Every Game Studio That’s Closed Down Since 2006

[Gambit37]

This is very sad, and pretty shocking:
http://kotaku.com/5876693/every-game-st ... since-2006

[Ameena]

Wow, that's a lot of shut-downs...
Hopefully more cool ones will spring up, like the one that's making Grimrock (Almost Human?) and we'll have a load more cool games to play, rather than the mass-produced shyte so many places seem to be churning out these days .

[Gambit37]

I think it's highly likely the mainstream games market will eventually implode. They have become so expensive to make, that there's little or no innovation in that sector. Sequel upon sequel that add nothing to the mix will eventually piss people off to the point that they will stop buying. That said, the most recent Call of Duty made millions, so what do I know...!?

Indie games seem to be doing pretty well right now, and with new platforms such as iOS that allow people to play on the move, we're seeing a new generation of small studios doing lovely work. Unfortunately, it's very hard to make good money here unless you hit on a winning formula that the mass market want to play. For every Minecraft, there are probably 10 games that didn't make it....

It's both a worrying time and an exciting time for the gaming industry. It could go either way. One thing's for sure -- the gaming landscape will be very different in 10 years time. Whether it's positive or not remains to be seen...

[Ameena]

Yeah...the gaming world would seem to be one of those that can make huge changes in a relatively short space of time - I mean, it was only about 15 years ago that proper online games started up (for example, EQ first started in 1999) as the Internet really hit on. And not even a decade before that it was still the days of the Atari and others. It's funny how even with all the technological advances of today that allow for such epic-looking graphics and highly sophisticated AI and stuff, it's something relatively simple like Minecraft that becomes highly popular, or some of those free-to-play Flash games that are ultimately very basic...like that Angry Birds game, for example. Meanwhile the big major companies are for the most part as you say, churning out repeat after repeat of something that was successful a decade ago (or however long) and wondering why it doesn't do so well. Exceptions apply, of course - I'm certainly still enjoying Skyrim and that's the fifth game in its series, with biggy graphics and loads of hype behidn it. Not why I'm playing it, of course - I'm playing it because I thought (and still think) that Morrowind is fantastic and therefore I'm willing to try the others in the series (which I now have done) . And as I'm having fun with this one, why stop?

[oh_brother]

A long list for sure, but I don't know. I have been thinking for some time about how incredibly popular and mainstream video games have become.

I mentioned it to a couple of people and they just kind of shrugged, but really the last few years have shocked me. Not just video consoles, but individual video games now have ads on prime time TV. Billboards also. I have no recollection of anything remotely similar when we were young. Certainly not DM era games, but even at the turn of the century: I googled for the top games in 2000 and I cannot remember seeing any of them outside of gaming magazines.

Maybe you could argue that since the ad budgets are so big they need to get guaranteed money spinners, and sequels are the best way of doing that: if they liked it once they will love it twice. Movies are going the same way of course.

[Gambit37]

Actually, yeah, my comment about the industry imploding was rubbish. I think what will happen is that more and more of the smaller companies will either go bust, or be absorbed into the bigger studios/publishers such as EA Games, Ubisoft, Square Enix, Activision, etc. Innovation is less likely to happen in those studios/publishers, but it can occasionally happen.

Of course, I'm focusing on PC games here. Having never really been a console gamer, I don't follow that -- but obviously console games are huge these days. Nintendo is the market leader. So you should probably ignore any comments I made about imploding market places! (That said, it's not possible to have continual growth...)

http://www.softwaretop100.org/top-25-ga ... anies-2010

[oh_brother]

Well I don't think it was rubbish, I just don't think the market is ready to explode just yet! I agree that more and more the industry will be dominated by big names - even if there are successful start-ups a lot of them will be bought up.

I was basing my comments on PC games too. I have heard lots of rumours for years that the PC market was going to collapse, but that does not seem to have happened, thankfully. I don't want to have to play RPGs on my xbox. Especially since I don't have an xbox.

[Jan]

Personally, I've never understood the success of consoles and consoles games. I thought that consoles and anything non-PC was dead (or going to die soon) in 1990s, and the later success of consoles was one of the biggest surprises in my life. I still don't understand why people buy it and what are they good for and what advantages do they offer when compared to PCs (in general).

[beowuuf]

Partially they have taken the advantages of PCs (updating, hard drives, internet) and kept up with the perceived strengths of consoles (simplicity, an all in one homogynised system, a recognised single name behind the hardware and key games all at once). Many more people do geeky computery things now, but they just don't realise it because all they've done is buy a console to play games on!

[Gambit37]

It's also (relatively) simpler to develop for consoles, because the hardware and OS is a fixed, stable, known platform. You can't say the same about PC hardware, where developers have to try and support thousands of possible configurations...

[Jan]

Do the consoles have better graphics than PCs (lets say an average PC made in the same year as an average console - e.g. for the same game)? I'm asking because I don't know. The last console I used was Atari 2600 and it must have been a quarter of a century ago.

[Ameena]

As far as I can tell, the graphics in a console version of a game are basically the same as if you turned everything up to max in the PC version.

[Gambit37]

Both PS3 and XBox 360 have quite outdated graphics output compared to what you can now shove in your PC. And the Wii doesn't even come close to the visuals of the PS3 or XBox 360.

PCs are still top of the heap when it comes to visuals -- but of course, only if the developers have made the efforts to tap into that power.... often games are designed for consoles first, and when they're ported to PC, the developers don't bother improving them to look better for the PC. (Note: that was an oversimplification!)

[oh_brother]

Yes, more and more games are designed for consoles and then ported. Although I have to say this has a good side. I can play Mass Effect, Mass Effect 2 and (hopefully) Mass Effect 3 on the same laptop I bought in 2008. Publishers cannot change the specs dramatically since it has to be compatible with the tech in the XBox or PS3.

[beowuuf]

Not really connected, except if its successful it might be a viable way for game studios to secure funding for niche games.

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/4020 ... ra+News%29