Author Topic: Games Industry Death Watch 2010-present  (Read 331216 times)

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Offline SixthAngel

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Re: Games Industry Death Watch 2009
« Reply #25 on: January 08, 2010, 12:07:19 AM »
Why does it seem Suda 51 is the only company that can actually make a decent game with a low budget.

He is making a sequel to a game that had sales many other games would consider bad, especially HD games.  He was extremely happy with the sales and I was extremely happy with the game.

I really want to know why anyone can't copy his production method.  They don't have to make a niche game like him but they could really use the ability to make a decent game cheap.

Offline Kairon

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Re: Games Industry Death Watch 2009
« Reply #26 on: January 08, 2010, 12:13:01 AM »
Why does it seem Suda 51 is the only company that can actually make a decent game with a low budget.

He is making a sequel to a game that had sales many other games would consider bad, especially HD games.  He was extremely happy with the sales and I was extremely happy with the game.

I really want to know why anyone can't copy his production method.  They don't have to make a niche game like him but they could really use the ability to make a decent game cheap.

Apparently Grasshopper studios has a lot of experience making their games on a cheap budget. I heard somewhere that they supplement their income by contributing work to other games and studios too, like in music.
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Offline Chozo Ghost

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Re: Games Industry Death Watch 2009
« Reply #27 on: January 08, 2010, 12:18:05 AM »
The point of being a company is making a profit, so seeing all these companies shooting themselves in the foot by investing in expensive HD games that flop or have only a slim profit margin doesn't make any sense.
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Offline NWR_Lindy

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Re: Games Industry Death Watch 2009
« Reply #28 on: January 08, 2010, 12:53:57 AM »
I'd remove the Zenimax/id Software merger from this "death list".  id allowed themselves to be purchased by Zenimax because they wanted their publishing muscle and they wanted their games to be published by one company.  It wasn't because they were struggling financially...id is completely solvent.
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Offline BlackNMild2k1

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Re: Games Industry Death Watch 2009
« Reply #29 on: January 08, 2010, 01:06:36 AM »
I didn't make the list, but I'd argue that if id was doing better they could have built their own publishing and not needed to be bought out to take advantage of someone else's.

Offline SixthAngel

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Re: Games Industry Death Watch 2009
« Reply #30 on: January 08, 2010, 02:04:51 AM »
Apparently Grasshopper studios has a lot of experience making their games on a cheap budget. I heard somewhere that they supplement their income by contributing work to other games and studios too, like in music.

They make extra money with music in case a game flops which is good but it doesn't fund their other projects.  They need to make them cheap so they can make some money.  They do have experience as you said and other developers need to learn from them.  Maybe its the huge budget mindset that seems to permeate every title that companies consider worthwhile.  Developers need to be happy with parts of their game being "good enough."

I agree with BlacknMild.  ID never needed some huge publisher's resources before.  It seems they chose to be bought because the new expenses and retail realities make having such a partner extremely, extremely desirable if not a necessity.
« Last Edit: January 08, 2010, 02:31:05 AM by SixthAngel »

Offline KDR_11k

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Re: Games Industry Death Watch 2009
« Reply #31 on: January 08, 2010, 07:56:33 AM »
I didn't make the list, but I'd argue that if id was doing better they could have built their own publishing and not needed to be bought out to take advantage of someone else's.

The founders said they were tired of worrying about all the business details and decided to sell the company to let someone else worry about that.

Offline ShyGuy

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Re: Games Industry Death Watch 2009
« Reply #32 on: January 08, 2010, 08:22:58 AM »
Carmack is a nerd's nerd. He just wants to play with his rocket ships and 3D engines.

Offline BlackNMild2k1

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Re: Games Industry Death Watch 2009
« Reply #33 on: January 08, 2010, 11:50:24 AM »
and if they had the money they could have expanded their company and started their own little nerd camp to handle all the publishing details.

He can make whatever excuses he wants, but the bottom line would still be he sold his company and is no longer in control. If was doing really well, then he could have bought Zenimax and had the same thing, yet retain as much control as he wants at any time he wants it. Excuses, excuses, excuses. the argument would still stand.

Offline Chozo Ghost

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Re: Games Industry Death Watch 2009
« Reply #34 on: January 08, 2010, 02:05:06 PM »
Too bad Nintendo didn't buy them out. I'm sure they would have been happy to handle all the publishing and business details.
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Offline BlackNMild2k1

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Re: Games Industry Death Watch 2009
« Reply #35 on: January 08, 2010, 02:43:38 PM »
Too bad Nintendo didn't buy them out. I'm sure they would have been happy to handle all the publishing and business details.

But they also would have handled all the creative control and game details too.

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Offline broodwars

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Re: Games Industry Death Watch 2009
« Reply #36 on: January 08, 2010, 03:00:33 PM »
Why does it seem Suda 51 is the only company that can actually make a decent game with a low budget.

Suda 51 has yet to make a decent game on any budget, but that's just my opinion.   ;)

Obviously he's not seeing much of a profit considering all his complaints that the Wii audience wasn't buying his games (which in this case I blame on Suda 51 being an incompetent video game director of a niche company more than I do the Wii audience), so he's defecting to the HD consoles from here on out after NMH2 comes out.
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Offline BlackNMild2k1

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Re: Games Industry Death Watch 2009
« Reply #37 on: January 08, 2010, 03:12:20 PM »
Well if he had to supplement his companies income by doing music for other companies just to produce Wii games, then how is he gonna survive if his games only sell as much on the HD consoles at 2-3x the cost to make?

