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Forums - Sales - How much money is the videogame industry losing or making a profit?

Gamerace on 13 May 2010
richardhutnik said:
Gamerace said:
Minus Nintendo and the industry has been losing money for years. EA hasn't made a yearly profit since '04 I believe and most developers show losses more often than not. Activision wisely bought the golden goose WoW but otherwise it would be struggling too.

Isn't there bound to be fairly wide scale contraction if this continues?  I am not going to say Crash of the Early 1980s level, where the entire industry collapsed, but maybe some major restructuring, particularly if venture capitalists stop funding things.

There's been some contraction already.  Look at the studio closures and lay-offs last year.  Honestly, I don't understand what's been keeping the industry going as it is.   A lot of Venture Capitalists seeing a lot of potential I guess.  Honestly I don't know.   I sure as hell wouldn't invest in anyone other than Nintendo.  Maybe Capcom.  Certainly not EA, Sega, Square Enix or even Activision now that they killed Infinity Ward.  

But investors listen to people like Pachter who keep saying Nintendo has it wrong and everyone else has it right.

I don't know who long the industry can continue as is.   There has to be a correction at some point. 



 

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thelifatree on 13 May 2010
Gamerace said:
richardhutnik said:
Gamerace said:
Minus Nintendo and the industry has been losing money for years. EA hasn't made a yearly profit since '04 I believe and most developers show losses more often than not. Activision wisely bought the golden goose WoW but otherwise it would be struggling too.

Isn't there bound to be fairly wide scale contraction if this continues?  I am not going to say Crash of the Early 1980s level, where the entire industry collapsed, but maybe some major restructuring, particularly if venture capitalists stop funding things.

There's been some contraction already.  Look at the studio closures and lay-offs last year.  Honestly, I don't understand what's been keeping the industry going as it is.   A lot of Venture Capitalists seeing a lot of potential I guess.  Honestly I don't know.   I sure as hell wouldn't invest in anyone other than Nintendo.  Maybe Capcom.  Certainly not EA, Sega, Square Enix or even Activision now that they killed Infinity Ward.  

But investors listen to people like Pachter who keep saying Nintendo has it wrong and everyone else has it right.

I don't know who long the industry can continue as is.   There has to be a correction at some point. 

why not square-enix just wondering? Haven't they posted Profit the atleast the last 3 years? If there's something otherwise, I want to see just so I"m not confused anymore.



thranx on 13 May 2010

this article talks a little about it, but is from jan of last year. it is comparing east to west gaming in terms of profit and revenue growth. http://games.venturebeat.com/2009/01/28/are-profits-in-video-games-shifting-from-the-west-to-the-east/



thelifatree on 13 May 2010
thranx said:
this article talks a little about it, but is from jan of last year. it is comparing east to west gaming in terms of profit and revenue growth. http://games.venturebeat.com/2009/01/28/are-profits-in-video-games-shifting-from-the-west-to-the-east/

Now couldn't another part of that be attributed to consoles like the DS and PSP (handhelds) which cost much less to develop for, and sell like hell in Japan? or am I confused a again.

Edit: Thinking about it, I tacked on my own conclusion, but it still makes sense to me.



vage on 13 May 2010

Now it is really cheaper to develop for PC than Consoles.