to be selling as well as real games that are obviously better?

November 2008

1. Gears of War 2 (Epic, Xbox 360) - 1.56 million units*
2. Call of Duty: World at War (Treyarch, Xbox 360) - 1.41 million units*
3. Wii Play (Nintendo, Wii) - 796,000 units
4. Wii Fit (Nintendo, Wii) - 697,000 units
5. Mario Kart Wii (Nintendo, Wii) - 637,000 units
6. Call of Duty: World at War (Treyarch, PS3) - 597,000 units
7. Guitar Hero World Tour (Vicarious Visions, Wii) - 475,000 units*
8. Left 4 Dead (Valve, Xbox 360) - 410,000 units
9. Resistance 2 (Insomniac, PS3) - 385,000 units*
10. Wii Music (Nintendo, Wii) - 297,000 units

Wii fit is not a real game.  Wii music is not a real game.  Wii play is not a real game.

Mario Kart sucks ass but atleast I can consider that to be an actual videogame.

But overall when you compare the fake games vs. real games you see people overall still prefer to play real games.

Woolworths closure in the UK costs Ubisoft 1.5M Euros