| kain_kusanagi said: It's common in all markets that when revenue is down cuts come around. Hopefully this will be temporary and the upcoming consoles will open up new revenue streams and reignite consumer buying habits. |
The one problem I see with the new consoles is that development budgets will be increasing as well. If they don't start to scale things back a little bit and go for different art styles or something, they could really be in trouble. Oddly enough, it seems like it is only Western devs that seem to be closing. Sure Square Enix has had some big troubles lately, but almost every other Japanese company has been "just fine" in the sense that we don't hear about them closing or laying off people.
Microsoft does hire all the time, but they have also been faced with some troubles lately. Mostly due to lowered PC sales and Windows 8 not taking off like they had hoped. Depending on what their next console does (used games? always online? increased price for live?) they could either see some nice revenue, or have yet another thing that fails to meet expectations.
Sony has been restructuring a little lately, selling buildings and stock. Not the greatest thing to hear, but it is keeping them in the business which is always good. I haven't really heard of any layoffs either.
Nintendo is actually expanding quite nicely, while still consolidating to save costs. They are merging their two R&D departments into one under the same roof, without firing anyone. Retro has made a lot of hires and recently got a new building to house all of the people. Yet, people still think they are doom3d....always have, always will.
