A chill wind for the industry?

[Baroque]

As per usual the only two profitable pieces of Microsoft, Operating Systems & Applications, pulled in a massive chunk of change for Redmond. However sales generated by Microsoft's home & entertainment division were half those compared to the same time last year.

Their SEC filings are not online just now so I can't crack out how much XBox lost them this quarter, but with the continued weakness in both XBox & GameCube I have to but wonder if we are seeing a softening of the games industry which is moving from the outside edge, inward, towards Playzilla. If it is a softening, it looks like it could be a severe one at that.

I'll be keeping my eye on Sony's next set of results for signs of any weakness in the Playstation division, if over the next couple of quarters revenue starts dropping off beyond what you'd expect for a now mature product, the games industry could very well be in a full blown recession due to weak consumer spending, and that will effect both gamers and the industry alike.

We aren't looking at a meltdown like we had in gaming in the early 80's, but a very chill wind might be blowing through the industry and the smaller company's, or even the larger ones who are just in bad financial shape could find it to be fatal.

[Che Musashi]

Its so wierd that you mention that, becuase I have a theory that a slump was coming. My main reason being with all the console shovelware now, like Wolverine's revenge, and fewer and fewer original games. Its causing a glut of crap on the market that is creating a losing proposition.

Now everybody gets everything. But seriously which Soul Calibur 2 will sell the most? Probably the PS2 despite being the weakest of the bunch. Either way I think some companies need to fall off the map so that we can eliminate the crap and get back to more original games.

Game makers should make more exclusives and less ports and we'd all be happier and they'd be richer.

[Papercut]

I'm deeply concerned about Sega's position. Unfortunately, for larger companies, their survival or otherwise will be something of a yard stick.

[Concept]

I'm deeply concerned about Sega's position.

If Sega go down, I very much doubt my faith in gaming is going to hold.

It'll be a true tragedy and one near impossible to get over. The sheer talent, artistry, and skill they possess is simply unmatched in my eyes.

Ever since the Dreamcast's conception, (and even more recently having re-discovered the Saturn), they've been my main and most enjoyable source of input in my videogaming diet.

Sega just seem to be a cut above everybody else when it comes to stirring my interest glands, and reminding me why I love gaming so much.

Without them, my gaming life will be a lot duller, and as a result I can see a significant part of my motivation and inspiration filtering away.

Damn it, Sega better not drop off the line and do an Atari. The industry needs them, and as a gamer, I need them.

They will survive.
They will survive.

Need to be more positive, don't I?

[Smeghead]

I'm deeply concerned about Sega's position.

If Sega go down, I very much doubt my faith in gaming is going to hold.

It'll be a true tragedy and one near impossible to get over. The sheer talent, artistry, and skill they possess is simply unmatched in my eyes.

Ever since the Dreamcast's conception, (and even more recently having re-discovered the Saturn), they've been my main and most enjoyable source of input in my videogaming diet.

Sega just seem to be a cut above everybody else when it comes to stirring my interest glands, and reminding me why I love gaming so much.

Without them, my gaming life will be a lot duller, and as a result I can see a significant part of my motivation and inspiration filtering away.

Damn it, Sega better not drop off the line and do an Atari. The industry needs them, and as a gamer, I need them.

They will survive.
They will survive.

Need to be more positive, don't I?

Rumour has it Namco are gonna Merge to become part of SEGA, if the industry was as strong as every1 keeps saying, would we really be seeing moves like this even hinted at?

[charlesr]

Then again, if Sega do go down, their talent will have to go somewhere and this might benefit other developers.

[olly]

That is definitely sad to hear, but it would make for a very talented team if it were to happen.

[dgnr7982]

I think the market has become quite saturated with the amount of ****e thats on the shelves, what truly new genres have come along recently - what's seperated the past year from any of the last 5 in terms of the games being released?

In contrast the market in second hand games is by all accounts booming!

[Henning]

If the industry wants more people to buy games they really need to come down in price. The softcore audience have so many competing chooses from films, records and clothes etc and for them is a ?35 game purchase a big decision and don?t come spontaneous.

[Madbury]

If the industry wants more people to buy games they really need to come down in price. The softcore audience have so many competing chooses from films, records and clothes etc and for them is a ?35 game purchase a big decision and don’t come spontaneous.

So true, even I have to stop my self once in a while. For example I've held off buying Orta even though I want it so badly. Simply because it's expensive. Whats worse is that I'll quite easily drop the same amount of cash on ebay over 2 or 3 smaller purchases and not bat an eyelid.

The sad truth is that movie, TV and sport tie ins sell by the bucket load. Joe gamer doesn't even hear about the truly innovative stuff and even if they did they probably wouldn't see the point in it. As in any downturn the first thing to go is the advertising budget and this is in true evidence atm, with only Sony pimping their games to any great extent (have you seen the Getaway trailer at the cinema recently?!). Look at the impact this has had with sub standard games like the getaway selling shed loads.

[Concept]

This is old talk, but when I see people in GAME passing over ?40 for something like Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers or Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets over something like ICO, it makes me want to slam my head against the wall.

In videogaming land, marketing quite frankly rules all else. If The Wind Waker hadn't been a well known game with an established franchise behind it, do you think it'd have a chance of doing well?

I doubt it. Most likely, it'd have gone the way of the likes of NiGHTS, Jet Set Radio, Shenmue et al.

I've said it before, over the past 12 months the quality in gaming has been high. The problem is, no one seems to be buying the quality anymore.

[Smeghead]

If the industry wants more people to buy games they really need to come down in price. The softcore audience have so many competing chooses from films, records and clothes etc and for them is a ?35 game purchase a big decision and don?t come spontaneous.

Price is obviously a big factor, the Record industry is near crisis at the moment for sales. Maybe instead of charging ?18 for an album they should look at the ?10 mark? Maybe p2p software wouldn't have as bigger impact then, it's kinda sick that a CD which costs $15 in the US can cost up to ?20 here.

I still think the sliding scale should come in, games which are no way viable purchases at ?40 could be an absolute bargain at ?20. We are starting to see a few games managing this now but I think if there were more budget releases that weren't full price titles to start with, sales would be in a slightly stronger position.

[Concept]

Price is a factor... But I don't understand the logic of spending ?40 odd on a **** game these days, when the truly brilliant get ignored to the space of a bargain bin.

Surely it would be better for wallet and mind if these people if they had a bit of common sense?

I'm being harsh. It's just... The education, the message to the wider public in gaming, isn't getting through.

Hence the apathy when mr. joe buys his Harry Potter and finds it's a load of old uninspired cobblers.

[olly]

Nintendo have started to shift things the right way with its licensing fee incentive - cheaper games are subject to lesser fees.

There will be peaks and troughs, undoubtedly, but I think the market can and will sustain all three platforms - even if sales dwindle all three major companies involved are big enough to handle it.

[Concept]

Nintendo were in the unique position of being the one turning over the most when it came to making a profit on it's hardware.

Trouble now is no one's buying the hardware...

Hence the lowering of the licencing fee to attract third party publishers, who in turn can start generating more content that'll interest the punters, and as a result more interest in the GameCube.

If it works and hardware sales improve then it wouldn't surprise me when the third party publishers need Nintendo and not the other way around, then it'll quitely bump the licencing fee back up again.

I see this lax attitude to the licencing on Nintendo's part as a temporary measure. They've been so strict when it came to controlling content on their machines in the past, that it's a logical assumption to take.

Nintendo are having to lower their own standards to battle through these hard times. If anything, the lowering of the GameCube's licencing fee points to this fact.