5 Reasons the Video Game Industry Is About to Crash

[gorfias]

PS4 has sold over 2 million units, XBONE has sold over 2 million units. These consoles are the fastest selling of all time.
There isn't going to be a crash with that much install base.

Sounds reasonable and gives me hope. I'm getting a Vita for Xmas and PS4, though the Wii U is also very tempting. I hope it is more than a Dreamcast.

I don't remember the last flop that killed a studio.

Flops can be big enough to kill movie studios, but even then, movies themselves weren't killed.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

1) CEOs that are money people, not gamers (Sci Fi is dead for gaming?!?!?)
Of course CEOs are money people. It's right there in the title! "Chief Executive Officer"! Not Creative Director, not Concept Artist, but an exec officer!

And what is a businessman who doesn't understand their product/service? From an ethical standpoint, a good businessman aims for profit by achieving a good quality products/services. Yes, he's there to make money. Yes, he only cares about the money. But only by giving what the people want. Leaders/People who do not understand their line of work do not do a good job.

The next thing you'll be saying is that Henry Ford never cared about cars, Bill Gates never cared for computers, Mark Zuckerberg never cared about Facebook. I could go on all day.

If anything, you're describing a glorified banker.

They understand their product well enough that they're profitting from it.

 

[ThreeName]

Cracked is dodgy as shit. Stick to writing articles about Roosevelt or whatever, guys.

I remember I stopped reading them for some reason... I forget why. but I actually don't miss it at al..

 

[Elvis Starburst]

lolcracked.

Pro source there, bro ¬_¬

The industry won't crash, this isn't the bloody 80's.
For once, I'd like to see some reasoned arguments, instead of knee jerk hyperbolic ramblings.

Been watching that anime, and that is one hell of an avatar o.o Very much like Kill la Kill.

OT: I doubt it's gonna crash. Things will change, sure. It's not gonna constantly go on this way forever. But the industry isn't going anywhere

 

[generals3]

1 reason to believe the industry won't crash: it is expanding like hell and keeps on innovating. You may not see the innovation because you're focused on games like Fifa One Gazillion and CoD-over-9000 but if you look past the blockbuster which don't take too many risks because their formula is known to sell well you'll find lots of innovations.

 

[Arnoxthe1]

Psh. Cracked usually makes some good articles but their gaming articles usually leave something massive to be desired. I didn't even bother to look at that article when I checked their website for today.

 

[sparafucil]

You have to be oblivious to the changes that have taken place in the industry this past generation if you can't see that AAA gaming is in serious trouble. Sales of BF4, AC4, and CoD: Ghosts, this year's biggest AAA non-indie titles, have reportedly been very disappointing. Call of Duty is a case study of a franchise that's been milked to death and consumers are starting to gain wind of it. I expect it will be the first franchise to crash in the next-gen (similar to what happened to Guitar Hero) and given how much Activision depends on CoD to meet quotas, the effect of its crash won't be pretty.

Mid-tier gaming has all but disappeared this generation. Now you have indies and just a handful of AAA games backed by a dwindling number of publishers. The margins for AAA games are shrinking as development costs have skyrocketed. Meanwhile, indie devs are routinely creating more innovative, enjoyable games on a shoestring budget and seeing higher return on investment, with most of the profits going directly into the hands of the developer.

So while I think a crash is inevitable, I don't think it will be as catastrophic as the one in 1983. For one, devs can rely on digital distribution to get their games into the hands of consumers, and with the advent of Kickstarter, they don't need to rely on the restrictive control of Big Publisher to fund their game. We'll still continue to see tons of great games from smaller studios long after EA and Activision have become extinct.

 

[Tanis]

First:
Cracked? l-o-l

Second:
I've heard something similar for years now.
Arcades are dying = End is Near.
From cartridge to disc = End is Near.
Dreamcast failing = End is Near.
PS2 with DVD player = End is Near.
Wii selling more than 360/PS3 = End is Near.
etc/etc/etc

Third:
I don't believe it.

 

[Someone Depressing]

Cracked us the suicidally depressed-about-everything conspiracy theorist Eeyore of the Internet.

And I love it.

But no. It's possible, but really, it's unlikely. We've always got indie games; we got Minecraft, Terraria, and many other great games from the indie crowd... then again, Xbox Live does scheme to cause a crash on its own...

 

[sanquin]

What is this with people constantly saying that 'the industry crashed' in the 80's? The industry crashed in America yes, but there's also the rest of the world.

On topic:
I doubt the industry will crash. There are too many platforms to publish on these days, and indie game companies have become very popular, and will continue to exist. Sure, the AAA companies might take a huge hit in the near future, but that's only a small portion of the entire industry. I hate how most media, even online, likes to pretend that the AAA part of the gaming industry is the only part that matters.

