Bad economy means lame games

Get ready for more games on the Wii

(Credit: Nintendo)

The video game industry is being hit hard by the economy, just like every other industry. And although I believe it's potentially recession-proof, it won't be easy for gaming to stay that way.

Things are looking bleak for game creators. In a statement Tuesday, Electronic Arts, the world's largest video game developer, announced that it was forced to lay off about 1,100 employees and close 12 facilities worldwide to streamline its business operation and cut operating expenses by $500 million to prepare for uncertain economic times.

Microsoft Game Studios was hit hard by Microsoft's recent announcement of 5,000 layoffs. Avalanche Studios, another prominent developer, cut nearly half its staff late last year. And Take-Two Interactive, a former EA acquisition target, announced in its last quarterly filing that it incurred a $15 million loss for the three months ending October 31, 2008.

On a macro level, oddly, things look just fine in the video game industry. But when we look closer into sales data (from NPD), it becomes blatantly clear that that's mainly due to the Wii's success and the popularity of established game franchises. So as the recession worsens during 2009, I think we can expect a slew of third-party Wii games, and many more sequels, as developers try to capitalize on the best ways to make a lot of money from very limited resources.

Speaking to reporters after announcing quarterly earnings, EA CEO John Riccitello said that his company will devote "half [its] emphasis" to the Wii during 2009. The reason? "Nintendo is the leader."

Riccitello went on to say that the Wii is also attractive because "development is typically a third to a fourth as much for a Wii game than it is for a PS3 or an Xbox 360 game." And with a larger installed base than its competitors, the Wii has become an important platform for third-party developers.

It makes sense. The Wii is embarrassing competitors in hardware sales and it's obvious after considering sales data that what gamers are looking for in Wii titles is simplicity and fun. So far, Nintendo appears to be the only gaming company to realize that. That's why 2009 will see a glut of new Wii titles from third-parties that have finally woken up and realized that the Wii can't be ignored if they want to make money.

Developer success in 2009 goes beyond the Wii. For years now, video game sequels and major franchises have provided developers with the profit opportunities. During 2008, the top ten best-selling titles list was dominated by first-party Wii games, like Wii Play and Mario Kart, as well as popular game franchise sequels, like GTA IV and Call of Duty: World at War. There wasn't one new game franchise in the top ten.

The cost of developing a video game from scratch is enormous. When the economy is healthy, taking a risk on a new franchise isn't such a bad thing; it gives game developers an opportunity to try something unique and start new franchises that can later be milked for years.

But when the economy is fraught with uncertainty like it is right now, developers are forced to take fewer risks and release sequels that not only cut down on development costs, but usually turn a nice profit, since gamers are more willing to spend their money on game play and characters they already know and love.

And that's exactly why the upcoming release calendar is overloaded with sequels, new takes on old ideas, and Wii games. Developers realize that just because 2008 was a watershed year for gaming, 2009 may not be. So the only way to ensure success is to create games that will appeal to gamers who want to head back into their favorite franchise's world.

There's a problem with that. More often than not, I've found that sequels ruin popular franchises. Sure, Call of Duty 4 was better than its predecessors and even Gears of War 2 was better than the first game, but I don't think they are the norm. In fact, I can cite Call of Duty: World at War and Halo 2 as just two (of many) examples that strengthen my claim.

But maybe my distaste for most sequels isn't shared by the majority. Based on NPD numbers from 2008, 2007, and prior years, we buy more sequels than new properties. And developers know that.

Blame the economy or blame ourselves. But like it or not, you'll be seeing a slew of sequels and third-party Wii games during 2009.

Check out Don's Digital Home podcast, Twitter feed, and FriendFeed.

[xcal78]

I hope Diablo and Starcraft sequels will be better then the originals. Generally sequels do go downhill fast.

[sting7k]

I'm with you, although I played Diablo II so much that I don't know if they can top it. I just hope D3 and SC2 come out in my lifetime.

[C433Z]

Well, blizzard has a better track record than most companies. Plus they spend enormous amounts of time developing there games, and they're not in any rush to release them 'cause of their cash-cow called WOW.

