Small game developers woes: after holiday sales, cost of game production |
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With the onset of game titles for next generation consoles such as Sony's Playstation 3, Microsoft's Xbox 360, and Nintendo's Wii, modern day gamers now enjoy the quality graphics, sound, and gameplay these games have to offer.But developers, significantly smaller gaming outfits, are starting to feel the sting of inflation as the cost of producing games to meet current standards rise to startling heights. Such is the concern that many companies fear for their uncertain future after the holidays.
According to Blitz Games Chief Executive Philip Oliver, the problem of the sharp rise of costs of next-gen console game production lies on the complexity of developing games nowadays and the trend of high-definition video gaming. Because of these factors, companies opt to increase man power that leads to more costs.
Due to this, companies now look to other means such as outsourcing to fund game development . But even after companies make such adjustments to address inflation, the problem is still felt by everyone as the cost to produce games has tripled in recent years with the proliferation of next-gen consoles.
And even with the success of next-gen console sales, sales and revenue have hardly seen any change for developers. With profit margins offering little breathing space, many companies bank on increased sales during Christmas to win back revenues.
But with no one knowing exactly how games will fare before the year ends, companies are still holding their breath. In fact, European Games Developer Federation (EGDF) Fred Hasson says that game companies will lay as possible casualties after Christmas.
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Comments [refresh]
Video--- "game" I stress the game part because no one wants to pay a hundred dollars for a damned video game. When that day comes and the normal video game is 100 dollars, The the industry will see a fall that will make the Atari days look like a trip to disney land.
Im angry that these video game devs demand more amd more and more from the gamers pocket. They make games not with the gamers pocket in mind. They all want to make the next masterpeice and who pays for it? The gamer. Sure you can look at this as a twisted *****ty comment from a pissed off video game fan. But I dont want to pay $109.95 For bioshock 2 or mass effect 2. Why must production cost be so inflated? because the developer doesnt care about our pockets. They only care about theirs.
And in tuth. I dont care if masses and masses of small developers go under and are completely forgotten about. It's less whining to hear about because we didnt pay them a hundred spot for curious george the video game.. Pft..
Have you ever thought about anyone but yourself?
And also, here in australia we have to pay about 101 US dollars for each game and the industry is just as well per person here.
Just ***** you and think about it from the devs point of view.
developers are only trying to make games that the gamers want. We want quality graphics, and sound. There might be good gameplay, but overall Most gamers today will overlook gameplay for graphics, and sound. Small developers do not have the type of resources that a EA and the like have. If fact , the money that a game makes goes right back in to making the next game. Small developers are not getting rich at all off of gamers. They love making games, but they need to cover the cost of making the game and put the rest(if the costs are covered) to make the next game. So it is the gamers who are to blame for the price of games.
in the UK devs are at a financial disadvantage... in most places in europe games developers get tax cuts so that they can afford to create their games and they also get substantial subsidies from art councils. Not so in the UK.
The problem lies with the age old problem of the masses seeing videogames as toys or childish games as opposed to art expressions or cultural movements. if the next van-damm movie can get funded, why can't the next timesplitters title?
I would imagine that the answer to the dev's problems is the dreaded in-game advertisement or perhaps more of a reliance on investors (like the movie industry)
I doubt this will mean we'll start paying much more for our games, but it could mean a lot of lesser known titles getting cancelled...
When a game reaches 101 us dollars in australia. australia it'self will be paying $170 ANd your damned right I think about the money I spend. Just like anyone with any damned commen sence thinks about the money they spend. If you wanna pay upwards of $ 200 FOr a game then go right ahead. As for me. Id like to feel like I dont know.. " Not a dumbass"
I bought Battletoads (NES) for 50$. I bought Super Mario Galaxy (Wii) for 50$. This is because of supply and demand. Its the same reason DVDs are $15 and dropping like rocks. If you sell 50milion copies you can afford $.99 a copy. So the video game market boomed and prices were held constant by the growing market of those playing the games.
Developers are putting this pressure on themselves, it's not the gamers. What they are hoping is that if they scream enough people will pay more for the games. If we start to blame ourselves, then we will pay more. They made us understand paying 10$ more per 360 or PS3 game then we heard a ton of announcements how the industry is bigger than it has ever been.
Here we go back to supply and demand. If they charge 100$ what will happen? Few will buy games so they will make less money. What happens is there is an equalibrium state for units sold and price that maximizes profit. That is what games should be charged for. Is it higher or lower than 50-60$? I don't know. Im guessing not because that's what they are charging.
This is a great thing in actuality. A blessing in disguise. Studios will now be forced to make such efficiencies as outsourcing and cost savings in order to compete. Mass profits should only be seen by those companies that are large. They input mass dollars, they return mass dollars. No matter what happens the system corrects itself. Due to that, this really isn't news.
It isn't like there will be a mass video game strike or anything. Prices may adjust slighty and demand may rise or fall. This industry is prone to decent competition so we don't really have to worry about anything.
Of course, that is economically speaking.
The game industy is now bigger than Hollywood in the US - that's odd since we all know that piracy is "killing" the the industry. Oh, wait, that's just the lobbying of game houses. Let's not forget for a moment that the big entertainment software companies OPENLY ADMITTED that next-gen console titles would be $60-$65 *NOT* because they were more expensive to produce, because they aren't, but because they were "seeing what the market would bear." That means that the only reason next-gen games are $60 is because everyone proved at launch that they would tolerate it. This has nothing to do with "thinking about others." - this is business, not a charity drive to give even more money to the game industry. The "devs point of view" you hold so high is simply this: People like money. People like having more money than less money. That is why we get bent over and raped at checkout - not because of a bunch of starving devs that don't exist, but because game corps, like all big corps, LIKE MONEY!