The Malstrom thread 2: Revenge of the Lapsed Gamer

[LordTheNightKnight]

I so identify with this email, as a lot of the complaints of Nintendo doing things for money have the same logic.

Email: Gaming profits

Goldman just downgraded MS stock from “buy” to “neutral.”  I’m sure investors are really thrilled with all the resources they’re throwing into not making money on Xbox now that their Windows market is eroding.  It’s funny how the gaming press will blather on and on about the “incredible success” of Xbox, when it’s just not turning much of a profit for the company.  But then, gaming press don’t believe in profits or making money; worrying about those things stifles the artist.  That’s why EA is “good” and Activision is “evil.”  EA has done what the hardcore wanted–they now spend tens of millions of dollars to make a niche title like Mirror’s Edge that don’t sell enough to break even, and have lost money for 12 consecutive quarters as a result.  Consequently, the hardcore *love* EA now.  Apparently, the ticket to being a successful “hardcore” company is to bleed money and make games as a charity work.

https://exchange.uky.edu/owa/?ae=Item&t=IPM.Note&a=New#ticle/goldman-downgrades-microsoft-cites-change-course-needed-lowers-price-target-32-28">http://www.zerohedge.com/arhttps://exchange.uky.edu/owa/?ae=Item&t=IPM.Note&a=New#ticle/goldman-downgrades-microsoft-cites-change-course-needed-lowers-price-target-32-28

What I never understood is that while the gaming press will go ‘gaga’ or ‘bonkers’ over CONSOLE WAR (which is one console outselling another console), they never ever go any further than that. They will go into exquisite detail about the hardware of the machine, but won’t even give an elementary summary of what the company’s business strategy is. For example, game sites will talk about the detail of the 3DS hardware but won’t tell us what Nintendo’s strategy is for it. Nintendo’s strategy affects us gamers more than anything with the hardware engineering.

I’m not knocking game journalists, but I want to point out that traditionally the only way to make money through writing is to write about money. It is information so valuable that people are willing to pay for it. People are not willing to pay for critics or commentary. But people will pay dearly for a writer to write about money and where to make more of it.

The business side of video games is very volatile and very exciting. It is probably more exciting than the games themselves. Why more video game journalists don’t pick this up (outside of the CONSOLE WAR mentality), I do not know why.