Western Publishers are struggling

[Malachi]

Endz said:
You could take PS2 to PS3 as an example. Sony got massive revenue from PS2 but in developing for PS3 that added up to lots of expenses. Why? Sony tried too put too much too quickly. Some people agreed that PS3 should have waited for one more year to be released (this would have been market share suicide in my opinion) but still time is the factor here.

Everything just advanced too much not just graphical advancement (which takes loads of money to develop) but features too. As other posts have said, you need those shiny hot real-life graphics to even be noticed in this gen (xbox and PS3 mainly of course) but people want more. Technical advancement is too much (AI and physics for hundreds of enemies), everything in a game is too complicated, features like achievements for everything and huge multi-player. Things are just going to cost more and more along with each advancement.

But time is the factor, Sony could have waited until hardware parts are cheaper like game companies could have waited until getting into top-end technologies is cheaper. What if next-gen Xbox has a console that allows for many more features in games and close to real-life graphics- Companies would need to develop for that and the costs might be staggering.

 

I agree but at the same time a company like EA, with close to 15 000 employee need to sell a shit load of game to get enough revenue to pay for all the expense. They need blockbuster title and the only way they know how is to push up the graphic and the feature.

The problem is that after a certain number of feature and a certain degree of graphic are reached less and less people in the mass market care about the next incremental upgrade, but a certain subset of gamer, the "hardcore" if you want, alway want more but this group simply isn't big enough anymore to justify the million put into game develepoment, they don't generate enough revenue.

Simply put adding more is the only way some company know how to make big game and the market for those simply isn't growing (maybe even shrinking) fast enough to cover the expense. They need to stop doing more and do different and they need to do it on a platform that can support it. BTW different doesn't mean new, Mirror edge and Dead Space may be new but aren't different, to use EA as an example

Microsoft is working on expending it's audience (look at the bundle), the new price point will help but it's really much a work in progress and it's audience still consist mainly of the "fratboy" demographic.

PS3 got a more diverse audience, Playstation follower and technophile ,who like many genres, mainly but it's doesn't really help because the audience simply isn't big enough. A diverse audience is good when you sell 100 million console but when you sell 20 million it's more avantagous to have an uniform one. That why it's harder for it to have big blockbuster like the 360 even if it comparativly sell the same amount of software. The fact that it's probably the more graphic hungry of the 3 don't help either. Big graphic, low and fragmented userbase really isn't the best for developer.

Wii got the mass market audience but not the traditional gamer one (except for marioboy) a situation that cause publisher problem because they can't install themself on it by bringing there traditional gaming franchise. Once that happen publisher start to have problem. As I say different is not the same as new, you can make whole new football gaming franchise with a different name and change a few feature here and there it's not going to change anything, only traditional gamer wll be interested in it, much less just additioning All Play at the end of the name. Same thing with EA Fit and that cart game EA is making, again, it's new not different, it's the equivalent of the GTA clones, good to bring in some revenue but it's not going to become your next blockbuster, something EA really need.