(10-07-2013, 11:32 AM)Naunet Wrote:
Until very recently, I don't the Squeenix really appreciated just how large their NA base is. I'd hazard a guess it's far larger even than their JP base now, but Squeenix has never treated NA as a market worth special attention before.
I think you're probably 100% on the money here. They weren't expecting the game to be this popular overall after 1.0, but I think like you said, they REALLY didn't expect this much interest outside of Japan.
(10-07-2013, 11:32 AM)Naunet Wrote: It's a small part of a much broader critique of the game industry, which is heading towards a very devastating bubble pop a la the dot com crash of the 90s. Budgets are getting bigger and bigger, and the industry is set on treating video games like Hollywood blockbuster films, but they're ignoring one very important fact: Video games are a niche market. They may be more mainstream than they used to be, but they can't pull in the same ticket sales that movies can to make back what they spend (and even movies are facing a similar issue with bloated budgets now).
I could write up an entire essay on the details of this, but then this thread would get way off topic. xD
It's not niche anymore, though. Gaming seriously is not a niche market anymore. Now, the division of gaming; PC, Console, and the new bulk being social or app games, divides the issue a bit more.
GTA V is not the fastest selling video game of all time. It is the fastest selling entertainment property of all time at 1 Billion dollars on sell through in THREE DAYS.
It made $800 million in ONE day. The Avengers' 3-day box office take was just under 207.5 million. The Avengers' total gross is 1.5 billion dollars worldwide. Avatar sits as the highest box office gross of all time at 2.7 Billion over its entire theatrical release, but only 77 million its opening weekend.
And a video game has shattered those 3 day records.
The majority of gamers are in their 30s now, but the teens and 20s continue to enter the market. Female gamers have exploded with apps and social gaming. It's simply not a niche market anymore.
However, you're right that the "blockbuster" or AAA titles are stifling the industry. Studios want the biggest return, so they play it safe with sequels instead of trying something new. That's not bad in its own right. Uncharted 2 and 3 arguably improved from the original Uncharted. Despite some opinions, I thought the new Tomb Raider was fantastically well done, and it did make a profit, just not as much as SE hoped.
But then you have the Resident Evil series' downward slide, you've got a new Call of Duty every year. Both of which make money hand over fist, despite not being terribly well received.
But is playing it safe anything we haven't seen before? Mega Man 2, 3, 4, 5 on NES? Tweaks, but the same basic formula.
Fortunately, Sony and Microsoft seem to be realizing that AAA games can't carry the industry due to the high cost and risk of profit yield and are opening the doors to the indie games market more and more. Android and iOS already offer a great platform for indie games as well. With that opening wider, it gives a larger playing field to spread things out and even the largest studios might start trying their hand at smaller scope, simpler and less expensive games. The indie market is also proving that gamers love simpler games as much as the AAA titles and it doesn't have to be a summer blockbuster every release. (Seriously, Activision, you don't have the Bruckheimer us every year)
Then you've got Mega Man's creator having recently looked for $900,000 in crowd sourcing for Mighty No. 9, the spiritual successor to Mega Man, and in 30 days they raised over 3 million dollars.
I don't think we're heading for a dot com crash nor, more related, a video game crash of the 80s, but we're definitely going to see a different playing field in the next 5-10 years.
