gaming The Gaming industry needs another 1983 style Market Crash. Here is why.

[Buck Testa 5,505]

There was a time when shovelware and unfinished games were the norm in the gaming industry. There was a time when gimmicky gaming peripherals and multiple versions of the same system were released just to stay afloat. There was a time when the industry did not care about the opinions of the consumers and just expected them to buy their games with the same derision as a crack dealer towards an addict. There was a time where everyone was complaining about the state of the gaming market, yet everyone was still pumping their money into that market because they wanted to sate their fix on video games for the day. There was a time when the gaming companies could barely stay afloat and had to gouge their customers sometimes just to break even.

 

If you were thinking I was talking about the state of gaming today, you are both right and wrong. This was the state of the gaming industry back in 1983, and it bears a striking resemblance to today's current market. Some say that it was E.T that killed the market back then, but really it was just the straw that broke the camel's back. Gamers from all over turned their back on the industry for giving them an endless stream of poorly made content. They say the market crash that happened almost killed the industry entirely, but I have a different perspective on the matter.

 

It was really a mass extinction event of Darwinian proportions. The weak companies whom had no substance or talent to stand on were burned in the fires of change, and many of those companies died off entirely or moved on to other things. The ones that survived this trial by fire however, rose up to make a new Renaissance in gaming that is still fondly remembered even to this day. Mario,The original Sonic games, Goldeneye 007, Contra, Banjo kazooie, Doom, you name it, they all made their place in the gaming world AFTER the market crash. They were given incentive to make good games because those were the ones that made the profit. Nintendo and many others rose to power during that time.

 

Now however the state of gaming is the same as it was back in 1983. Micro-transactions, unfinished games, day one patches, glitches galore, less and less actual content, dumbing down of content, rampant demonizing of the user base as sexist pigs and killers waiting to happen, gimmick filled consoles, lackluster graphics, and a general disdain for their customers are all realities of the current gaming environment.

 

If gamers REALLY want this to change, if you really want a new renaissance in gaming, then the next Market Crash is your best answer to this equation. They are already primed to fall. Many of these companies spend so much money on these systems and games that they would instantly die off if their user base was not there to support them. If the gaming community showed some restraint and starved these companies out, all of the Chaff would be separated from the wheat and the only companies that remain are the ones that win back their customers with genuinely superior titles.

 

It's like a forest fire. It seems like a bad thing at the time, but after it's over the ground has much needed nutrients and everything grows greener and healthier than before.

 

The question is, could the gaming community of today have the restraint necessary to perform this much needed Mass Extinction Event of the gaming market. Its entirely in their hands. All they have to do is just NOT buy games, especially not from companies with a known track record for bad/poorly developed games.

 

To quote a rather mediocre X-Men movie: "Everything they've built will fall; and from their ashes of their world, we will build a better one."

 

Edited June 17, 2016 by Buck Testa

[SaburoDaimando 1,196]

Unfortunately, as I am rather quick to admit: We gamers are no better today than we are back in 1983.  Video Games are still selling well, and we're filling the company's pockets with money real fast.

Edited June 17, 2016 by SaburoDaimando

[Shanks 10,816]

Another crash will happen, it is practically inevitable at this point. Several once great companies like Sega, Konami, Capcom and even Nintendo are going down the crapper and may not survive much longer. Nintendo is in a better position than the other examples, but cannot rely on its high portable sales forever. Sega hasn't been relevant in years and Konami firing Kojima may be the last nail in their coffin and even the creator of the Megaman franchise wants nothing to do with Capcom anymore.

[Fluttere 71]

The problem is they simply don't have any interesting games. Usually FPS or cinematic experience, but no game puuuurely on game experience. So they need some big seller at consoles launch, the closest to newest games that tries to dwell on fun gameplay feeling is Rayman Legends, not "Ooooh characters" not "Ooooh movie clips" not "Oooooh cinematic sequence while moving" no its purely game that sells!!! Its that which sells more or less, this doesnt mean i am anti cutscene, just anti making the whole game feel like a movie more or less. Xbox One and PS4 had neither of it aka it didnt have games!

 

I mean even Sonic 2006 (Which i kinda liked) was rushed to be sold, Xbox 360 was a hit because of the massive library of interesting games more or less which is why i think it started good that way. I still think Burnout Revenge on 360 looks really great to be old for example!

Edited June 17, 2016 by Fluttere

[Buck Testa 5,505]

Another crash will happen, it is practically inevitable at this point. Several once great companies like Sega, Konami, Capcom and even Nintendo are going down the crapper and may not survive much longer. Nintendo is in a better position than the other examples, but cannot rely on its high portable sales forever. Sega hasn't been relevant in years and Konami firing Kojima may be the last nail in their coffin and even the creator of the Megaman franchise wants nothing to do with Capcom anymore.

I agree, in fact I actually think that might have played a part in Konami making the switch to Pachinko machines. They probably saw the blood in the water and got out of dodge. 

 

I would not be surprised in the least if a market crash happens even in the next few years. 

[Celli 4,338]

I agree, it's inevitably going to happen at some point in the future. Though any guess as to when is hard to say.

