GDC 2009: The games industry faces up to the economic recession
The Game Developers Conference 2009 kicks off on Monday, March 22 in San Francisco. There are different events planned all week although the main conference will take place between Wednesday and Friday. Although there will likely be a few big announcements made during the week, one issue is taking precedence: the economic recession.
The GDC is traditionally a ripe time for developers to announce new games, and this year is no exception. Mike previewed some of these unannounced gems yesterday, but there is a shadow hanging over the event that threatens to derail the feelings of joy at announcing new games that are sure to have gamers around the world salivating.
In a preview of the 2009 GDC, The Associated Press look into how the recession and global economic crisis is affecting the games industry and, consequently, the companies and individuals present at this year’s conference.
The recession has so far been a mixed bag for the industry. Sales of both hardware and software is staying strong despite people generally having less money in their pockets. In fact, that’s the main reason the industry has managed to continue to succeed where others, music and DVD in particular, have seen declines.
The flip side of that has seen developers and publishers shedding staff and making budget cuts in order to get their house in order before the economy hits rock bottom. So far, Free Radical and Ensemble have both closed their doors, and others are likely to follow in their footsteps. Even EA is cutting 1,000 jobs this month.
The 2009 GDC is reflecting these changes. Firstly, attendance is expected to be down, and those that do attend will be invited to partake in sessions with ominous titles such as ‘Business in a Red Ocean: Surviving the Squeeze’, ‘Stability in Stormy Weather’, and ‘Raising Capital in a Recession’.
The games industry is lucky that it’s considered to be quite recession resistant, but that doesn’t mean the economy won’t affect many aspects of the industry. It’s likely to make experimentation less likely as developers need guaranteed hits to pay the bills. It’s also likely to mean less games get released, and the ones that do get released will have lower budgets attached to them.
I’m hopeful that the industry we rely on for our entertainment can navigate its way through the economic downturn, but this year’s GDC suggests many people on the inside are worried and possibly going to be a little more cautious from now on.
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29 Responses to “GDC 2009: The games industry faces up to the economic recession”
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March 22nd, 2009
Nice job Dave, a good read. Although I don’t see how the pic you posted was relevant to the article. I’ll give you an A-.
March 22nd, 2009
The Red Ring of Death = the economy at the moment… imminent failure. Simple.
March 22nd, 2009
y has there been nothing said about the DLC for fifa on BOTH ps3 and 360? its pretty fun, they give you a 5 match trail before they get you to pay $15 (AU) to buy the whole thing, it’s like a trading card game where you play with the players you get from booster packs and a starter deck. you also get coaching cards and contract cards and the strips you even play in are up for grabs (my current home strip is juventus and away is boca juniors, where it used to be millwall and dundee united).
the formation you play effects your team chemisty as each play has a formation they like, so play it and the team chemistry goes up, also playing players in the right postion also will rise the team chemistry. (this one here does get a little annoying, you cant play a RF/LF as a ST, well you can just the chem doesn’t go up, which is a problem for me, for my best pure ST is a 78, where as i have kalou and robinho in my team, both of which are LF (rated 82 and 88 respectively).
there are cards that let you improve certain things of the players aswell, but for every good thing, they do something bad as well, like +3 for shooting, -1 for passing, but thats where the coaching cards come into play, my current coach gives +2 coach and +3 passing, so even if you play this card, the player will get +5 shooting and +2 passing.
contract cards can get annoying if you dont have enough, as each player has a starting contract of 5 or more games, and well, that can get pretty weird at the start when 8 of your starting 11 all need re-newing at the same time., i put alot of hours into it over the weekend (alot being around 20 hours, playing around 60 matches as well as managing) and ive got a 5 star team now (it takes a while to get there)
current line up and stats (remember that cards have been played on some players to increase there ability)
Robinho 88 – Kalou 82
Snjider 86 -Palacios 81 -Riquelme 81-Nakamura 80
Taiwo 81-Hangeland 89-Yobo 85-Sanga 84
Schwarzer 80
now if you know a thing or two about soccer thats a fairly decent team but could still use some work, concidering that 5 out of my starting 11 (Snjider, Robinho, Kalou, Riquelme, Taiwo) are playing out of postion (ive found it rather hard to get a LM or even a LB, where everyone is a LWB or a LW and as i stated i have two LF playing striker)
while playing online im yet to come up against a better keeper then Schwarzer so im guessing keepers are rather hard to come across, though i know have 6 CB with a rating of 82 or higher, rather annoying when i cant find a LM at all let alone one in the 80s.
all in all im rather enjoying this mode, concidering that it has a trade interface which is easy to use and a coind system where if you can play semi decent get around 500 coins a match (enough for a bronze level pack) and i think for me being a pretty big fifa fan it was worth the $15 (though if its another $15 in fifa 2010, and not included from the get go, i may think twice befroe getting it) and for anyone else who enjoys it, its worth the buy (that and they included trophies in the patch)
@ DWH when you msg mate i was in the middle of a tourniment which i lost in the semis, would have gladly vsed you though, msg me again if you see me on ill gladly vs you!