I really wanna play Starcraft 2 :(

[PreTenD7979]

True, but this issue concerning money, Blizzard is most likely immune, with WoW supporting them that is.
When comparing games to originals, especially Starcraft, and the Diablo series, it has monstrous shoes to fill. The games themselves have been out for a long time. Givin that, a lot of people have grown to love them, for me when D2 came out it was a hard transition because I had played D1 so much, I imagine we will all go through this same thing when D3 and Sc2 comes out.

[RojAvon]

I'm so sick of seeing Wii Play at the top to the sales list. It's only there because it pretty much came free when you buy a second controller.

[xcal78]

Are you sick of Nintendo's good marketing to achieve that or just the fact that your prefered game is below this? Will you be sick at BF goodrich sales because my new car came with them installed?

[madcow06]

I totally agree, the only reason wii play sold so many copies is the free controller. That's the only reason my room mate bought it. Not to say some of the games aren't fun, they are, just not all of them. Certainly not deserving of the title of best selling game of all time. Would never have happened if it was sold as a stand alone game.

[PreTenD7979]

Agreed, I don't like Wii Play that much, although it doesn't bother me to see it at the top of the lists, If anyone deserves a Top listing game, it's certainly Nintendo, with their long lasting dedication to the gamers. Sony, and Microsoft are still pups (although coming up fast) in this big dogs game.

[jezzur]

I think of gamers as similar to car-nerds. They want the big black box, the enormous fans, then neon lights. Basically just kids or grown up kids trying to elevate themselves... I am a serious gamer, this is my serious computer, watch me play my serious games.

What Wii has done is make it fun. Same with guitar hero and singstar and similar games. A bunch of nerds in a room not saying a word, probably half stoned, completely baked, or just naturally incapable of normal social interaction, is not an attractive proposition for many people, whereas having a few beers and playing Wii or carrying on like idiots singing and pretending to be a heroic guitarist is appealing. Moreover, girls find the latter more fun, and kids love Wii too.

[not2worried]

Wii just hasn't had that many great games...
If development is a third to a fourth of other systems... does that mean the quality is a third to a fourth too.
Seems that way... Hope that changes, with that many people that own one. Give them a reason to buy some games with it.

[sting7k]

Very boring year for games this year. Looks like Halo 3 will be in my disc drive for a long time. Good thing there is some awesome looking DLC coming for GTA4 soon.

[Penguinisto]

Re. the title: I call BS.

Castle Wolfenstein, came out during the early 1990s, when we were still struggling to get out of a recession. Atari came out with the 2600, PacMan arrived, and Asteroids was a solid best-seller during the Stagflation of the late 1970s.

FFS, we don't even have to talk about video games... The board game Monopoly, arguably the best selling commercial board game of the 20th century, was IIRC conceived of and originally sold during the middle of The Great Depression.

But that's the funny part of your whole premise... the best games of all time are often made by folks who weren't scared of accountants, and simply concentrated on taking an excellent idea and committing it to paper, cardboard, a ROM chip, or a DVD.


(Besides, wasn't Final Fantasy originally made and sold as a last-ditch mentality of 'screw it, we're gonna die anyway so we may as well go out with a bang!' ? Now it's up to what, its 12th iteration and drowning in money?)

/P

[ferretboy88]

We has a recession in the early 90's? How about the late 90's? IN 1998-2000 I made about $10,000$25,000 a year. When Bush became President I made 5 times that for each year until this year. My business is booming. People act like its the great depression all over again.

[polis12]

I like the Final Fantasy throwback in this comment because it is very true. Sometimes when you are in dire straits you just say "The Hell with it" and truly come out with an amazing idea. And yes, the first Final Fantasy game was the last-ditch effort of a failing software company and now look at it, it is one of the best-selling game series of all time.

Disclaimer: I'll admit, I am a huge FF fanboy.

[perontopsp]

@ferretboy88

So just becuase you were stupid in 98-00 and didn't make any money and then in 01 you smarted up from your mistakes and made money doesn't mean that Penguinisto wrong

[pentest]

What about all the games on xbox and PS?

Generic Shooter A part 7
Generic Shooter B part 4
Generic RPG A part 11
Generic RPG B part 15
Generic RTS A part 3
Generic RTS B part 5

etc, etc, etc

Fact is, 99.9% of all games are lame.

