Western Publishers are struggling

[Bodhesatva]

Today Midway announced that they are laying off 25% of their workforce, and this news has finally led me to make this thread. Western publishers are struggling, generally speaking, and I'm wondering what others think we should do about it.

First, let's remember that almost all Western publishers are losing money. Ubisoft and Activision aren't: that's good. But Midway, Atari/Infogrames, SCi/Eidos, THQ, Take 2, Electronic Arts and likely LucasArts are. That's bad, and the list of losers is significantly longer than the couple of winners.

Second, let's look at how the workforce has changed in the last year.

December 2008: Midway closes Austin studio, reduces total workforce by 25%.
November 2008: THQ closes 5 studios, reduces workforce in 2 others.
October 2007: Atari ousts board of directors, lays of 20% of workforce.
February 2008: Eidos cuts workforce by 25%, cans 14 projects.
September 2008: As losses widen, EA cuts workforce by 6%
November 2008: Electronic Arts warns of further losses, likely more job cuts
September 2008: Lucasarts lays off 100 workers

Of the major Western Publishers, the only ones not to announce layoffs in the last year are Activision, Ubisoft and Take 2. Take 2 has been losing money for quite some time, however, and is likely to either begin bleeding soon or be acquired by a larger fish.

By contrast, there has been virtually no turmoil in Japanese publishers. What's particularly interesting about Western Publishers is that revenue is quite good: even in this recessive economy, video games are reaching record breaking profits, with the US market likely to spend 15-20% more money on video games this year than last, and last year was a record breaking year, too. Overall industry revenue is very healthy. So I ask again: why are most Western Publishers struggling so mightily?