The lack of quality control is getting out of hand with many developers these days. And not to mention, the attitude of a lot of publishers, and gamers, not pushing companies to do better.

I can say, however, that I am very happy as a PC gamer, because that platform has never been better, and will continue to thrive like it did during the last crash.

[Leave a Whisper 703]

Yeah no. We don't need a crash to "revitalize the gaming industry."

 

Konami is digging their own grave with gusto.

 

Nintendo is doing just fine.

 

Capcom seems like it's trying to get back in its fan's good graces, though to be fair, Capcom's fans are some of the biggest whiners this side of the Smash fandom.

 

Does anyone even miss THQ? Their games were mediocre at best.

 

RARE is trying to reinvent itself as Playtonic

 

Inti-creates is freaking awesome!

 

The Indie developers are really coming into their own.

 

Bethesda, Ubisoft, Square-Enix and EA aren't doing to shabby.

 

And there are a couple independent developers who left their company and are making some really cool looking games. cough bloodstained ritual cough

 

The book industry never needed "Crashes" to revitalize it and neither does the film industry. Why should the videogame industry need to start all over everytime?

Edited June 20, 2016 by Leave a Whisper

[Guest]

Sorry but another video game crash in today's world is very unlikely. The market doesn't work the same anymore and video games are a "real" industry now to the point where there are enough investors that don't want this to happen to where it would be prevented. There's tons of article on why it won't ever happen:

 

https://www.theodysseyonline.com/another-video-game-crash-unlikely

[Discordian 6,015]

It's unlikely gaming would recover from such a crash. Far too much money is put into it now. The big companies would go bankrupt and the small people won't have anyone to help fund their projects.

[Megas 27,742]

It'll be interesting to see where the industry sits once VR hits considering how expensive the damn thing is gonna be, but I don't see another crash as big as '83 happening. The video game industry, like Key said, has more or less established itself as one as big as film and music. And even if VR doesn't take off or flops, it could hurt the industry in a big way, and a lot of companies may subsidize or go under all together, but I'm not expecting a mass extinction like '83 was 

[Limeblossom 482]

Now however the state of gaming is the same as it was back in 1983. Micro-transactions, unfinished games, day one patches, glitches galore, less and less actual content, dumbing down of content, rampant demonizing of the user base as sexist pigs and killers waiting to happen, gimmick filled consoles, lackluster graphics, and a general disdain for their customers are all realities of the current gaming environment.

your post just nailed it. 8th generation gaming is one big joke.

 

And of course we also have to deal with the DRM bullshit.

Edited June 20, 2016 by Limeblossom

[Vulcan 3,254]

I wouldn't want a crash, I'm actually pretty happy with the way the gaming industry is at this point in time. Though, Copyright is still an issue we have yet to tackle, I still love the variety that the gaming industry has to offer.  

 

I do admit that this recent push for VR may push a lot of the smaller companies into Bankruptcy, and will create a sort of "mini-extinction"

[Steve Piranha 29,428]

Your profesied crash might take longer than 1983's, as the industry is bigger, has more gullible consumers spending in trash, and there are still gems among the trash, but it WILL happen 

[Discordian 6,015]

I wouldn't want a crash, I'm actually pretty happy with the way the gaming industry is at this point in time. Though, Copyright is still an issue we have yet to tackle, I still love the variety that the gaming industry has to offer.  

 

I do admit that this recent push for VR may push a lot of the smaller companies into Bankruptcy, and will create a sort of "mini-extinction"

I, too, am pretty okay with how gaming is today. I can find dozens of games released every year to play. A lot of the tech looks pretty fun too. The Vive? I need it in my life at some point. When I make lots of money.

 

But there's a lot going on in the indie scene too. Developers are more experimental as ever and unlike larger companies aren't held back so much by "we have to make a game that will sell a certain amount of money". It's a weird situation though. Big companies have the budget to experiment and experiment well but they won't. Smaller developers don't have that money but do it regardless, with mixed results because lack of funds and expertise.

[Guest]

A crash like that isn't even remotely possible, I'll be blunt. Companies that are producing the hardware and some of the top tier games are making so much money now that many of them could afford to literally throw away over $5 billion and still be no where near a bad position to where they couldn't make games anymore. Microsoft alone has close to $200 billion in assets. It would take all of their products outside the Xbox going under to truly put them out of business, the same applies for Sony with their almost $150 billion in assets. It's just not feasible to even think the entire industry would crash.

 

Like I said before: totally different time and so much is in place to prevent something like that from happening ever again. There are too many people invested in the industry as a whole to let it all tank.

 

So, sorry to burst your guys bubble, but the chances of another crash are so slim that you'd be better off hoping you win the lottery.

Edited June 21, 2016 by Guest

[silvadel 1,393]

It wasn't exactly the level of crash people make it out to be either.  Some of my best gaming was done on an Atari 5200 between 1982 and 1985. 

 

It also was the time when I had my first personal computer, a TI 99/4A.  Commodore 64's, Atari computers, and the Apple IIe were also a part of that "bust period."

