Video Game Crash?

chinangel

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Sep 25, 2009
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are we headed towards a repeat of the 1980 video game crash? it seems that way to me and it has me a bit nervous as this is one of my favourite hobbies. But with developers making gamers feel steadily more frustrated and punishing them for buying their games and the new XBOX looking to be the biggest console screw-up in the history of gaming, it's hard for me not to see a second crash on the horizon.

captcha: stand by me

oh...if only. :C
 

Johnny Novgorod

Bebop Man
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Feb 9, 2012
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I don't know about now but wouldn't this be a third crash? There were already two you know - the one from 1977 and the more popular one from 1982.
 

chinangel

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kiri2tsubasa said:
Does anyone who post topics like this even understand the causes of the crash? It seems that they do not.
Here were some of the conditions that led to the 83 crash.
1. Atari had a near strangle hold on the entire industry, which at the time was a very niche thing relegated more towards hobbyists.
2. You had the choice of 14+ consoles to choose from.
3. There was a significant lack of publishing control at that time. Any bedroom programmer could put out a game on the systems and because of that games that were simply broken were sold. (No not the popular use of the work broken, but games that were utterly broken such as not being about to start a game at all)
4. Because of their strangle hold when Atari went down just about th entire industry went down with it.

Those are some of the most prominent causes of the 83 crash.
I didn't know all of those, but a change in technology doesn't necessarily mean that the game market is stable. Nintendo's Wii U has done absolutely horribly and nobody is excited about the new generation of consoles coming out, and the majority of gaming is currently on consoles (not discounting PC gaming as I do that myself, but I also own a console and...)

because of this, if the consoles all bomb on release because of poor design and a lack of interest, what will that mean for the game market? It's hardly likely that console developers will suddenly jump to PC, though some will but there is also the fact that consoles are more affordable to many. But if a console is garbage and people don't want them, then that means fewer games are made as the consoles struggle to justify their own existence
 

Andy Shandy

Fucked if I know
Jun 7, 2010
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You know what, bring the damn thing on already.

Everybody apparently seems to want the damn thing to happen, wondrously thinking that absolutely nothing bad come from a crash, and we'll have some magical, sprinkled with fairy dust rise of the indies that people keep harping on about as well.

And then we'll be stuck with a bunch of 2D retro-styled puzzle platformers, with a single quirk in each game being the only difference them all.

Viva La Crash!

 

Sutter Cane

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Jun 27, 2010
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You know, I think we're certainly heading straight for another crash, just not one as bad as the 1983 debacle. Honestly What I see happening is a lot of the current major publishers and console makers are going to be hit hard, while the mid size developers will end up going the route obsidian is right now and start crowd sourcing the funding of their games, and in turn bot bringing back the mid budget game, and also allowing those developers a lot more room to be creative. Hell in the best case scenario this could usher in video gaming's version of the 1970's "New Hollwood" era.
 

ThePuzzldPirate

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To be honest we already have and what you are seeing now is the aftermath, it won't be as a bid deal as people make it out to be though. We are far to big with multiple ways of getting games out so there will never be a lack of games. The most you will see is a shift in who is making them.
 

jetriot

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Consumer unhappiness with EA and other big publishers WILL NOT lead to a crash. The hardcore outrage over Mass Effect, Sim City, etc. is mostly irrelevant to these publisher's bottom line. It does seem that is a crash is coming though. This is because it is too expensive to continue making games as triple-A titles are currently being made. Good, creative talent is incredibly expensive and the teams working on these games are massive. Look at the credits at the end of a triple-A title and realize that these are all people with college degrees getting upper 5 if not 6 digit salaries plus health care plus payroll taxes... These triple A titles are selling millions of units and it is still not enough to keep them above water.

Video game revenues are increasing every year, rivaling that of all other media and these large publishers are still struggling. There is a crash coming but it is only for the big guys. The model has to change to something a lot slimmer, or consumers have to be convinced to spend far more on games.
 

Yopaz

Sarcastic overlord
Jun 3, 2009
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Yes, the next Xbox that we know practically nothing about is going to be the biggest screwup ever. Not just in games EVER.

