Poll: Would you be ok with the Games Industry Crashing and not having AAA titles for 5-10 Years?

[boag]

At the tail end of the 70s, the amount of copy pasted games, over saturated the market resulting in the crash. It leveled the playing field enough that Big companies from back then Atari, Magnavox, Mattel, no longer had a strangle hold on the market.
Thoughts?

The crash happened in 1983
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_crash_of_1983
Games weren't even available to the common consumer until the mid 80's, please fact check next time.

OT: Shit, I don't know, I'd say no, but I guess you could find some positives in there.

Thank you for the fact check, I will amend it to future posts.

 

[pwnzerstick]

It certainly wouldn't last for 5 years, but I think publishers need to stop being so stupid, and a crash would most likely fix this. Of course the problem is that it seems that no matter what stupid ideas these publishers come up with, people still buy their products anyway.

 

[boag]

What? and have thousands of people lose their jobs to "level the playing field" No way in hell would I support this! what would the benefits be of loads of people losing their jobs because your unhappy with how things are now!

Most of the times Industries have been revitalized from crashes, sure the immediate fallout would put a lot of people out of work, but I do believe a more fair business practice would replace it.

As it is, from what ive seen developers working under a big publisher usually get screwed big time.

 

[Heaven's Guardian]

That would kill the video games industry almost entirely. Indie games are indie for a reason: most of them simply aren't any good, and we only hear about the very few that are. A collapse of AAA titles means that all of the consoles collapse with them, leaving gaming only on PC. Piracy makes it very difficult to make profitable games on PC anyway, and a lot of companies need consoles to survive. The Escapist user base has a lot of PC gamers, but most franchises make their money off of consoles.

Beyond that, it would destroy a generation of developers, who would have no hope of getting any funding and would go into different careers. Most indie developers work in hopes of getting a position at a major studio, because that's how to make a living in the industry. All current developers would need to find new jobs, and at the end of the crash you wouldn't have the qualified programmers and developers to succeed, let alone the infrastructure. The industry was able to survive after the last crash because gaming was far less specialized at the time, considering the technical limitations. Combine that with the years of technical stagnation resulting from no top-end developers. If you think that AAA-titles are all rehashes, which is at least a defensible position, the answer is simple: don't buy them. But if you think that some major reform would happen after a collapse, think again. Worst-case scenario is the end of the industry, and the best-case scenario is a return to what we have today, for a very simple reason: that's what people buy, and that isn't going to change.

 

[Zack1501]

I lot of AAA games suck but I don't want to imagine a world without skyrim/portal/batman arkham city kind of games. I could live of flash and indie games but some of the greatest games are still industry.

 

[Hal10k]

Why is it that I only find these topics after the big econ talk has already started?

I'm going to go squat on the forum page and wait to get on board the next one early.

And no, crashes aren't good for anyone in the short term, and only marginally beneficial in the long term. We want gradual recessions, not crashes.

(Edit: added after my computer freaked out and posted early) The downfall of the current AAA studios, without them being replaced by an equivalent group of distributors, would indicate a drop in demand that would negatively affect the profitability of the industry for years to come, which would severely limit opportunities for growth.

yes I see your point, however I do believe that a gradual recession would be worse, it would limit and stifle new projects and companies from getting of the ground, while cementing the already cash proven franchises.

The bounce of most recessions has always enabled new companies to take the place of older business that didnt adapt quickly in time. More often than not, its people from the same old business that spearhead these new start ups.

It is true that a recession would likely leave most of the established bigwig companies largely intact, but the most successful companies to ride the crest out of a recession are generally those that adopt new practices to appeal to larger or different markets. Consider what Nintendo's strategy was after facing a reduced market share with the Gamecube (more of a localized failure, but bear with me): they released the Wii, which, for better or worse, appealed to a large demographic and opened the way for a new style of gaming. A recession forces change; a crash just burns everything to the ground in the hope that something new will take its place. Ultimately, a recession is the lesser of two evils.

 

[astrav1]

I do think we are heading towards that time again. If it leads to another miyamoto to bring about a renaissance and cure the industry of this bullshit I could live.

 

[teh lurker]

Let it crash, let it succeed until the end of time. Makes no real difference to me, since I don't make enough money to have any disposable income to buy games outside of the bargain bin anyway. I think the last game I bought was Portal 2 for the PC, since it was on sale for $20.

 

[McMullen]

Glad to see I'm not the only one thinking this. We need gamers to build games, not marketers and MBAs. The AAA studios are, right now, being run by the same kind of people who put laws like SOPA through Congress.

 

[spartan231490]

I don't plan on buying any more games for a while(money issues and some loss of interest), so I wouldn't really care.

 

[80Maxwell08]

Sure. If that means niche gaming would return, bring it the fuck on !

I'd say niche gaming is bigger than ever right now, mostly thanks to digital distribution.

Yea ? Try telling that to a fan of traditonal crpgs.

Well I would direct them to this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6OLpqEZMAE
Granted I wasn't around for that time so I don't know what to do but I see a LOT of people saying this was their favorite game in a long time. I tried the demo out for it and it seems pretty good if you know what to do. I however don't know what to do.

 

[J4RD]

I don't think I'd mind too much. Then again, I'm imagining gaming becoming underground again, something done in basements or dorms with cables running between laptops. Gone are the CoDs and FIFAs, and with them the people who played them exclusively. A return to the days of the LAN parties.

 

[Fusioncode9]

Why the hell would I be ok with that?