Offline NWR_DrewMG

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Re: Games Industry Death Watch 2009
« Reply #38 on: January 08, 2010, 04:45:38 PM »
People losing their job is awesome. 
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Offline NinGurl69 *huggles

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Re: Games Industry Death Watch 2009
« Reply #39 on: January 08, 2010, 04:57:41 PM »
The world would be happier if no one competed.
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Offline Chozo Ghost

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Re: Games Industry Death Watch 2009
« Reply #40 on: January 08, 2010, 05:22:06 PM »
The world would be happier if no one competed.

I believe what you are suggesting is called Communism. From a video game point of view, that did give the world Tetris.
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Offline NinGurl69 *huggles

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Re: Games Industry Death Watch 2009
« Reply #41 on: January 08, 2010, 05:27:34 PM »
Tetris wasn't shovelware, tho.
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Offline broodwars

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Re: Games Industry Death Watch 2009
« Reply #42 on: January 08, 2010, 05:34:31 PM »
The world would be happier if no one competed.

I believe what you are suggesting is called Communism. From a video game point of view, that did give the world Tetris.

And Missile Command, from a certain point of view.
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Offline Stratos

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Re: Games Industry Death Watch 2009
« Reply #43 on: January 08, 2010, 05:36:06 PM »
Why does it seem Suda 51 is the only company that can actually make a decent game with a low budget.

Suda 51 has yet to make a decent game on any budget, but that's just my opinion.   ;)

Obviously he's not seeing much of a profit considering all his complaints that the Wii audience wasn't buying his games (which in this case I blame on Suda 51 being an incompetent video game director of a niche company more than I do the Wii audience), so he's defecting to the HD consoles from here on out after NMH2 comes out.

I thought that article turned out to be mistranslated? Or was the core message still intact after corrections?
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Offline broodwars

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Re: Games Industry Death Watch 2009
« Reply #44 on: January 08, 2010, 05:36:55 PM »
Why does it seem Suda 51 is the only company that can actually make a decent game with a low budget.

Suda 51 has yet to make a decent game on any budget, but that's just my opinion.   ;)

Obviously he's not seeing much of a profit considering all his complaints that the Wii audience wasn't buying his games (which in this case I blame on Suda 51 being an incompetent video game director of a niche company more than I do the Wii audience), so he's defecting to the HD consoles from here on out after NMH2 comes out.

I thought that article turned out to be mistranslated? Or was the core message still intact after corrections?

Dunno.  That's the first I've heard of that being a possible mistranslation.
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Offline Stratos

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Re: Games Industry Death Watch 2009
« Reply #45 on: January 08, 2010, 05:52:34 PM »
Well he asked some of the questions I would have asked and I like Suda's answers.

Quote from: 1up
1UP:You mentioned once that No More Heroes 2 would be the last game in theseries on Wii. Have you done any experiments on what it might be likeon another platform, especially with the new motion controllers thathave been announced for other systems?

GS: Actually,I answered differently, and it may have been misinterpreted. What Iwanted to say was, looking at the Wii, I think No More Heroes 2 willprobably be the last iteration for this current platform. But there'sprobably going to be a "Wii 2" or other next-gen system from Nintendoat some point, so I was saying that I would want to do another game inthe series on the next Nintendo platform.

Hooray!  I was worried, this is great news!  ;D

This is what I was referring it as mistranslated.
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Offline BlackNMild2k1

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Re: Games Industry Death Watch 2009
« Reply #46 on: January 12, 2010, 04:04:43 AM »
Study: Industry hit by 11,500 layoffs since 2008
Quote
Study: Industry hit by 11,500 layoffs since 2008
by Rob Crossley

New research also tallies ‘record number of studio closures’

The global game industry has been hit by as many as 11,500 job losses since late 2008, a new study suggests.

Research by entertainment analyst group M2 Research says that “the final count for layoffs since the economic meltdown in late 2008 reached 11,488 worldwide, with the majority of the losses coming in 2009.”

The study has identified staff redundancies from 95 individual studios, adding that 52 of the affected studios were situated in the US.

M2 adds that the majority of layoffs come at “studio level”, with QA staff often being the first to go.


The analysis group adds that 2009 saw a ‘record number’ of studio closures, including 3D Realms (pictured), various Midway studios and EA’s Pandemic Studios.

Specifically, the research claims that it found 18 studio closures last year – a total number which, on appearance, suggests that the study may have missed a few closures.

The study adds, however, that more studios had filed for bankruptcy and went up for sale.

A large portion of layoffs seems to have come from projects and companies that had difficulty ‘retooling’ for current-gen consoles, the study adds.

“Aside from the cost of retooling, others were so focused on their retooling efforts they weren't able to see the changes in the market and the impact things like digital distribution, casual, and social gaming was starting to have on the market.”

Offline Stratos

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Re: Games Industry Death Watch 2009
« Reply #47 on: January 12, 2010, 04:27:56 AM »
It's just not economical to spends years 'retooling' and making game engines without something else on the table to make a profit.
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Offline BlackNMild2k1

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Re: Games Industry Death Watch 2009
« Reply #48 on: January 12, 2010, 04:40:27 AM »
Whats even more retarded is that they didn't really need to "re-tool" when it came to the Wii and that was kinda the point of Nintendo doing what they did.

Things were getting too expensive too quickly and Nintendo decided to do what was sensible and slow the escalation of cost vs benefit down. Most of these developers decided to ignore that gesture and are now they're either closing their doors or putting someone else's logo on it.

Offline Peachylala

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Re: Games Industry Death Watch 2009
« Reply #49 on: January 12, 2010, 11:09:47 AM »
The glory of greedy, ignorant egos.
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