The Rise of Costs, the Fall of Gaming

[Berzerk]

http://www.notenoughshaders.com/2012/07/02/the-rise-of-costs-the-fall-of-gaming/

Very good read.

The kind of resources, being put into some games, for diminishing returns, is quite staggering oui. This Blockbuster model for gaming appears to be one of the scenarios that is killing the industry.

As I am writing this article, Activision is shutting down Radical Entertainment,  Sega is laying off staff from their UK and U.S. offices, Vivendi wants to sell its majority 61% stake in Activision Blizzard worth $8.1bn and THQ is on life support.  Over 120 developer studios have been shut down between the beginning of this generation (end of 2005/beginning of 2006)  and the end of this generation (currently).  If you continue to let budgets and team sizes spiral out of control, the future of gaming will be grim.  There is a quote above that says:  “ Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent.  It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage – to move in the opposite direction.“   I believe this quote sums up why Nintendo’s strategy will prove to be more successful than other companies in the long run.  Even with Nintendo’s least successful consoles such as GameCube and Nintendo 64, not only did they earn a profit, but they stuck by those consoles an entire generation to stay loyal to their fanbase.

[Arcmanov]

...and this is why I said that I wasn't in a hurry for next gen, because I understood that as costs go up to produce these
bleeding-edge games that you people adore so much, the overall cost of entry to play em will skyrocket as well.

Don't be surprised if Sony's and M$' new consoles cost about 700 US.
How many of you will be willing to fork out that kinda cash for one?  Certainly not this negro.  At that price, they could keep em.


Keep clamoring for next gen.  I hope you can afford it.

[Archer]

I not in a hurry for next gen either. This gen still has a lot of juice left in it if you ask me.

[TriniXaeno]

Remember, it may cost that much at launch, but like all things tech, the price will fall in time.

The longer we wait for next gen consoles to debut....the longer it will be before that tech becomes affordable.

You follow?

So at the risk of repeating myself....a PS4 / xbox 720 release date of December 2013......at say US$500+ price point.

followed by a reasonable US$350 - 400  price tag by December 2014

I could live with that.

Also note, the PC is capable of higher fidelity (think true 1080p) than what is being offered by current consoles. We already enjoy a lot of games at that level from today's developers at the same cost.

If we get a true 1080p across all current titles from the next gen, that would be a win right there.

It is embarrassing how lame my xbox 360 and Ps3 games look when compared to the very same game on the PC.

I don't know how you can stomach it arc. Question...what size screen do you play your xbox 360 games on?

[Arcmanov]

Oh, I stomach it just fine.  I play my console games on a 27-inch Samsung HDTV. 

If I didn't have a 'proper' gaming PC, maybe I would have a problem with the graphical fidelity of current gen consoles, but I do, so I don't. 



SwiftKeyed from my Samsung Galaxy S2 with Tapatalk 2

[TriniXaeno]

ah, that explains everything.

at 27" 720P is perfectly fine

I tried my PS3 on the 26" LCD I have in the bedroom and it looked gorgeous.

Put it back on the big screen in the living room. Horrid.

Really miss the 1080p when you have more screen real estate.

[phoenix31tt]

anybody read throught that whole article... just from the initial paragraph i get the feeling that this is one of those articles that take a bunch of numbers and put a spin on it..

imagine vivendi bought blizz/activision for 1.7bn in 2007.. now its worth 8.1bn and allyuh worried about gaming??

[TriniXaeno]

not really worried about it but mindful of its evolution.

A lot of really good studios have gone bust over the years. Icons put to pasture because of financial troubles.

It is a strategy of corporations to raise the bar of entry so high that competition will be discouraged from entering their industry.

So on the one hand, you will find these massive conglomerations that are standing like behemoths amongst the fallen smaller studios.

I wouldn't take that as an indication of the overall health of the industry.

Its like saying, why are you worried about animals? All the others species are extinct but we have three massive elephants still alive. lol

[Berzerk]

Agreed with Wyatt.

 Gaming wouldn't 'die' but this model of gaming where we need the biggest action sequences with the biggest budgets, is not sustainable, not in this financial climate. Its unfortunate that this is what we have become accustomed to. Power to the good quality indies imo. This could work out beautifully for PC gaming though. Hopefully the bigger gaming companies learn from their past transgressions. (and also stop spending so much dam money on useless advertising)

And even Blizzard releasing that beta that is diablo 3 when they had sooo many years to work on the dam game.../end rant/

sign of the times.