Umm....no duh? This isn't a new idea, Mr. Important CTO Dude; the cost of making a game has doubled each []
Umm....no duh? This isn't a new idea, Mr. Important CTO Dude; the cost of making a game has doubled each generation since 1983. If you didn't see this coming until now, you're gonna have a bad time.
I still genuinely believe that F2P isn't going to scale well; it's not a silver bullet for the woes facing the industry, but done right it is the next evolution of the MMO. When every game tries to have the time requirements of an MMO, gamers will be playing fewer games. Playing fewer games means less paying customers per game. Less paying customers means lower numbers, and lower numbers means it's not going to be the salvation guys like this hope it is.
The end of bleeding-edge, spare-no-expense blockbuster titles being the norm is approaching, plain and simple...and that's going to happen even without the other issues facing the industry. The companies that have built their businesses around them need to screw their head back on straight...and fast.
The problem isn't needing new forms of monetization, or 'piracy', or any other attempt to say "We're entitled to more money." The problem is that the traditional publishing model is very, very sick. Used getting out of control to the point it has is proof positive of that. A 'exposure now means fans later' advertising method that's been beneficial to the games industry for decades has been replaced by retailers acting in a strangely symbiotic yet parasitic manner, biting the hand that feeds them. Prices are too high, or perceived value is too low, I don't have all the answers but something is festering and no amount of taking their frustrations out on the customers will fix it any more than aspirin is going to fix a broken leg. It'll ease the symptoms, sure...but the underlying issue is going to continue getting worse.
Treat the underlying diseases or die, publishers. You can't cover up the symptoms and pretend everything is fine for much longer.
Ugh. Anyway...my apologies for ranting, guys. It frustrates me to no end that high-flying, high-paid leaders of the industry can be so oblivious to the problems facing it, doubling down on the policies that are causing the troubles in the first place.