 

I prefer to call it the transition between the expectations of the old (atari 2600/intellivision level stuff) to the realization of the new (computers and NES level consoles)

[cmarston1 5,959]

It would be interesting to see what kind of effect this would have on the gaming industry right now, but I don't really want it to happen.

[Denim&Venöm 19,165]

Nope. Not happening, not when we're getting good stuff like Spaltoon, Undertale, Overwatch & Doom. Despite mediocrity, there's decent stuff, enough to catch all our interests. And really, compared to '83, we're in a good place in video gaming. We're all ridiculously spoiled right now. 

[Guest]

I'll even be more blunt and say that a lot of this stuff that is "hated" such as DLC, microtransactions, monthly fees, etc...  This is all our fault as consumers:

 

We have charged the same $60 for games since like... 15 years ago, despite the value of the dollar dropping. This means that developers and publishers were making less and less per game, but the moment anyone even HINTED at raising the price to $70 or $80, we all flipped out and said we wouldn't have it. So to make up for lose profits developers had no choice but to come up with more creative ways to make some of the cash back.

 

They then discovered that those ways are even more profitable than just raising the price of the game, so now that's their go-to method. So really a lot of these things are our fault. No one wanted the price of games to go up to $70 or $80, and now... We are technically paying more than we would if they just raised the games to $70 or $80, by having to pay for all this extra shit.

 

When you want to know who to blame sometimes, you need only look in a mirror.

[weesh 690]

I completely disagree.

 

Firstly, that the industry needs a shakeup.  But even if I grant you that there are major benefits to a crash, the industry is so big, that a major crash would cause a great deal of suffering from the standpoint of industry families losing income.  The benefits can't hold a candle to the costs.  

[Shanks 10,816]

Sorry but another video game crash in today's world is very unlikely. The market doesn't work the same anymore and video games are a "real" industry now to the point where there are enough investors that don't want this to happen to where it would be prevented. There's tons of article on why it won't ever happen:

True, but you still have companies pumping out a lot of crappy, half finished games, not listening to their customers, and once great companies going like Capcom, Konami, and even Nintendo going down the crapper. Investors don't want another gaming crash, but many investors didn't want the housing crash of 2007/2008 to happen either, yet it did.

 

 

It's unlikely gaming would recover from such a crash. Far too much money is put into it now. The big companies would go bankrupt and the small people won't have anyone to help fund their projects.

That might have been the case 20 years ago, but isn't now. In likely event of another gaming crash indie companies and games which are now more common and numerous than ever before are what will most likely pull the industry out of the crash much like Nintendo pulled did in the 80's with the release of the NES. Nintendo was able to be successful because they listened to consumers and recognized that many believed that it was PC gaming that was the future and thus marketing their console as a "family computer" or Famicom as it was called in Japan.

 

 

A crash like that isn't even remotely possible, I'll be blunt. Companies that are producing the hardware and some of the top tier games are making so much money now that many of them could afford to literally throw away over $5 billion and still be no where near a bad position to where they couldn't make games anymore.

True, but they can only do that for so long with how much more expensive video game development is becoming which is why Steve Pirhana may be on to something when he says that the crash will take longer. Also it may take them longer to get to the point where they no longer can make games, but that dosen't mean they can't or won't pull out of the industry after they make the business decision that it is no longer profitable.

 

 

It also was the time when I had my first personal computer, a TI 99/4A.  Commodore 64's, Atari computers, and the Apple IIe were also a part of that "bust period."

That "crash" mostly refers to a crash of console games with many proclaiming console gaming dead at the time and believing that PC gaming is the future. They were partially right though they were years off and many today are echoing similar sentiments. PC gaming has its strengths both back then and now but its weaknesses as well though there are also more subjective matters about preference.

 

 

When you want to know who to blame sometimes, you need only look in a mirror.

True, consumers are to blame for much of this as well but many crashes happen through a combination of the fault of companies as well as certain consumers.

[Guest]

 

 

True, but you still have companies pumping out a lot of crappy, half finished games, not listening to their customers, and once great companies going like Capcom, Konami, and even Nintendo going down the crapper. Investors don't want another gaming crash, but many investors didn't want the housing crash of 2007/2008 to happen either, yet it did.

 

Totally different crash though, not to the same degree. The housing crash while bad, was not as bad as the gaming crash in terms of ratio. The housing crash the market was still there. The Gaming crash of '83 was so bad that the market almost disappeared. The two types of markets are also different, one is a necessity the other isn't which changes the game a lot.

 

 

 

True, but they can only do that for so long with how much more expensive video game development is becoming which is why Steve Pirhana may be on to something when he says that the crash will take longer. Also it may take them longer to get to the point where they no longer can make games, but that dosen't mean they can't or won't pull out of the industry after they make the business decision that it is no longer profitable.

 

What usually happens is specific companies go under, but a crash would require so many of them to drop off at once which is very very very unlikely.

 

 

 

True, consumers are to blame for much of this as well but many crashes happen through a combination of the fault of companies as well as certain consumers.

 

Yup, but in this case it'll require a lot of fuck ups on everyone's part in a row with no one trying to damage control whatsoever and the chances are slim.