 

[Roxas1359]

What is this with people constantly saying that 'the industry crashed' in the 80's? The industry crashed in America yes, but there's also the rest of the world.

Nah man, obviously if it crash in the USA, and be that as it may that PC gaming wasn't affected, then obviously it means the world is doomed. At least that's what the internet has taught me. XD
It has also taught me that any criticism of any gaming company or any apathy you have towards them, even if it is a reasonable one, means that you obviously hate that company and want it to go under of go 3rd party.
I learned that one from the Nintendo threads that pop up here. XD

OT: Yeah, maybe the AAA industry will suffer a small crash and that's understandable, but there will never be a crash big enough in the industry for it to reach the levels it did in the US in 83' (mind you it was only in the US). The medium is so big now and just as our savior Jim said in his latest video, publishers are losing relevance fast because of how Indie games and Kickstarter have proven that games can be published without going through some of the AAA ones. Heck there is still AA and A grade studios as well.

 

[kilenem]

People couldn't predict THQ dieing off yet everyone predicted the death of the 3DS and handheld gaming. Will see who the prediction of the Wii U dieing goes after Smash brothers comes out.

 

[kilenem]

As much as I'd love to see the industry crash and burn to rise better than ever from the ash like it did before, I doubt it's gonna happen. Not as long as every annual COD rehash breakes the sale records of the predecessor and fools spend hard cash on every single bit of nonsensical DLC.

All I can hope for is that people grow tired of spending 50+ on a half baked bugfest that offers DLC worth hundreds on release sooner or later. I mean we have seen how much it is getting out of hand lately, but unfortunately it doesn't seem to have any side effects yet..

Activison is probably doing financially the best out of all the publishers. 2K had GTA but they only get that once every few years. COD is is a rehash but unlike its competition, it doesn't get delayed, the servers are better then GTA's servers and BF4's server. Its dependable that is why people keep buying it. Plus Mistranslations don't give players a advantage in COD.

 

[Raddra]

Gaming won't crash as long as there is money to be made: and there is. The industry has huge amounts of money in it.

AAA / publishers are in danger though. And frankly I find I don't care. Most games these days I play are indy / small publisher games. I have been burned by bought review scores for terribad games too many times. And then there's their terrible business practices.

 

[astrav1]

5 Reasons the Video Game Industry Is About to Crash

Read more: http://www.cracked.com/article_20727_5-reasons-video-game-industry-about-to-crash.html#ixzz2nAyVxQDB

I'm mostly worried about Glut, but here are some of cracked's mussings.

1) CEOs that are money people, not gamers (Sci Fi is dead for gaming?!?!?)

2) Budgets have gone nuts. Any one flop can kill a studio. 1/2 a billion for Star Wars game?!?!

3) Publishers are gaming the reviewing system (Known that since gamestop editor got canned for his opinion).

4) You're always flying blind: you don't really know what your game will be like during early advertising.

5) The Industry Is Extremely Exploitative, and It's Driving Away Talent

Nice work sourcing Cracked bro. I don't even think I need to explain further why you are incorrect.

 

[lapan]

I'd rename the article "6 Reasons the Video Game Industry Is Going to Have To Change". A complete crash is unlikely, but it's very likely some of the big players will have to drop out.


I would also add reason 6: Idiotic sale expectations

Nowadays anything with less than COD sales is considered a flop by publishers. You can sell millions and the executives will still be disappointed and stop localizing/producing your favorite series.

The industry won't crash. Big publishers are in danger, though. That's why companies like EA are trying to improve their image. The fact that they were voted the worst company in America twice in a row means nothing to them by itself. The fact that it has negative effects on their stocks does. They're trying to change their image because they're finally realizing that being assholes is bad for business. How much brain mass did they gain remains to be seen.

EA is one of those companies I hope does well in spite of their lousy business practices. I have so much of their stuff on my Origin account.

Even as a bad company, they do sooooooo much right. Playing Battlefield 4 campaign and it is just so much fun.

What little they had that interested me they managed to mess up in the sequels. The only thing on my origin account is my old copy of Spore i registered with them, and that crashes after 30 minutes or so.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

I'd rename the article "6 Reasons the Video Game Industry Is Going to Have To Change". A complete crash is unlikely, but it's very likely some of the big players will have to drop out.

Pretty much, the creator even states this at the end of the article:

The result of all of this isn't that games are going away -- it's just that the industry may look very different a few years from now. That might not be a bad thing.

I'm guessing the article was 'enhanced' with a attention grabbing headline as clickbait.