59 replies to this topic

[Lupaie]

I was reading this column and was thinking about how mobilegamesstudios have transformed an industry of great promise into a platform that not only poisons their own platforms but also infected other industries into their downfall.

The way the marketplaces are flooded with cheap, dull and misleading transactions and business models kinda reminded me to an era where gaming almost died. It was Nintendo who singelhandedly resqued the business but I'm afraid that (eventually) Nintendo too will be affected by the way the current industry is turning in to. Cheap remakes, ingame purchases, clone after clone and a consumergroup who support corporate thinking of investers instead of games that thrive imagination and are develloped for having a good time.

Here is the link
http://www.baekdal.c...d-the-industry/

Edited by Lupaie, 08 February 2014 - 07:00 AM.

[3Dude]

It never ceases to amaze me just how many astroturfers crawl out of the woodwork when these kinds of articles involve something about EA. That 1.8 billion a year in 'marketing'

people need to just

Stop
Buying
EA
Games

[Lupaie]

I understand your last four words. But the text right above that, I don't. Not in a way I (dis)agree or not, but as an incompetence to understand your english and translate it into my own language. Could you clear that up?

[3Dude]

I understand your last four words. But the text right above that, I don't. Not in a way I (dis)agree or not, but as an incompetence to understand your english and translate it into my own language. Could you clear that up?

Probably dont recognize the term astroturfer.

http://en.wikipedia....ki/Astroturfing

EA spends 1.8 billion dollars a year in this manner of marketing, employing thousands of astroturfers.

Those people you see telling everybody to stop hating, that ea designed the game like this, and its so much fun for them to play for two minutes then wait 24 hours, are astroturfers, they are paid by ea to pretend to be unnassociated, 'normal' people on the internet, like you or me, while pushing ea's PR.

[Lupaie]

Great, thanks. I understand it now. Those Astroturfers sure know how to kill an industry then...or worse, EA is killing it by creating these circumstances. I agree, real gamers should stand up and indeed ignore EA (and others)and let themselves be heard. The sad thing is that even outside the mobile market creative, innovative and fun gamedesigners are betrayed by a large group of gamers and forced to join the collective or die. Yes, I'm looking at the Kamiya's and Ancel's, god bless their souls.

I do believe in Kickstarterprojects like Project Cars, Mighty no9 and Star Citizen, but also the smaller Indygame designers....yet I'm afraid that their stage is being poluted by all those free-in-app carpgames.

Edited by Lupaie, 08 February 2014 - 09:42 AM.

[KeptMyWiiUAndLeftTheForums]

I think someone linked this article already a while ago, but I couldn't read it then (was at work), so thanks I guess

[Nollog]

EA are great, I was playing bf4 when it bugged out and I was like "fantastic ea! I just needed to go to work right then!" They are the best at interpreting our needs.

[Happy Monk]

Eh. There's always been clones after clones - kinda how the industry rolls. One company makes a game that really does well, everyone else copies it.

[grahamf]

Nintendo is immortal, Nintendo is god. It will witness the apocalypse and begin the resurrection.

[kirbylover]

Nintendo clones games all the time. Next thing you know, Nintendo reveals New Super Mario 3d Universe at another generic Nintendo Direct.

[Big Boss]

Those people you see telling everybody to stop hating, that ea designed the game like this, and its so much fun for them to play for two minutes then wait 24 hours, are astroturfers, they are paid by ea to pretend to be unnassociated, 'normal' people on the internet, like you or me, while pushing ea's PR.

Where can I sign up for this?

[Mewbot]

Yep, the crash is coming. I can feel it. Publishers are becoming greedy, and business practices unethical. Even Sony has fallen into the trap of charging for things that should be free (DLC in their games, PS+ needed for most online, backwards compatibility being optional and at a monthly charge).

 

Honestly, I think Nintendo is the only one that has avoided these practices, and yet everyone seems to want them to start being more like Sony and Microsoft.

[Hank Hill]

I think the problem with this analogy is that the 1983 crash and the current situation are really two different things.

 

With the 1983 crash, we have

• 9 home consoles all competing with each other, all with extremely similar/expensive games (Atari 2600, the Atari 5200, the Bally Astrocade, the ColecoVision, the Emerson Arcadia 2001, the Fairchild Channel F System II, theMagnavox Odyssey², the Mattel Intellivision, and the GCE Vectrex.)
• Home computers had just started to become available in-stores, while before they were mostly a mail-order affair. By 1982, personal computer sales were booming and the TI 99/4A and the Atari 400 were both at $349, Radio Shack's Color Computer sold at $379, and Commodore had just reduced the price of the Commodore VIC-20 to $199 and the Commodore 64 to $499, while home consoles at that time would've cost as much or a fair amount more than that
• Inflation (which had reduced the quarter's spending power by a third in the early 1980s) was making it difficult for gaming companies to turn a profit
• Loss of publishing control among third party developers in a retail market, leading to clone after clone after clone of the same game...not unlike iPhone games, but at $60+ a pop, this became a problem
• Repeated high-profile game failures combined with accusations of embezzlement pointed at Atari's CEO at the time
• The publishers were contractually required allow retailers to return the games for a refund. This practice drove many third party developers, such as Games by Apollo, out of business. For example, Atari's E.T. sold 1.5 million copies in record time. However, retailers ordered 2.5 million copies. Over 1 million copies were returned to Atari at Atari's own expense. This is the primary reason that most third party publishers did not survive the crash​.
• A massive industry shakeout resulted. Magnavox abandoned the video game business entirely. Coleco's Colecovision would have slow sales and would withdraw by 1985. Imagic withdrew its IPO the day before its stock was to go public; the company later collapsed.
• Additionally, the toy retailers which controlled consumer access to games had concluded that video games were a fad. That fad, they assumed, had ended, and the shelf space would be reassigned to different products; as a result, many retailers ignored video games for several years.

