What's the worst case that can happen to game industry?

[Squilliam]

Khuutra said:

Squilliam said:

outlawauron said:

Khuutra said:
Sony leaving the industry would have a very real chance of causing a third party crash. That's about as bad as I can see things getting.

I agree. The reprecussions would be drastic is Sony left the industry.

Not really... Even if they killed SCE, third parties would still be able to release software for the PS2/3/P platforms. It would be a difficult adjustment but the market would move on.

Eeehhhh, I dunno, especially with the PS2 thing. Once platforms are abandoned, even prematurely, doesn't software tend to stop being released, too? Or even stop being bought in general?

Aren't new buyers hella important?

The PS2's software share is declining anyway so it would just accellerate that process and many of the people still using that platform will then look to upgrade. But for the short term software would still be released and sold on the platform.

The PSP is so far behind the DS that it could drop out and 80% of developers would simply carry on doing what they were always doing on the DS.

The PS3 at 17M (Western market penetration) constitutes about 40% of the total market for HD consoles. Within the short term until the end of the year games would still be released on the platform, meaning third parties wouldn't really lose money at all and longer term the Xbox 360, PC and Wii platforms would pick up the active PS3 userbase and general growth would make those 17M consoles look insignificant in a short order.