Nintendo Boss Blames Boring Games For Industry Slump
- Thread starter Logan Westbrook
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John Funk said:
Actually I'm not, looking at the industry as a whole we're seeing reports of it having made like 50 billion dollars in 2009 and it being projected to double by 2011. Of course like any area of business your going to have some people who fail despite the entire market booming, that's simply how things are.
As far as other responses you've received go, it's very true that companies don't measure themselves as making a profit unless they have met a certain amount of progressive growth. Even in cases where companies are taking "operating losses" or however they want to term it, that in many cases might not be them not making a profit in any traditional sense. A lot of companies will borrow money against their projected growth, then if they fall short they will indeed lose money by having to pay off their loans without the profits they were banking on. Some companies in behaviors akin to "Enron" operate totally off of extended credit/loans conned from claims of profits and projections which they never had to begin with.
The bottom line though is that if a company loses money because it borrows money against growth it never achieved, that's bad management/gambling, not a sign that the industry is in any kind of trouble, or even that the company's products/strategy was bad. Simply that management got greedy and probably decided to pay themselves with money the company didn't have, so they borrowed it, wrote themselves the checks, and then figured they'd pay it back if their projections turned out to be accurate.
At any rate here are some articles on the subject to show that I'm not the only one talking about how much the games industry is making. Consider though that this is industry wide so a good part of the focus on this is on online games.
http://games.venturebeat.com/2010/05/25/video-game-industry-to-hit-70-billion-by-2015-but-growth-will-slow/
http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=8205
http://blogs.pcworld.com/gameon/archives/006818.html
http://gamer.blorge.com/2010/01/16/2009-video-game-industry-revenue-breakdown/
This is just the tip of the iceburg if you want to look into it.
Now there are claims that the gaming industry made anywhere from 19 to 50 billion dollars depending on the source. Projections are by and large positive, ranging from the profits doubling next year, to the idea that they will double over the next FIVE years before finally slowing down. The bottom line is that this is a healthy, growth industry. Something that should be obvious given the amount of money producers are tossing into it. If the industry was losing money hand over fist you wouldn't be seeing very full release schedules with new games coming out every month for every platform, even those that are at the bottom of the competition.
The reason why we disagree John is that you tend to take a very pro-industry point of view and want to believe what they say. I on the other hand do not, and despite being a Republican tend to look at big businesses (and gaming has become big business) a lot more skeptically and pay attention to what is being said on all sides.
Really, the problem is that the games industry is operating like a Cartel as I always say. They are VERY careful not to reveal where the money is going, and keep their finances out of the public eye. Much like gas companies and the like have tried to do over the years. It more or less takes the federal goverment deciding an industry is worth the time and trouble to even begin to get to the bottom of some of these questions, and simply put the goverment has not decided the gaming industry is worth the trouble (yet).
It's sort of like our recurring arguement about how much in the industry get paid. You say you know people and they aren't making tons of money. I sit here and respond by asking you if that's true where all of this money that is left over after materials is going, since it's all about human resources at that point. I doubt you know, truthfully I doubt very many people could tell you that in it's entirety, which is the entire point.
Simply put gaming has become a big business, it operates like any other big business and has fallen prey to the same corruption. I do not believe that it is somehow magically remaining apart from what has happened to other industries at this level, and I respond accordingly when it comes to the business aspects of the industry.
Just because some game developer/company was once smaller and you felt you had some degree of camradarie with it, or know of the relatively humble origins of the creator of "Mario" does not mean that these people and businesses remained that way. Nintendo might not be a megacorp in the truest sense, but they are a big business and everything they do is carefully pre-meditated despite the attitude they try and sell. On a fundemental level they are just like drug companies, insurance companies, gas companies and other big businesses, and I think we should treat them with a similar amount of skepticism which is what I do.
Blame the modern world, but this isn't a criminal trial, and once your operating at that level I believe the safest attitude for consumers to take is "guilty until proven innocent". Assuming you aren't so rich that it doesn't matter what you spend of course.
I agree totally..and yeah, its not like the president of nintendo could say the truth: that it's generally our fault, we the gamers. Every time somebody buys crap, that's a point for the shovelware team.Rect Pola said:
edit: god I've come to love that term, "shovelware"..."YOU'RE SHOVELWARE, YOU TURD!!!" hahahaha
(my next spoken line, sometime next thursday...)
Fun fact: you only read the subject.Edzor said:
I mean, if Iwata speaks about the problem admitting this is also Nintendo's problem, that's the only logical conclusion we can come to.
But sure, I can list plenty of really fun Wii titles. Shovelware is a problem on the Wii, sure, but it has been a problem on every console that's been the market leader. The PS1 had about the same percentage of horrid, horrid crap out for it but that didn't make the good games shine less.
I agree with him, generally I find most modern games just plain boring. Of course there are exceptions, as someone said above Blizzard and Valve buck the trend, but most modern games just can't hold my attention, I've actually taken to browsing Amazon and buying old PS2 games.
I could agree with that. I not many FUN games have come out this year.
THe most fun I've had with games this year have been:
Alan Wake
Monster Hunter Tri
Bioshock 2
Red Dead Redemption
Not a big list... But of all the games that have come out, these are the ones I've had the most fun with. The only game I continue to play now is Monster Hunter Tri. I've become bored of the others.
THe most fun I've had with games this year have been:
Alan Wake
Monster Hunter Tri
Bioshock 2
Red Dead Redemption
Not a big list... But of all the games that have come out, these are the ones I've had the most fun with. The only game I continue to play now is Monster Hunter Tri. I've become bored of the others.
Dear Mr. Iwata, I have only bought 3 games in 6 monthes for your precious Wii, 1 is a sequel to a game no one has heard of, and (I) can't stop raving on about. There's a problem with the blandness and uniquity of most of the crap that's made, namely, EVERYTHING AT E3 WAS A REMAKE. Only Disney has some originality, making Epic Mickey. Considering they are the ones who usually milk a cow until it's nipples rip off, this is saying something.
But anyways Mr. Wii Fit up there has a point with boring games, the PS3 doesn't exactly have many good, original games at the moment either though.
But anyways Mr. Wii Fit up there has a point with boring games, the PS3 doesn't exactly have many good, original games at the moment either though.
True, but he also said Nintendo are making boring games. At least he's not just saying everyone else sucks ("This is not the problem of Nintendo alone").NeedAUserName said:
I think it's quite funny to hear this coming from nintendo, the people who have been recycling zelda and mario since 1980something.
but i do agree that games are getting boring, where did the fun, inventive games like destroy all humans and Okami go eh? tell me, TELL ME DAMMIT!
but i do agree that games are getting boring, where did the fun, inventive games like destroy all humans and Okami go eh? tell me, TELL ME DAMMIT!
As usual, Nintendo are one step ahead. Microsoft and Sony move onto motion control, and Nintendo are all "yeah, we did that. What are we gonna do next?". Of course, there's still the problem that "new ideas" is something we've actually needed for a while, but I suppose it's better than if they just brought out some Wii add-on and called that their new masterpiece.
This is why Nintendo are better, people; they don't follow trends, they make them.
This is why Nintendo are better, people; they don't follow trends, they make them.