Poll: Would you be ok with the Games Industry Crashing and not having AAA titles for 5-10 Years?

[boag]

A simple yes or no question, please fill in your reasons with your post.

Back in the early days of Computer gaming in the 70s, Games became a stagnant copy paste for profit only industry, often times shit would get rehashed over and over.

At the tail end of the 70s, the amount of copy pasted games, over saturated the market resulting in the crash. It leveled the playing field enough that Big companies from back then Atari, Magnavox, Mattel, no longer had a strangle hold on the market.

That was then, today, we live in a different time, and very different situations with "some similarities".

I would welcome the crash, if only to level the playing field once again. Although I do not have concrete proof, I do believe that the evolution of gaming was spurred after the crash of the 70s allowed new companies to enter the field.

Thoughts?

EDIT: the exact year of the crash was 1983.
EDIT2: Bolded out a phrase,because im not sure if people are glossing it over in their response. Also, If you are typing a response without quoting anyone, I will assume you are responding to me unless you say otherwise in your post. Thank you for keeping the conversations civil.

 

[Lilani]

I think with digital distribution and things like Steam, the playing field IS leveling again all on its own. Now that we have the Internet, smaller developers who otherwise wouldn't have the budget or marketing knowhow to get their game mass produced can just get it put on Steam or their own personal web site, or if it's an app throw it onto the app stores. And not only does the Internet offer a way for the games to be distributed and paid for, but it also provides a much more intricate network of information for gamers to share the existence of these independent games with one another. With forums like these and things like Facebook and Twitter you can share a new game you've found with hundreds of people all around the world in a second. Really, the last 10 years have given smaller and indie developers many more tools to work with.

 

[Terminate421]

No, I plan to work in the industry out of college, I really don't need my options crashing

 

[Sixcess]

A crash would harm small and indie developers in the short term, even if (and that's a big if) it opened up more opportunities in the long term.

To give an example, I've made no secret of my personal dislike of many aspects of The Old Republic, but I'd hate to see it crash and burn, because that would scare investor money away from MMOs as a genre - money that might otherwise find its way to support MMOs I do like.

 

[Bostur]

I would love it because the big fish has been busy suffocating innovation and artistic integrity. I don't think we will see a crash though, more likely a decline in big titles with the companies forced to cut down and produce medium budget titles instead.

I hope this will result in more releases with lower production values. I don't care about the resolution of wall textures or realistic foilage. I don't expect a game to have a cast of hundreds of professional actors. I wan't to see something new occasionally, and to have some variety in general. And I'd love to see gameplay design getting the attention it needs in this medium.

 

[KingHodor]

Sure. If that means niche gaming would return, bring it the fuck on !

I'd say niche gaming is bigger than ever right now, mostly thanks to digital distribution.

I remember that somewhere around 2000, a bunch of anonymous developers published the so-called "scratchware manifesto", advocating an age of low-priced indie titles with original gameplay created by small indie studios. With Steam and Xbox Live, that vision has now become a reality.

 

[LilithSlave]

I would love it. Back to basics and priotizing.

AAA right now means graphics. AAA should mean a game of any graphical variety, that has 100 hours or more of quality gameplay. It's possible to make a AAA production of something on the graphical level of Dwarf Fortress. And with that type of budget, they could make the richest and deepest gameplay of any game in the entire industry.

But they're not. And it's time to wipe the plate and start from scratch. That includes in genres I like, as well. Final Fantasy is also doing this. To be honest, about the best thing Square could do right now, is trash their current ideology, and make an anime game, with super simplistic 2D graphics or even PlayStation One level 3D graphics, and spend ALL their time on gameplay.

Paradigm shift time.

 

[AyreonMaiden]

I would be a bit sad. I'm one of those who likes many AAA games and doesn't really care for indie gaming much. I'd live with it because it's only vidja, not food or heat, but I'd be sad.

Honestly, my dream would be for the next gen consoles to have processors as powerful as supercomputers, but graphics cards as powerful, at the most, as an Xbox 1. I'm playing a lot of PS2 games and I can safely say I loved last gen's graphics more than today's, and for me it'd be a fair tradeoff in order to have better AI, deeper game systems, better quests, more content, etc.

 

[Lilani]

-snip-

In my other post, I don't think I directly addressed your question. No, I don't think that would be a good idea. In fact, I think it would cause a good portion of the industry to just shrivel up and die. Regardless of the type or quality of products the AAA publishers put out, there is one VERY beneficial and vital thing their existence offers--jobs in the games industry. There are a LOT of people being educated to go into games now, and those big publishers have armies of people on staff. For them to suddenly stop making games would immediately flood the jobs market with tens of thousands of people who are much more experienced than anyone else just getting out of college. So what you would see is an effective standstill of internships or people getting hired out of college.

