CGI-Quality said: A Bad Clown said: So Nintendo is leading a dying industry according to your logic? Who are you speaking to?

Shoulda specifically said "the poster and the author".

Xxain said: what is this obssession with Nintendo diehards and the industry collapsing???

Who says the writer of this article is a Nintendo diehard? He's just a realist, and pointing out the obvious, that the industry continues to ignore, despite all the red flags. Wii has been on fire these past few years, but even WITH these additional sales, the industry as a whole is in decline. Just imagine the state of the industry WITHOUT the Wii! People are getting laid off left and right, devlopers are losing heaps of money to fund their massive HD projects, and declining revenue despite larger costs for development. Yet the industry carries on like nothing is wrong, and cost keep going up and up as the industry only tries to appeal to a small amount of core gamers.. Sooner or later something is going to have to give.

CGI-Quality said: As long as the Wii continues to do gangbusters and break records, I'd say otherwise. As long as the fastest selling game is contained within this gen (Modern Warfare 2 looking at me), I'd say otherwise. As long as the online community continues to grow, thank you Microsoft, I'd again: say otherwise. Yes, some companies have sunk, but many are still making money, and others are just rockin' house (Hello Nintendo!). IMO, the industry, while having some issues, is on fire!

He's referring to developers and he actually talks a lot about your points. Sure the Wii is breaking records, but few developers have managed to find success on Nintendo's console. Sure Modern Warfare is doing gangbusters, but he refers to the high costs associated and unsustainability as a general model of business. Sure online has grown, but he refers to the added costs associated with exptected online components (really interesting about the bioshock 2 multi). The game industry is on fire right now, and yet companies are folding or posting lots of red ink. If you can't prosper in the good times, you know your in trouble.

Midway was a pretty big company, and this gen killed them.

I heard all this 10 years ago. On the various RPG boards. Ohh no the industry is fine. WotC is doing great. White Wolf is doing great. X company is doing great.

Yet year by year RPG industry has faded into obscurity. There is no garuntee that the VG industry will rise from it's fall. It just might continue on lifeless until there are not enough consumers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short-run

Firms have too high of a cost, right now they're trying to reduce it, while increasing revenue.

Eventually though, some firms will drop out, supply will go down, revenue will rise, and the companies will break even again.

With three fucking games, (Heavy Rain, Bad Company 2 [preordered], and God of War III) coming out within weeks of each other, I think it's reasonable that the game industry will shrink. With the economy, lack of disposable income, huge cost to buy games, and shear number of them, SOMEBODY has to give.

Interesting insight you got there Cameed

This industry supports Darwins theory well. We all see who is winning and why.

Sorry. I posted by accident. There will definitely be a "correction" in the game industry. There is no company that is too big to fail.

Just thinking about all the games coming out this year, there are bound to be major financial nosedives for more than a few developers/publishers. Big budgets, big games, epic storylines, and the like will not take this industry to the next level.

More accessible, interesting, and yes, audience expanding experience will do the trick. Bringing the prices down and business models that are more realistic about sales expectations would really help as well.