could the uk become more important than japan to the games industry?????

[johnlucas]

Vengi said:

 

 

John Lucas. You truely require a lession in British gaming history.

The games created in Britian are among the most famous games in the world.

I shall list just a few.

GTA 1,2,3:SA, Yes it was developed by DMA later known as RockStar North, a British developer.

Lemmings, Populous, wipeout, worms, black & white, Dungeon Keeper - each of these games brought something new to Gaming and there are hundreds more, The british Game development is one of the most interesting and diverse in the world. Admittly there are some that are not so ground breaking like Heavenly sword, but you greatly under value the effect that British development has had on the industry

This Game developer you might of heard of: (copied from wiki as I'm lazy)

Rare is located in Twycross, Leicestershire, England and is the company behind many of the most famous games for Nintendo's various gaming systems: Battletoads, Donkey Kong Country (and its sequels), Killer Instinct, Banjo-Kazooie, Banjo-Tooie, Blast Corps, GoldenEye 007, Perfect Dark, Conker's Bad Fur Day, Diddy Kong Racing, Donkey Kong 64, Jet Force Gemini, Star Fox Adventures, Diddy Kong Racing DS and, most recently, Viva Pinata DS.

Yeap not as good today as they were, but still I think they left a small mark on the history of gaming, and I bet you thought some of these games were from the US.

John Do your research, you'll find many more.

As for Sales we can already see that the UK is starting to challange Japan, it's only a matter of time.

Vengi.

 

 

Wasn't talking about the games. Many nations make games and most certainly UK games have been wonderful & influential. I love Rare. The original Rare especially. And I've played many of those other games you mentioned in the past & loved it.

But I'm talking about being able to self-support an industry. That means making machines not just publishing and developing games. Doing both. Most American companies don't even try to do this anymore. It took super-rich Microsoft to even try to resurrect American presence in the videogame industry as a platform.

Japan is the Center. It's just as simple as that. USA/Canada/Mexico are where the people are so sales are bigger here overall than in Japan. But pound for pound Japan buys heavily into gaming. Europe is growing salewise too. But that doesn't make Japan any less important anymore than population-rich North America does.

Europe deals with annoying game delays from other companies after they debut elsewhere & sometimes don't even get games released in their region due to the language complexity there and other reasons. Plus VAT makes everything a little more expensive there than elsewhere.

So you would think that someone in Europe would get a little tired of that & make their own system so they can have it homegrown and shipped within the Union. No more delays and games that cater more to European tastes first much like Japanese games made to cater to Japanese tastes.

But why hasn't this happened? All these companies you've named & all of these quality European titles here, you would think they can go into business for themselves and start becoming consolers selling internationally with Europe as the homebase. Why haven't we seen this?

Sales mean that markets may get more attention faster from a maker, yes. If the sales are there things will be done to cater to the market in regards of release preferences & content. But all the sales in the world won't diminish the home factory nation's importance. North America has big EA which could sell on Madden & friends alone with Epic & some other U.S. squads to set up their own console. Why haven't they gone into business for themselves? It's easier to make games and only make games than to prop up an entire industry and move it forward in all fashions. Creating the new interfaces and having business models that ensure the best ability to profit from your hard work. The R & D involved. The marketing. The chance-taking.

North America makes much of the Japanese companies money but even North America, the USA & friends themselves, aren't as important as Japan for the videogames industry. Before XBox 360 came along no American company for about a decade tried to enter this business from the hardware end. The sales power of the other regions ensures a mice mix of games for platforms. We have this "East-West" representation on consoles because of this. But without Japan none of this exists. And until some other nation can keep this engine moving forward like Japan does, like Nintendo does to be specific, Japan will remain the centerpiece of this industry.

That's not saying the others don't belong. They enrichen the business and the Japanese wouldn't want them to fade away for obvious reasons. But no matter HOW big in sales you get, that's not what makes you all important. It's your ability to hold the industry together that determines your irreplacability.

If Japan breaks China into console buying, then all countries will be dwarfed. The biggest populated country in the world who makes most of the world's goods and has a growing "middle class" who could afford cheap luxuries like videogames. 1 Billion people? 60 Million? 300 Million? Ha. And even still Japan would be most important simply because this is where all the gaming infrastructure emanates.

John Lucas