Jobs at those big developers and publishers give their employees experience in the field, giving them the insider knowledge and experience they will need if they ever want to start their own studio. Plus it's those big games that keep consolemakers going. Without big games being distributed nation and worldwide, what reason do consolemakers have to sell and make consoles nation and worldwide? Some would argue that perhaps it's best that consoles die out, but again, that is a huge part of the technology industry and economy. If we do ever phase consoles out (which we likely will eventually), it needs to happen at the pace the market demands so that people in those jobs can start looking at other options before they're booted out the door.

 

[boag]

-snip-

In my other post, I don't think I directly addressed your question. No, I don't think that would be a good idea. In fact, I think it would cause a good portion of the industry to just shrivel up and die. Regardless of the type or quality of products the AAA publishers put out, there is one VERY beneficial and vital thing their existence offers--jobs in the games industry. There are a LOT of people being educated to go into games now, and those big publishers have armies of people on staff. For them to suddenly stop making games would immediately flood the jobs market with tens of thousands of people who are much more experienced than anyone else just getting out of college. So what you would see is an effective standstill of internships or people getting hired out of college.

Jobs at those big developers and publishers give their employees experience in the field, giving them the insider knowledge and experience they will need if they ever want to start their own studio. Plus it's those big games that keep consolemakers going. Without big games being distributed nation and worldwide, what reason do consolemakers have to sell and make consoles nation and worldwide? Some would argue that perhaps it's best that consoles die out, but again, that is a huge part of the technology industry and economy. If we do ever phase consoles out (which we likely will eventually), it needs to happen at the pace the market demands so that people in those jobs can start looking at other options before they're booted out the door.

I do agree it would be tragic from a human perspective because the amount of lives that would be screwed up is surprisingly high.

Yet at the same time I want it because during the times of extreme duress is when most of the best innovations come out.

If Atari, Magnavox and Mattel hadnt crumble at the same time, I seriously doubt the gaming industry would have developed beyond the expensive toy market.

If The console gaming industry hadnt crashed, the arcades would have never proliferated as they did and there would have been no SEGA, Konami or Tecmo.

I do not believe that the crash would hinder the job market for long though, most of the people just starting out, would either focus on creating their own companies and projects, if there is too much of a surplus in labor for this industry then that is also an issue that the crash might alleviate, because the surplus right now is not doing people any favors, specially if you can just fire a whole development team, knowing full well that there are enough people already slobbering at the chance to take their place.

 

[DustyDrB]

I'm a mainstream whore, so no. I think the last four games I played were all published by EA.

 

[Sixcess]

To give an example, I've made no secret of my personal dislike of many aspects of The Old Republic, but I'd hate to see it crash and burn, because that would scare investor money away from MMOs as a genre - money that might otherwise find its way to support MMOs I do like.

In that situation, it would be a "Damned if you do, damned if you don't" sort of deal.

If it crashes and burns, investors will think MMOs aren't worth it.

But if it is a huge success, we're encouraging this idiotic trend of just copying whatever is successful until they get their sales.

Very true, unfortunately.

Still, MMOs have been developed under the shadow of the 800lb gorilla for the best part of a decade now - they haven't all been clones, and it's undeniable that WoW raised the profile and viability of all MMOs, so I still think the big guys do more good than harm. Just.

 

[boag]

its too big to crash...ever..

I heard the same thing about the real state industry before 2008.

BTW, just to make things clear crashing =/= Industry dying forever

 

[Lilani]

I do agree it would be tragic from a human perspective because the amount of lives that would be screwed up is surprisingly high.

Yet at the same time I want it because during the times of extreme duress is when most of the best innovations come out.

If Atari, Magnavox and Mattel hadnt crumble at the same time, I seriously doubt the gaming industry would have developed beyond the expensive toy market.

If The console gaming industry hadnt crashed, the arcades would have never proliferated as they did and there would have been no SEGA, Konami or Tecmo.

I do not believe that the crash would hinder the job market for long though, most of the people just starting out, would either focus on creating their own companies and projects, if there is too much of a surplus in labor for this industry then that is also an issue that the crash might alleviate, because the surplus right now is not doing people any favors, specially if you can just fire a whole development team, knowing full well that there are enough people already slobbering at the chance to take their place.

But those examples of duress you gave were caused by natural shifts and happenings in the market. That sort of thing happens all the time when the demands of the market change. Kodak nearly went out of business because they were a bit late in catching onto the digital trend. But when they did finally go digital they made damn sure they kept up from then on. Good comes from those types of market peril because it's the market forcing the industry to catch up with its demands.

But what you are talking about here is an artificial change, fake peril. The reason such changes haven't happened in the games industry yet is because the market hasn't pushed the industry to that point. It is beginning to happen with digital distribution and gamer's increasing resentment for DRM, but these changes and frustrations haven't reached their climax yet. Without that true and honest do-or-die moment, nothing will change. No lessons will be learned. All forcing them to shut down would do is cause their CEOs to dip into their rainy day funds and vacation at some tropical destination for a few years, then come back and pick up right where they left off. They wouldn't roll with the changes that occurred in those last 10 years, they'd just throw their weight and money around until they're back where they were before.

The reason change hasn't occurred is because things haven't gotten bad enough for them to make them do it. We'll get there, just give it some time.