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Many of today’s journalists seem to garner the fact that
the games industry is broken beyond repair. Every videogame
publication in your local newsagent will at some point have a swipe
at either the public, EA or a specific genre (usually
First-Person-Shooters or Platformers) claiming  that games as we
know them today have been permanently broken with many key industry
players only prepared to splash their cash on the next
“sure-thing”. I say this is far from the truth. Yes, many
publishers seem to have a hard time being convinced that the little
pink blob bouncing between seventeen walls whilst avoiding the
falling meteor shower is going to break any kind of records, but in
my eyes, this shows that the industry has matured to a point of
constant instability in the same way as it’s entertainment
forefathers, film and music, have done the same.
Once again, it’s the SONY effect. Without SONY rearing
their financially-weighted head during the mid-90’s it would be
impossible to see how the industry would have seen such dramatic
growth. True, the market was at a consistently-high rate of
expansion anyway, but within two years the buying public had
amassed and revenues double of that seen in the late 80’s were
abundant. The industry had achieved a level of respect within
society and was destined to leave the basement forever. It’s the
comparison with the obvious that shows us why the industry in
current form is exactly how it was always going to be; the film
industry as a whole is dominated by
Hollywood
“Blockbusters”, but within this line-up of big names and bigger
budgets, we have B-Movies, straight to DVD releases and, most
importantly – Art-House films.
The games industry is now – at its prime – easily
comparable to the main influence in its market directive. With
companies such as EA and Eidos (recently purchased by Walt Disney
Interactive) perching themselves atop the hierarchy with an often
insane amount of AAA releases within weeks of each other, it’s
clear to see where the “Blockbusters” are coming from. But not
so obvious are the Art-House comparisons. Every major developer has
to have their AAA’s too (where would Essex Boys be without
Resident Evil trailing along behind to pick up any lost
pieces?), but it’s in the smallest development teams that we find
our Art-House productions; those little gems that cost relatively nothing
to develop, but pack quite a punch sitting before you on that
previously glittering screen. A romantic view  maybe, but no less a
statement borne of fact. The clearest example, although coming from
a developer with an insurmountable resource pool, is the Wario
Ware series.
Offering pure gaming delight through a series of minimally
graphical representations, the cost of development for the title in
no way reflects the level of enjoyment ascertainable through play.
Further to this, the subtle narrative the series has presented not
only attempts to comment on the state of play within the industry,
but also appears to be overwhelmed by it – a not wholly
impossible position to understand, when at the launch of the first
title in the series the competition was fiercely poised for moving
the industry in the opposite direction.
It seems almost comical that such publications demonstrate
their disgust for the current trend, only to consistently push the
latest sequel or 007 game as being the next big-thing. A
catalogue of errors on behalf of these publications lead the public
down the wrong paths – in the same way that developers will push
their latest craze with all their might, so too will the editors
follow the lead and publish the big names with the big headlines.
Surely, playing such a key part in the industry as journalists do,
the obvious route would be to downplay the presentation of such
titles, lead their cover with their latest craze, as opposed
to what the public is expecting to see. However, this could
obviously lead to a slight downturn in sales, and the fact that the
British games press is so scared of taking that risk only further
strengthens the position of such titles they resent.
The publishers within the games industry only stand to
reflect those of the other entertainment sectors, and also are
reflected by those on the outer circles of the industry. The small
amount of funding available for those niche titles will grow, but
only at the rate the AAA titles do. For all the moaning and
groaning games journalists do, they still retain their influence in
peddling the latest Fifa title onto the unsuspecting public.
The industry isn’t broken – it’s just found its home. As
every other entertainment sector has evolved from it’s amoeba
into it’s dove, so to has the games industry and, while those on
the inside may not like what it’s become, it was easily
predictable from the offset of the “outsider” companies
grabbing a piece of the pie – as soon as Virgin Interactive
published their first title, the games industry was only ever going
to be the younger sibling to the behemoth of Hollywood.
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