The fact that we have all the details we need tells us that it can't possibly work.

Seriously though, we wont have another crash like that right now. Maybe sometime in the future, but not within the first few years.
 

Basement Cat

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Jul 26, 2012
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Andy Shandy said:
You know what, bring the damn thing on already.

Viva La Crash!
Suits me. Between the rate it's taking me to get through KOTOR 2 and the games I downloaded today for free (thanks bunches and bunches, Andy ^_^) by the time I'm ready for some new games the industry should be rising like a newborn phoenix.
 

RUINER ACTUAL

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Oct 29, 2009
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It won't happen. There's so much talent in the Indie sector, a "crash" wouldn't be like 80s where no one cares about the cute novelty of video games. A crash might be good- let some air out of the bubble and get these big devs back to making more quality games. They'll have to if they want to survive. I think games would get smaller too.
 

Izanagi009_v1legacy

Anime Nerds Unite
Apr 25, 2013
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If a "crash" does happen, it will be because of the current state of budgeting and funding games. If a game can sell around 3.4-5 million games and still undersell compared to your budget, THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG WITH YOUR BUDGET, NOT THE CONSUMER OR GAMESTOP.

The crash will probably begin with companies starting to report profit losses and start trying to impose more consumer unfriendly practices and add more useless features in an attempt to "appeal to the widest audience" and get more money.

This will lead to distrust and people may stop buying game, even the longtime gamers may stop due to the unfriendly environment. The companies will have to adapt or die and the crash will start to hit it's "recovery" stage

I say, let's have this "crash", teaches the likes of EA, Capcom, and Squire about how idiotic they are to ignore the consumers that play their games and treat them as mindless money presses
 

Lunar Templar

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Sep 20, 2009
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chinangel said:
are we headed towards a repeat of the 1980 video game crash? it seems that way to me and it has me a bit nervous as this is one of my favourite hobbies. But with developers making gamers feel steadily more frustrated and punishing them for buying their games and the new XBOX looking to be the biggest console screw-up in the history of gaming, it's hard for me not to see a second crash on the horizon.

captcha: stand by me

oh...if only. :C
no, not like the 80's

though the AAA market seems going that way, what with games sell large amounts and still being called failures, but they are by no means the WHOLE industry.

if AAA does go down we'll still a LOT of options to throw money at for games.
 

Vetta E-dom

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Mar 10, 2012
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chinangel said:
and the new XBOX looking to be the biggest console screw-up in the history of gaming, it's hard for me not to see a second crash on the horizon.

captcha: stand by me

oh...if only. :C
Because we know SOOOOsssss much about the new Xbox right... With all those rumors about always-online, that sound more or less like they came from some cartoonish villain from the Sony marketing branch, Laughing maniacally and twisting the ends of his pointy mustache....

http://gengame.net/2013/04/rumor-next-xbox-always-online-never-considered-has-backward-compatibility-with-360-games/

Not sure how much of a reliable source Gengame is, and not saying the Nextbox(whatever) couldn't be always-online. But give it till the 26th and then you can be fully justified in what ever your complaints might be. I (for one) hope the the Nextbox isn't always online, Internet being crappy and all, But given some time to think on it the tech could be cool and bring about newer types of gameplay. Single Player experiences won't die look at recent games that came out, things like Bio-Infinite developers want to make games like this.

The Industry isn't going to crash .... k

Yes there are going to be layoffs, prolly more closings, maybe some canceled stuff, these are for a MULTITUDE of reasons. Not every developer is going to be able to throw as much money as they want at projects and expect a healthy return. But understanding that and finding a way to make great games is part of the industry growing up. Many developers and publishers are trimming the fat off, and getting rid of different teams (I see lots of my friends moving around to different stuffs) Its sad to see people lose their jobs, but we're in a period of change or growing up it's not necessarily indicative of a crash. There are people that are paid goooooooddd money to keep track of the market, while that means very little about predicting sales for games I think they prolly have a good idea if they should be having MS, Sony, or the Big N-dog packing up the wagons.