[MajorSlax]

2009 does indeed look pretty bleak concerning video games... Being somewhat of a gamer I look at all 3 systems and PC, and yeah, not much looks interesting (5 games worthy of interest per system at most), and as usual we are drowning in Wii crapware (nevertheless with some interesting Wii releases-to-be like The Conduit and Dead Space for instance [!] ). And even on the 2 others, we're looking only at a few games to look forward to, and indeed, these involve (for me) Bioshock 2, Star Ocean 4, Final Fantasy XIII (2010)... Yep, only sequels, big franchises.

One reason for that is that most popular genre (race/car, RPG, FPS, RTS, etc...) have their flagships, their names are known by everyone, be they Call of Duty, Final Fantasy, or Starcraft, and trying to create a new genre is HARD (Mirror's Edge anyone ?), and too much of a risk in the current climate. Who would go for "Random FPS that you've never heard of" instead of Call of Duty XVIII ? At least with Call of Duty you're pretty much guaranteed to have fun and have myriads of players to play with... Yes, multiplayer does play a role in this tendency to have only mainstream games.

But I also agree that in this dismal state of things, there will likely be some small studio that will come up with THE idea, that tons of people will love and adopt, and in a few months they'll be as famous and rich as any, and that overall this.

Finally, I think that developers all rushing toward the Wii is sort of a double edged sword. Why ? Because ok, there are billions of Wii out there (I have one myself... in its box for now, no good games in sight). But how many of these are played regularly enough that people actually buy new games for them ? Only a portion of those billions I think, so if they're gonna make even more games for it, better market/make them really good so that the Wiis that were hibernating (I think that's a lot of them) wake up. I know it will take a LOT for mine to wake up, I've been disappointed enough by this machine, there is no valid game aside from the Nintendo ones IMO.

[ferretboy88]

Wii games are lame. 90% of them take about a week to make. People will still buy them because they are old people or little kids that play the wii and they don't know any better.

[Zoobie]

Actually, people aren't buying them (aside from the Nintendo ones) which is why you see clearance bins filled with shovel-ware Wii games at Wal-Mart. I'm fed up hearing from CEOs of companies like THQ complaining that Wii games end up in the discount bins too quickly, when they were the ones who had the audacity to publish those very lame games in the first place.

A quick look at any Wii best-selling games list reveals Mario Galaxy, Mario Kart, SSBB, Wii Fit... That tells me that the people buying games do know better and regardless of what you see on the store shelves, Babyz Ultimate Dance Party with Unicornz isn't being bought by most people, kids and old people included.

[homercles82]

I am 26 and enjoy the games on the Wii. Where do I fit in?

Generalizations ftl

[bearvp]

Hopefully this move by EA will have me buying more Wii games. I own all 3 consoles and my Wii gets the least amount of playtime. I had a blast with the latest Zelda, but after that everything seemed very meh to me, including Mario Kart Wii (the controls seemed dumbed down since previous installments). Mario Galaxy and SSBB are fun, but still didn't keep me totally interested like Zelda:TP did.

EA is making a Tennis game featuring the WiiMotion Plus capability, so that is the next Wii game on my radar to buy. I've been dying for a golf/tennis game that offers pretty much 1:1 motion control without the impreciseness of the WiiMote ruining the gameplay.

[sythara]

Majority of all mainstream games that came out in the past 7 years are all crap, and it has nothing to do with the economy or console sales. In fact, modern console sales are what ruined the gaming industry.

It used to be that console games were simple, dumb, and straight forward (very few exceptions) and PC games were deep and complex. Now everything is catering towards mass production of cookie cutter console games for the general 12 year old with ADD who gets bored if something doesen't blow up every 30 seconds.

Face it, the games that are out right now suck. There are few exceptions like Portal which is a masterpiece compared to everything out right now. And who casueed it? You did. People keep buying crap simply because it has a familiar name with a number next to it, and if the game sucks the company that made it doesen't care. They made money off you already, so they release the next title of same steamy pile and you will buy it again because some magazine promises that bugs have been fixed and the game is now better. Same cycle repeats itself every few months because people cannot stay focused long enough to actually remember anything.

But same exact can be said about the entire entertainment industry, not just games.

