| pokoko said: He's right but so what? This happens with every industry when there is a boom. The situation with the gaming industry is just that there are too many people who want to be a part of it, too many people trying to break in for them all to succeed. We're already seeing the filtering take place. Successful "indie" developers are transforming into the new middle. Their studios will still be small but they will have made a name for themselves that gamers will recognize. Transistor is an example of the new second tier. It seems like a better model that we saw at the start of last gen, where top games cost $60 and mid-level games cost--that's right--$60. Our new middle is downloadable games from small, established studios. I'm perfectly fine with that. It's a refining process that will take time but I'm optimistic about it. I also think that why a lot of big name developers are leaving their massive studios to create smaller studios. |
I really like this point about how smaller budgeted games have moved away from the set retail price, and instead, are being priced according to what the developers feel is more right for their work. For example, many of the smaller titles from lesser known developers often get pricing within the $10 to $15 range, while bigger games from more established developers set their prices maybe a bit higher like between $20 to $30.
On topic, I think it's pretty obvious that in a market with a lot of competition, there is also going to be a lot of people who don't make it. Ultimately, I think independent game development is great for this industry, as it can often inject creativity that the bigger development studios and publishers might be too afraid to do.
