These blog posts tend to take on huge issues and be already overlong, which means I tend to forget to address things I should. Like this big question: Is the game industry in recession at all?
(In our normal life, these numbers are way too low for what we're living. But stick with them for now.)
Once the covid surge was done, the industry shrank, while inflation was huge. In real dollars, our sales took a huge hit. I believe we're seeing the consequences of this now.
In my personal live, or sales have gone down, but nothing we haven't survived before. But they prices we have to pay for literally everything have gone up a lot. Inflation was too huge and contentious a topic for me to address in the blog above, but it is a VERY important factor in what's been happening.
I dont fully understand what "Limited Games" is but it sounds like it is what Steam calls unsuccessful games. Which really compliments your argument. The number of published games is skyrocketing while the number of minimally successful games is only increasing minimally (~6.5% per year).
Do you think there may be more market forces at work here? This last year really seems like customers has just rejected AAA studios. All the biggest most successful most praised releases were indie games. I am not sure if AAA studios are releasing worse games, indies are releasing better games, or with the fall of TV and the ascendance of independent content creators the marketing landscape has simply been leveled. But it really feels to me like a significant portion of the market no longer respects AAA developers and that they have lost their monopoly on most of the customers.
Nowadays many universities offer degrees in game design. These degrees typically require a team to shepherd a game all the way through development, including release on a storefront. Those 14000 games? Most of them are student projects. They're on Steam so the poor student doesn't flunk out.
I am of the opinion that the tech giants gained their monopolies through unprecedented central bank largess. This during the 2008 recession and again with the pandemic. Is there a reason to think the pattern won't repeat itself? I don't know. But if it doesn't, the upcoming 'correction' may end up massacring the so-cheap-as-to-be-almost-free-or-actually-free model followed by our main competitors in the entertainment market. In other words, maybe indie devs will find themselves in a healthier and more sustainable market once the dust settles? I mean, the games biz these days seems to function like Bitcoin. Please see infographic below.
I think you can boost your games revenue adding translations to other languages. I know it costs, but could it be profitable? For example, I really want buy and play it in Russian. Or you could think about other popular languages (Spanish). Have you consider this? You are inspiration for me, thank you.
These blog posts tend to take on huge issues and be already overlong, which means I tend to forget to address things I should. Like this big question: Is the game industry in recession at all?
Here's a chart of our gross sales: https://www.statista.com/outlook/dmo/digital-media/video-games/worldwide#revenue
(Note that 2023 in this chart is still just a very rosy estimate.)
Here's inflation at the same time: https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/inflation/current-inflation-rates/
(In our normal life, these numbers are way too low for what we're living. But stick with them for now.)
Once the covid surge was done, the industry shrank, while inflation was huge. In real dollars, our sales took a huge hit. I believe we're seeing the consequences of this now.
In my personal live, or sales have gone down, but nothing we haven't survived before. But they prices we have to pay for literally everything have gone up a lot. Inflation was too huge and contentious a topic for me to address in the blog above, but it is a VERY important factor in what's been happening.
I dont fully understand what "Limited Games" is but it sounds like it is what Steam calls unsuccessful games. Which really compliments your argument. The number of published games is skyrocketing while the number of minimally successful games is only increasing minimally (~6.5% per year).
Do you think there may be more market forces at work here? This last year really seems like customers has just rejected AAA studios. All the biggest most successful most praised releases were indie games. I am not sure if AAA studios are releasing worse games, indies are releasing better games, or with the fall of TV and the ascendance of independent content creators the marketing landscape has simply been leveled. But it really feels to me like a significant portion of the market no longer respects AAA developers and that they have lost their monopoly on most of the customers.
Nowadays many universities offer degrees in game design. These degrees typically require a team to shepherd a game all the way through development, including release on a storefront. Those 14000 games? Most of them are student projects. They're on Steam so the poor student doesn't flunk out.
I am of the opinion that the tech giants gained their monopolies through unprecedented central bank largess. This during the 2008 recession and again with the pandemic. Is there a reason to think the pattern won't repeat itself? I don't know. But if it doesn't, the upcoming 'correction' may end up massacring the so-cheap-as-to-be-almost-free-or-actually-free model followed by our main competitors in the entertainment market. In other words, maybe indie devs will find themselves in a healthier and more sustainable market once the dust settles? I mean, the games biz these days seems to function like Bitcoin. Please see infographic below.
https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/rollercoaster-explosion.gif
Call me a dreamer if you will. :)
Hi Jeff, could you provide some context on what kind of magic did Huestess' people dabbled on.
I think you can boost your games revenue adding translations to other languages. I know it costs, but could it be profitable? For example, I really want buy and play it in Russian. Or you could think about other popular languages (Spanish). Have you consider this? You are inspiration for me, thank you.