Believe me (I work as a concept artist) I want to see the industry keep going strong. The crash would affect me more then just as a gamer. But I still have plenty of faith in where the future is headed, despite the problems gaming will prevail and will be better than ever.
 

Callate

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Dec 5, 2008
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Yes, there is another crash on the horizon. My typical prognosis has been within the next five years.

Next question?
 

JagermanXcell

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Judging by companies horrible PR, scumbag business practices, and just overall lack of respect for gaming and gamers as a whole, if this kind of behavior goes on/unnoticed by the community (which so far isn't and won't be anytime soon...)
YEEEEEEAAAAUUP it'll happen, but to the AAA market. Indie games/devs will remain unharmed.
I mean EA lays people off all the time, whats several hundred more people?

Ok that sounds pretty bad but lets look at the positives: If it'll bring change to the industry and bring us closer as a community instead of mindlessly acting like drones who don't care if they're being abused by companies just as long as they get their completely unoriginal, yearly, dark n' gritty, M rated, FPS game with disc locked content and community full of 12 year olds and adults who act like 12 year olds (I'm rambling on...)

I'm all for it.
 

Something Amyss

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Dec 3, 2008
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chinangel said:
are we headed towards a repeat of the 1980 video game crash?
No.

We will NEVER have a repeat of the 1980s video game crash. Even if the market does crash, it will NOT look like that crash. I guarantee it.

And by the way....

and the new XBOX looking to be the biggest console screw-up in the history of gaming
I'm impressed that you can tell that with no information. Really? With the only information actually available being that it is going to be announced next month, you can say with a straight face it looks like the worst screw-up?

kiri2tsubasa said:
Does anyone who post topics like this even understand the causes of the crash? It seems that they do not.
Here were some of the conditions that led to the 83 crash.
1. Atari had a near strangle hold on the entire industry, which at the time was a very niche thing relegated more towards hobbyists.
2. You had the choice of 14+ consoles to choose from.
3. There was a significant lack of publishing control at that time. Any bedroom programmer could put out a game on the systems and because of that games that were simply broken were sold. (No not the popular use of the work broken, but games that were utterly broken such as not being about to start a game at all)
4. Because of their strangle hold when Atari went down just about th entire industry went down with it.

Those are some of the most prominent causes of the 83 crash.
5. There was a speculator boom of sorts. Not in the exact same sense as the comic book one from the 90s, but similar.

I think "crashers," as I will now call them, have limited information. They are very much like truthers, in the sense that they seem to all follow half-cocked sources on the internet that ignore any rational basis for an argument. The only difference is I am more tolerant of crashers, as they aren't belabouring human misery. At least, not misery from death.

Andy Shandy said:
You know what, bring the damn thing on already.

Everybody apparently seems to want the damn thing to happen, wondrously thinking that absolutely nothing bad come from a crash, and we'll have some magical, sprinkled with fairy dust rise of the indies that people keep harping on about as well.

And then we'll be stuck with a bunch of 2D retro-styled puzzle platformers, with a single quirk in each game being the only difference them all.

Viva La Crash!
I do sort of want to see the people who think they know what a crash would get them get what they are actually asking for. At the same time, I don't want the probable end result to happen, so I'm torn.

That's right, I'm all out of faith. This is how I feel. Something something something....

Xcell935 said:
Judging by companies horrible PR, scumbag business practices, and just overall lack of respect for gaming and gamers as a whole, if this kind of behavior goes on/unnoticed by the community (which so far isn't and won't be anytime soon...)
By that logic, gaming should have crashed like a decade ago.

Captcha: White Rabbit.

"One shroom makes you larger
One shroom makes you small
And the ones Luigi gives you don't do anything at all
Go ask Bowser, when he's ten feet tall...."
 

Canadamus Prime

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Jun 17, 2009
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I sure as hell hope so. I have no faith in the industry anymore. The entire thing can burn and take all the dickhead corporations with it.

EDIT: Clarification: The indie market does still show some promise even if most of the titles still don't appeal to me. However the AAA industry can still crash and burn for all I care.