State of the Games Industry

So what does this mean for the future? Does it mean AAA development is going to eventually be a thing of the past? Probably not. There is still going to be the big time Uncharteds, Call of Dutys and other games like that. What might happen is that the dynamics and prices of these games will be affected.

It is hard to justify going out and buying a $60 first person shooter when you can get the same experience from something like Planet Side 2. However, the games industry is going to keep trying every option to stay relevant at the $60 price point. If the present is anything to go by, online passes, micro-transactions and other things might be taken from the more casual market to give players something familiar while at the same time inconveniencing there target base.

That would be a real shame. Instead of looking at some of the positive aspects that free-2-play, downloadable and mobile games bring to the industry, they could just take the money making aspect and use it for their own benefit. They could put in micro-transactions from free-2-play games into full priced games like Mass Effect 3. They could offer downloadable versions of all their games but at the same price, even if that doesn’t make sense. And they could move their games to the mobile marketplace, even if the control scheme isn’t the best for their game.

But honestly I have hopes that this won’t happen. I have a hope that us as players would not allow developers to take advantage of us wanting to play games. There already is backlash from the gaming community over online passes and disk DLC that needs to be unlocked after purchase. In the end of the day, the consumers will be what decides the future. We all want to play video games. It’s just going to be at what cost we are willing to pay and what kind of hurdles we are willing to get over.