Video Game Industry Crash on the way?

[Denny]

A friend posted a link to this article at Cracked today....I found it quite interesting, although I confess to playing games so rarely nowadays (except OOTP) that it's hard for me to say if it is accurate.

5 Reasons the Video Game Industry Is About to Crash

[Reg]

I think his conclusion that the game industry will look different in probably spot on...but I don't know about a crash - or what that might mean...

The influence of kickstarter and steam have really put the ball back into independent developers courts. The success or failures of some big titles being produced over the next two years will probably have more to do with the changing of video games industry (at least on the pc end)...

It seems to me that none of the aforementioned AAA console titles are suffering from sales, nor do I think we will see a drastic reduction in their sales...just my two cents though

[Leones]

I don't buy it. This past year has produced some of the most innovative games I've seen in years. I think the market will have a number of strongly supported franchise products and a number of 'indie' type designs that really take off. The biggest threats to gaming in my mind are the notions of requiring constant authentication to play and the parceling out of content. Video games, like too many other things in life are becoming tiered structures where those willing to part with the most money are getting a different experience than the standard package. Like Disneyland or airline tickets. The model works though and will deliver profits.

[Evas]

I think his conclusion that the game industry will look different in probably spot on...but I don't know about a crash - or what that might mean...

The influence of kickstarter and steam have really put the ball back into independent developers courts. The success or failures of some big titles being produced over the next two years will probably have more to do with the changing of video games industry (at least on the pc end)...

It seems to me that none of the aforementioned AAA console titles are suffering from sales, nor do I think we will see a drastic reduction in their sales...just my two cents though

I am inclined to agree with you.

I think the author might be right for major game studio games (Call of Duty, Assassins Creed, even Diablo and StarCraft). He might even be right if he is talking about consoles in general.

But PC games are going just fine, thank you very much. Most of the games I play or look forward to playing are made by other than massive studios and don't suffer from the same issues he calls out. Kickstarter is a big source of that, though not the only source of it. I think the fact that there are so many little niches on PC and that fulfilling them doesn't usually require the purchase of any additional hardware (console, controllers, motion bar etc.), it makes it much easier for a wide range of small developers to supply those niches. Plus wider spread digital distribution helps a lot too. OOTP is a perfect example of this. How much sense does OOTP on a PS4 make?