Western Publishers are struggling

[Squilliam]

Sullla said:

Squilliam said:

 

One of the major problems for the industry is for the first time ever, the console market is split precisely into two parts. There are two major platforms and for the most part the games produced on either are largely incompatible. The group responsible for causing this are the big 3, Nintendo - Sony - Microsoft. They are equally to blame for this situation.

If the current situation was like the previous generation. Say HD consoles had 70% of the market share or the Wii had 70% market share the situation the Publishers are in would have been alleviated greatly. The current split market configuration is expensive and makes developing on either platform more risky than otherwise. The two big expenses, advertising and development cost cannot easily be split between the two consoles. You can't advertise a Wii game the same way because it effect showing the HD versions would be considered false advertisement and the publishers would be fined heavily.

Your first paragraph is simply incorrect. SNES/Genesis had the market split almost exactly 50/50. But I don't recall massive losses among third parties in that period... I also don't buy that the Wii and PS360 are "largely incompatible" markets. What about Guitar Hero, and other such games? Anything genuinely mainstream (i.e. not targeted specifically to 15-25 yr. men) has done well on all three platforms. This just sounds like excuses to me.

The second paragraph here is just crazy. Do you really think publishers would be better off if there were an "HD" dominance? Huh? Are we watching the same market? Wouldn't the gaming industry be going through a gigantic contraction right now if the Wii didn't exist, or were completely marginalized?

I hope you don't seriously believe that the majority of the Wii's audience would have simply bought 360s instead.

Guitar hero is the exception, not the rule. Other games have required seperate development efforts for both the Wii and HD versions. Seperate advertising efforts too. Btw why would I make excuses? What exactly do I have to excuse?

The publishers would be better off if there was one platform with dominance. It doesn't matter which way it goes, they still would be better off. Btw the games market wouldn't have shrunk even if Nintendo ceased to exist at the end of the last generation. The PS2 managed to increase the market size over the PS1 inspite of Nintendos weakness.It just wouldn't have grown as much. It wouldn't be the size it is now, but it wouldn't have shrunk from last generation to this generation. Infact with a similar platform between the PS3 and Xbox 360 it would have grown for other entirely seperate reasons.

And yes, I believe that the majority of the Wiis audience would have bought a PS3 or Xbox 360 eventually. Remember a majority only has to be 50.1%.