March 22nd, 2009
MICK!
listen to me… DONT BUY THE ULTIMATE PACK!
DONT BUY IT!
this feature was in the last UEFA FIfa 06 game… this is again the same bullshit… this should have been in the game because it was on the last games… DONT BUY IT! this will probably be included in FIFA 10… I fucking hate it when they charge you for shit… like the Adidas Live season… if it is sponsored by Adidas then why the fuck should I pay for it?
save your money and your time… dont buy Ultimate Team… fucking assholes…
March 22nd, 2009
That’s a bit of a stretch there Davo. I might just have to revise my score if you keep that up. *Gets out red pen*
March 22nd, 2009
dude i got $100 free psn money anyway, and its not the same as the 06 thing, i didn’t like what they did in 06, this is alot better and i wouldnt have bought it if i didn’t have the free money (my local game store (its called GAME) had a lucky draw for the pre-orders for killzone 2, and i got 2nd prize which was $100 psn money).
the adidas live sessions r a bunch of poo, you get one free league, like most people i choose EPL, manchester utd win 12 games in a row, lose one game and all of a sudden there a 4 star team, with 8-9 teams rated better then them, im sorry but it said form, a team that has then won 12 out of 13 should have a better “form” then mid 70s for the whole team, though this week after what they did against fulham, im expecting mid 70s…
i wouldn’t buy the sessions just for the “updates”. there pretty shifty, with teams rating being based on the result, not the way they played, if a team loses 3-2 in the death of injury time, im sorry but that means the teams were pretty evenly match, not all of a sudden the losing team sucks and the winning team are now the best in the game.
but as i said the ultimate team is fun dude, it may not be for you if your not playing fifa atleast 5-6 times a week like i am (times, not matches… god id lose count if it were matches) but after my exp with it, i’d almost folk out the dough for it as a time filler, as ive grown bored with killzone 2 (i cant do massive session on FPS without someone i know playing with me, i just lose the will to play) and ive never like RE5, and dont get me started on street fighter 4…
btw… to the lad who listed torres and ronaldo on the trade screen for 85,000 and 100,000 respectively, you asshole… i got henry (only 3 stats worse off) for 11,000
March 23rd, 2009
While the games industry as a whole -may- be reasonably well insulated.
Lets see if recession scared punters are interested in PS3rd when more successful machines can be had for around half the price?
2009 and Sony are still floundering.
March 23rd, 2009
The picture for the article made me lol, was it really needed?
March 23rd, 2009
They are still selling well chillyfish – oh noes, the sky is falling.
March 23rd, 2009
“The sky is falling”, just like Sony’s stock value.
March 23rd, 2009
March 23rd is Tuesday. Today is Monday March 22.
March 23rd, 2009
Scratch that LOL
March 23rd, 2009
I think I’m loosing it. I lost a day somehow.
March 23rd, 2009
No he said the 22nd is Monday and its the 23rd. So he is wrong. I just mixed up my first post LOL
March 23rd, 2009
the economy isn’t failing, dave. we’re simply paying the price for allowing Bush and Cheney to take care of their financial buddies for 8 years.
March 23rd, 2009
E74…
I think around the start of the holiday season I said something to the effect of “M$ should be tried for crimes against humanity. All of the kids receiving new shiny 360s will be heart broken in about 4 months”…..
So it turns out I was off…. It was only 3 months.
March 23rd, 2009
They took our jobs!!!!
March 23rd, 2009
I reckon a lot of people just aren’t spending because the governments spooked everyone with economy talk. If they didn’t say anything, it wouldn’t be as bad. Lets all just pretend everything is fine, get that ball rolling again… what economy? lalala.
Seriously lacks flame Dave, I give you an F for Fail.
See me after school.
March 23rd, 2009
wow that was so articulate kev… no reason to explain anything you said…
THEM MEXICO TOOK MAH JERB!
March 23rd, 2009
Didn’t that episode end in a huge man on man orgy?
March 23rd, 2009
I’m erm, not suggesting anything… *hides KY warming*
…
March 23rd, 2009
Royzy are you coming onto Dave…no pun intended…. over 18’s will understand what i meant… sorry DWH..
March 23rd, 2009
I sure am, I hope you guys are fans of scat and school rulers.
March 23rd, 2009
Backs away slowly… hopefully not onto anything.
March 23rd, 2009
Dave just stepped on my soggy sao.
March 23rd, 2009
EVERYONE! BACK TO THE PILE!
March 24th, 2009
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
GET GAY TO SAVE THE FUTURE!! HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHHAAHAHHAH
March 24th, 2009
Ok time to stop coming to this blog site.
March 24th, 2009
“Dave just stepped on my soggy sao.”
ROFLMAO – big time……
Remember Dave, your only gay if you take it ??!!