 

[dyre]

wait, is the Witcher series AAA? If so, then no, I would not be ok with the game industry crashing.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

I would love it. Back to basics and priotizing.

AAA right now means graphics. AAA should mean a game of any graphical variety, that has 100 hours or more of quality gameplay. It's possible to make a AAA production of something on the graphical level of Dwarf Fortress. And with that type of budget, they could make the richest and deepest gameplay of any game in the entire industry.

But they're not. And it's time to wipe the plate and start from scratch. That includes in genres I like, as well. Final Fantasy is also doing this. To be honest, about the best thing Square could do right now, is trash their current ideology, and make an anime game, with super simplistic 2D graphics or even PlayStation One level 3D graphics, and spend ALL their time on gameplay.

Paradigm shift time.

AAA gaming has always meant graphics which I personally think has been a huge mistake and has shot the AAA industry in the foot. Quality gameplay should've been the primary focus since day 1, but it wasn't and as a result AAA games are almost too expensive to be profitable.

I would be a bit sad. I'm one of those who likes many AAA games and doesn't really care for indie gaming much. I'd live with it because it's only vidja, not food or heat, but I'd be sad.

Honestly, my dream would be for the next gen consoles to have processors as powerful as supercomputers, but graphics cards as powerful, at the most, as an Xbox 1. I'm playing a lot of PS2 games and I can safely say I loved last gen's graphics more than today's, and for me it'd be a fair tradeoff in order to have better AI, deeper game systems, better quests, more content, etc.

I'm with this guy. The PS2/GCN/Xbox era was one of my favorite generations. So screw graphics, give me better, deeper games with good gameplay mechanics, content, etc. etc.

 

[Mike Richards]

Definitely not. For all the many, many issues the industry has I don't think the problem is nearly as apocalyptic as a lot of people say it is. Yes, there's a lot of crap to wade through but there's a lot of truly great stuff out there too, and simply hitting the reboot switch is never gonna change that dichotomy.

Honestly I'd say we're already doing pretty well on changing things. Not only is the independent scene bigger then ever and growing all the time, there are even some hints that things are evolving in the AAA circles as well. Just give it time and some effort.

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

I would love it because the big fish has been busy suffocating innovation and artistic integrity. I don't think we will see a crash though, more likely a decline in big titles with the companies forced to cut down and produce medium budget titles instead.

I hope this will result in more releases with lower production values. I don't care about the resolution of wall textures or realistic foilage. I don't expect a game to have a cast of hundreds of professional actors. I wan't to see something new occasionally, and to have some variety in general. And I'd love to see gameplay design getting the attention it needs in this medium.

This. THISTHISTHIS!

The overbloated graphical budgets need to get cut down to something more reasonable, so that companies aren't whining about not making a profit despite selling hundreds of thousands of copies.

Although I hope it doesn't hit too hard...I'm hoping to work in the industry once I'm done with University...

 

[ThunderCavalier]

No.

You see, it was OK back then because it didn't cost millions and millions of dollars to make a video game.

Nowadays, if we had the industry 'crash', please consider the financial damage it would do to Sony and Microsoft, as well as how it'd effectively kill Nintendo, as they are video game exclusive. You'd also put millions of video game publishers, designers, and sites that basically depend on video games for... just about everything (like, you know, this one) in jeopardy since they'll lose the main point of their existence, if not just killing them outright with the crash.

There's too much invested in this industry to have it crash now. If it 'crashed', we might as well put an effective bullet between the eyes of the video game and call it a day, since they'll basically be all but gone if the industry was to ever crash.

 

[Alex Tom]

Well i had the tie breaking vote


but to the op

No i would not welcome a crash. I mite be in the minority here but the current state of gameing is ok atm. perhaps its because i like my xbox more then my computer or that i dont mind the whole access code stuff

 

[Leg End]

None of you would survive without them . That includes indie games.

All I need for the time it'd take for the industry to get it's shit back together.

In all seriousness though, do any of you actually think the game industry would crash now?

Honestly? Yes.

Gaming is now the biggest in the entertainment industry in the world, at this point, its too big to crash...ever.

You may want to do a bit of research.

Come on people let's be realistic here. AAA industries, indie developers, they will never go away, like it or not.

End of story.

We're not saying "go away", we are saying crashing, burning, then a rebirth.

To me... I actually don't want it, hoping that it can be done without a crash but, can it happen? Yes, it's a very real possibility.

I still say Nintendo should survive and lead the rebirth.

EDIT: OT: The thread title and the poll are asking two entirely different things. Be ok with it? Eh. Want it to die? Fack no.

Come on dude, gaming was as big as Charlie Sheen's crack level in the 1980s and 1990s. Gaming is now just starting to be looked at as not just a waste of time anymore by the masses. I also said Gaming is NOW the biggest in the entertainment industry. This is not the 1920s, this is not the 80s, this is now at this point in time where big and powerful corporations (APPLE, EA, Sony, Microsoft) at a point where no matter how much money they lose, they either gain it back, or are just too big to just go bankrupt. You think with corporations and developing companies at this point and time now can just crash like that? This is nothing like 1983.

Yeah, which are all (expect rebirth, thats still possible) impossible.

Out of all the companies you would want to survive, you want Nintendo? Now I question your taste.

Oh, the potential for a new crash has been a long time coming.
They won't die. The most that'd happen is leave the market, and the least would be them surviving and learning a few things.

Because Nintendo games are awesome. They have soul. Most importantly, they are Fun.