Middle Class Video Games/Video Games Publishers/Developers dying these days?

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Sonicx9
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Joined: April 27th, 2015, 6:37 pm

Middle Class Video Games/Video Games Publishers/Developers dying these days?

Postby Sonicx9 » April 28th, 2015, 2:59 am

Is this me or is the Middle Class Video Games/Video Games Publishers/Developers dying as many mid to small size game publishers/developers starting with the seventh generation of consoles and up such as Midway Games, Hudson Soft, THQ, 3D Realms, Bizarre Creations, Blitz Games, Studio Liverpool aka Psygnosis, Maxis, etc, are all defunct and no longer exist, in addition companies such as the current Atari is bankrupted, and are downsized only doing smartphone/tablet games for iOS, and the PC via Digital download, and companies such as Sega are downsized to just doing smartphone/tablet games/ PC games via Download/Download Only games for Consoles/Handhelds/PC/Smaller releases, instead of big budget games like they use to be, along with Capcom not having much money in the bank, etc?

Could the [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Financial_crisis_of_2007–08]bad economy crash[/url] have affect for all of the game Publishers/Developers mentioned above along with the high development cost?

I think how it works these days where the Big Rich companies like EA, Ubisoft, Activision, and Take-Two Interactive (owners of Rockstar Games and 2K Sports/Games divisions) survive from big AAA budget games that are Uninspired and Buggy, and the tiny Indie/Mobile Companies such as Rovio Entertainment and King survive from cheep low budget Mobile/Indie/Download games that are cheep or Pay to win to empty out your wallet with most of the time being low quality? It is $50/$60 dollar games or cheep $1 to $10 dollar games, it is one extreme or the other! No more middle class $20/$30/$40 dollar games anymore?

In addition once popular video game series like Mega Man/Contra/Castlevania/Crash Bandicoot, etc. Are no more at this point of time and are dead in the water along with franchise like Mario and Sonic are barely alive getting a lot of the time overshadowed by games like Call of Duty/Grand Theft Auto/Angry Birds, etc, heck even once popular Japanese Game Publishers/Developers such as Konami, and Taito are not as relevant or popular like they were in their Prime/Peak? Is this the end of the era of Hardcore/Old School/Retro Game franchise/Old School/Retro Japanese Game Publishers/Developers?

I would like people here to give your thoughts on what I wrote?

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LoganRuckman
Posts: 647
Joined: April 10th, 2015, 1:04 am

Re: Middle Class Video Games/Video Games Publishers/Developers dying these days?

Postby LoganRuckman » April 28th, 2015, 10:41 am

Is this Steer? I hope this is Steer. Please be Steer! You're due for a good unbanning.

Anyway, looking at that list, I'm sad to see companies like Hudson, Midway, and THQ gone. It's also sad to see formerly great companies like Capcom and Sega in the sorry state they're in.

Vexer6
Posts: 295
Joined: April 9th, 2015, 12:14 am

Re: Middle Class Video Games/Video Games Publishers/Developers dying these days?

Postby Vexer6 » April 28th, 2015, 7:13 pm

I don't think the economic downturn had much to do with it, I think it has more to do with studios spending far more money then necessary on things like marketing and whatnot, which eventually caused them to go bankrupt.

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pacman000
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Joined: December 30th, 2015, 9:04 am

Re: Middle Class Video Games/Video Games Publishers/Developers dying these days?

Postby pacman000 » December 30th, 2015, 4:01 pm

I've read in a marketing book that it's bad for a company to be "caught in the middle." The example they used was J.C. Penny; they're too cheap to compete against finer stores, like Neiman Marcus, but too expensive to go up against Walmart, Target, etc.

It's not so different in the videogame industry. Ten years ago AAA games cost about $50. Budget titles might cost $10-$20. Now the market's changed. Modern AAA games costs more to develop. Graphics must be more detailed. AI and physics must be more realistic. And the average consumer can download a free/cheap game without learning how to use FTP.

The mid-range video game market hasn't disappeared; it never existed. The gulf between low-cost and high-cost games is just wider than in the past. These developers are in trouble because they haven't kept up with market forces, not because their market disappeared outright.


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