June 26th 2024.
It's no secret that pleasing shareholders can be a tough task, even for a company as successful as Ichiban. In fact, a recent survey has revealed that nearly 60% of game developers believe that the industry as a whole is facing some serious challenges. Many of them attribute this to problems with investors and management, which seems to be the root cause of these issues.
The state of the games industry is certainly not at its best right now. With the numerous layoffs, studio closures, and rising costs of game development, it's clear that things are not going well. And the pandemic has only made things worse, with many companies now having to cut back after experiencing a surge in profits during lockdown. This, coupled with the high costs of creating big-budget games for current-gen consoles, has led to instability across the board. Interestingly, Japan seems to be the exception, as their industry has remained relatively unaffected.
The Game Developer Collective recently conducted a survey of over 600 game developers to get their perspective on the current state of the industry. And the results are not surprising. A whopping 59% of the developers surveyed said that the industry was in a "bad" spot at the moment. Of those, 38% said it was "bad" and 21% said it was "very bad". Only 13% had a positive outlook, while 26% remained neutral.
When asked about the main cause of these difficulties, a majority of developers (61%) pointed the finger at unreasonable investor expectations. Mismanagement came in second at 58%, followed by high development costs and intense competition from other games. Other factors mentioned include high marketing and user acquisition costs, lack of innovation, competition from other forms of entertainment, and lack of demand from consumers.
Unfortunately, many developers are not feeling optimistic about the future either. Almost half of those surveyed (49%) believe that the current market conditions will remain the same over the next six months. And 19% believe that things will actually get worse. Only 25% are hopeful that things will improve.
It seems like the current climate is not going to get better anytime soon. In just the past month, we've seen the closure of studios like Pieces Interactive and Galvanic Games, as well as layoffs at Avalanche, the makers of Just Cause. However, there is some hope on the horizon with the highly anticipated releases of GTA 6 and the new Nintendo console in 2025.
Overall, the survey's results suggest that the games industry is going through a rough patch, with many challenges and obstacles to overcome. If you have any thoughts on this, we'd love to hear from you! Feel free to email us, leave a comment, follow us on Twitter, and sign-up for our newsletter. And to make it easier to submit your opinions, you can use our Submit Stuff page instead of sending an email.
In other news, Microsoft has revealed that they are trying to avoid releasing GTA 6 during the same timeframe as their own games next year. This move is seen as a strategic decision to prevent any competition for their upcoming releases. Additionally, Xbox will have a significant presence at this year's Gamescom, which is a stark contrast to Sony's absence. And for those eagerly awaiting the release of GTA 6, Take-Two Interactive has confirmed that the game will be coming in fall 2025.
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