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Videogaming is "recession-sturdy"
In light of recent closures and layoffs in the videogaming industry, Garnett Lee at 1up re-examines the conventional wisdom that videogaming is recession proof:...with installed hardware numbers hitting critical mass, you expect publishers would be putting their foot on the gas to drive as much product as possible into the growing number of gamers' hands. Instead we see an increasingly long list of layoffs and even closures that provide all the evidence you need that this time the recession absolutely hits the videogame industry as well.
I can't recall a time when there were so many dire announcements clustered so closely together. Lee provides a good overview of the current situation, but he ultimately comes out rather bullish with this observation:While the evidence overwhelming shows that videogames aren't recession-proof, they definitely are recession-sturdy.
By Sticky at 7:54 PM ON 12/29/08
It is not recession proof. THQ has downsized as well as EA who is cutting 10,000 employees. Many studios are closing. At least we should expect to see less shovelware being put out. Plus maybe we will start to get more game for our buck.
By Lol at 12:12 PM ON 12/30/08
It'd be nice if EA collapsed, but alas it's not in the cards :D
Videogaming is by nature a sturdy biz. Wii might be changing that a bit, but it's been that way for a while. Impulse buying is minimal in videogaming; ppl generally buy games seldom and plan on purchasing those games beforehand. We set up a list of what games we're going to buy in our head, and they are treated as necessities since they aren't huge purchases and they're not everyday, and they rock the sox (heh).
It's not likely to take too much of a hit from sales. Many companies aren't with this whole financial meltdown (I have a feeling that if Obama hadn't needed something to put him back ahead of McCain it would have never been blown so far up by the media; it was a manageable thing in the beginning, and they seemed to purposefully panic ppl). Sales of many products are still up. THe problem is the market itself, which will cause companies stock values to go down even as their real values (the amt of product produced/sold) are stable or rising. So ppl will get cut, games will get hacked from the lists, and it will cause a disruption.
The only way there's going to be a serious setback for the gaming industry is if the financial crisis lasts (and who knows how much you-know-who could foul things up in the next four). As long as there is a large installed base, the biz has fertile ground to plant their seed. If the next gen comes around and ppl can't afford it, though? You'll carry your hardcore gamers (dude, I can totally skip like an O to get this xbox 720!) but lose a lot of the padding around the edges.
Lol:
It'd be nice if EA collapsed, but alas it's not in the cards :D Videogaming is by nature a sturdy biz. Wii migh...More »