Posted on November 10th, 2009 at 1:10 pm under Gaming
I don’t usually do this, but since it is topical I’ll make an exception.
My blog post at ITWorld today is an opinion piece (and I wish that site emphasized posts tagged opinion more) about the EA layoffs:
Game developer Electronic Arts announces 1500 job cuts
A bit more ‘extreme’ thoughts that I didn’t feel comfortable sharing over there; I think this is a really bad sign for the so-called ‘core gamer.’ It sounds to me like EA is shifting it’s emphasis from the PC/Xbox/PS3 triad over to free-to-play web games with micro-scams… I mean micro-transactions.
I never would’ve imagined Facebook would become such a threat to “real” games.
Threat AND the basis of the next round of “me too” offerings.
Sometimes I think the game industry is a dog that chases it’s tail…round and round and round and round…
But I like dogs…so…there you go.
Glad I wasn’t the only one who noticed the shift that EA is doing. Great article btw!
[...] allegedly makes up 40% of the workforce directly responsible for 90% of the content. Meanwhile, Electronic Arts cut 1,500 jobs. What that says for the state of the gaming industry and the MMO arena in particular remains to be [...]
This is public companies flailing to figure out how to record profits quarter after quarter, more than a vote for casual games over core games.
I think smart companies will continue to make money in both the casual and core markets, but stupid companies won’t succeed at either.
Here’s a link to an industry analyst saying that core games are a better investment for publishers than casual games…who’s right? No one really knows
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/26221/Analyst_Core_Games_Best_Investment_For_Publishers_As_Wii_Bubble_Deflates.php