That doesn't at all look like the current problems. Yes, the gaming market right now does have its own issues, but it's nowhere near like it was in 1983. Will we be seeing more developers possibly throwing in the towel? We could, provided they don't wisen up. But I don't see the cataclysmic industry-wide explosion that ends all video gaming as we know it until somebody somehow "saves" things.

[Lupaie]

Well, I think you have a point there. Yet, excluded mobile an social games, Sony as well as MS are strugling, Nintendo has its fair amount of issuis and Steam and Apple are about to shake things up even harder. Marketplaces are flooded and Indiestudios still don't enjoy the promise the marketplaces did some years ago. The only promising thins are kickstarters

[SailtheSeas]

 

 

Honestly, I think Nintendo is the only one that has avoided these practices, and yet everyone seems to want them to start being more like Sony and Microsoft.

 

No they don't, they want Nintendo to start making great consoles again like the SNES and N64, not casual consoles like the Wii and Wii U. They also want Nintendo to stop their obsession with casual gamers and start focusing more on the ordinary gamer, the type of gamers who bought the SNES, N64 and Gamecube.

 

A powerful console which is third party developer friendly and games like Metroid, FZero and Star Fox are what gamers want, nobody is suggesting that Nintendo morph into Sony or Microsoft.

Well, I think you have a point there. Yet, excluded mobile an social games, Sony as well as MS are strugling, Nintendo has its fair amount of issuis and Steam and Apple are about to shake things up even harder. Marketplaces are flooded and Indiestudios still don't enjoy the promise the marketplaces did some years ago. The only promising thins are kickstarters

 

I don't think there will be an industry crash, I do however think there may well be several developers who slip into financial problems. Capcom and EA along with other publishers are flocking en masse to the mobile and tablet gaming market and the problem with such a relatively new business sector is that is it sustainable?Does it have a long-term future?

 

PC Gaming and Console gaming are over three decades old and will more than likely still be around in another thirty years, can the same thing be said about moblie and tablet gaming? I don't think so and I hope Nintendo don't jump on this bandwagon.

[grahamf]

A powerful console which is third party developer friendly and games like Metroid, FZero and Star Fox are what gamers want, nobody is suggesting that Nintendo morph into Sony or Microsoft.

Both Microsoft and Sony are selling their consoles for less then it costs to make them and depending on the rest of their business in order to make money (which works for Microsoft but isn't working for Sony). Nintendo simply cannot compete with the PS4 or XBone. With their current business model they just cannot afford a console with the same specs as the other two consoles, so they shouldn't bother trying.

[KeptMyWiiUAndLeftTheForums]

No they don't, they want Nintendo to start making great consoles again like the SNES and N64, not casual consoles like the Wii and Wii U. They also want Nintendo to stop their obsession with casual gamers and start focusing more on the ordinary gamer, the type of gamers who bought the SNES, N64 and Gamecube.

 

A powerful console which is third party developer friendly and games like Metroid, FZero and Star Fox are what gamers want, nobody is suggesting that Nintendo morph into Sony or Microsoft.

Don't play that crap. You pretty much suggest they turn into sony and microsoft every frinking thread.

[SailtheSeas]

Don't play that crap. You pretty much suggest they turn into sony and microsoft every frinking thread.

 

No I don't, that's complete nonsense on your part.

 

I have never once said that Nintendo should become another Sony or Microsoft.

Both Microsoft and Sony are selling their consoles for less then it costs to make them and depending on the rest of their business in order to make money (which works for Microsoft but isn't working for Sony). Nintendo simply cannot compete with the PS4 or XBone. With their current business model they just cannot afford a console with the same specs as the other two consoles, so they shouldn't bother trying.

 

That's nonsense, Nintendo could quite easily make a powerful console and make a profit, they did it with the SNES, N64 and Gamecube.

[grahamf]

Back then companies did not sell their devices at a loss. For example, do you really think a quad core smartphone with a big screen and insane specs is only worth $400?

[KeptMyWiiUAndLeftTheForums]

No I don't, that's complete nonsense on your part.

 

I have never once said that Nintendo should become another Sony or Microsoft.

You may not ever have said it directly but let's be honest here.

"They need to modernize and get rid of gamepad and get shooters because Microsoft and Sony so much better and more successful"

Happens all. The frinking. Time.