[bearvp]

Some console cookie cutter games suck and contributed to your theory, but games like COD4, Halo Series, GoW, MGS, Zelda, etc. are all stellar games on consoles that do not "suck". I feel a bit of the PC gamer smugness coming from you.

[Warhaven]

@ bearvp

I don't quite understand what's so original about Halo and other 1st person shooters on the XBox. Was it because it's actually playable on a console, or what? I played Halo a little bit, and Halo 2 a little bit more, but didn't see anything particularly special about the games. They were identical to every single other first person shooter game all the way back to Duke Nukem.

[Super2online]

One of the things that made Halo unique was that you could move from shooter to driver, to pilot in the same game. It was unsual at the time and it made game play much better. Halo 2 really flourished in Live with interactivity. Halo 3 rocked on all levels. I have 3 boys ages 8-10 and when they are not playing Guitar Hero, they are living in Halo 3. All their friends want to play Halo 3 when they come over.

We also have a Wii, originally bought for our 7 year old daughter, but the excitement wore off so quickly that it just sits there most of the time unused.

[sythara]

Super2online

Operation Flashpoint, released before Halo was the first shooter that incorporated vehicles and helicopters. Halo was marketed better. Halo series are not original, they are cookie cutter, almost WoW look alike shooter with shallow storyline that is an obvious rip-off and subsequent butchering of the book Ringworld.

CoD4 was a great game, but no real replay value. Zelda is this atrocious remake of a remake of a remake that should have ended in 1998, but Nintendo wants to keep milking fanboys for money, just as Microsoft did with Halo, just as 99% of other game companies do with every other title out there (i.e. EA).

So to sum it all up, economy has nothing to do with quality of games, its games have everything to do with games. Companies keep producing crap, so they get crap from sales.

[VanorOrion]

Ya know, not all console games are dumbed down for 12 year olds. In fact, I'd challenge any PC gamer to try and play Monster Hunter which they would probably just pass off as a hack and slash game at first glance, then crack a grin as they cuss the game out when the monsters don't just roll over and die for them, or watch them complain that the game is terrible because it forces you to actually aim your attacks and there's no lock-on.

Of course then there's Shin Megami Tensei and Persona, both of which reward the player for exploiting enemy weaknesses and penalizes them for not guarding their own.

And of course, if you wanna talk about the granddad of horrid gameplay design, WoW fits that bill to a T. The fact of the matter is that most of what we consider to be real "games" are in the niche. The majority will just naturally gravitate towards games that are accessible and don't require much thought or time investment, and that's fine. I've played plenty of games that are very accessible without sacrificing their depth or challenge of gameplay, without requiring the player to devote their lives to the game.

The fact is that the consoles and the PC all offer different things. I'm open-minded enough to be able to respect games from most genres and I've been playing games since the 2600. But I'd still like to see PC snobs try to talk about how dumbed down console games are after they get their posteriors creamed by a Rajang.

[Dylan_Wisor]

"...it's obvious after considering sales data that what gamers are looking for in Wii titles is simplicity and fun."

No, Don, that's not what gamers want, that's what the public wants. That's why the Wii makes so much money. They're catering to everyone, not just the usual market of gamers who are clinging to their Xboxes and PS3s.

[wolvesgod]

Hell to support your statement Nintendo is even backing MadWorld saying that the Wii is for anyone from little kids to old seniors. Even, finally a game developer seen what the Wii was missing and decided to make a game to challenge the PS3 and X-box's graphics on the Wii's lower technology. Which is the birth of The Conduit.

[Super2online]

What's astonishing to me is that people are still buying these machines with so much garbage on the shelves to play. Are they so blinded by the uniqueness of the controller and the supposed outstanding game play it enables that they also blindly trust that the game selection is awesome too.

I'm also astonished that Sony and Microsoft have not come out with controllers that go way beyond what Wii's controllers do. If this is what people want, then give it to them so they actually have some decent games to play on the Xbox and PS3 consoles!

[tcr071]

Nintendo Wii means lame games and always has. Recession won't change much.

[Inconnux]

Its about time that game developers figure out that 50% of the console market is owned by Nintendo Wii. Personally I love the Wii (and consider myself a hardcore gamer) and the new controller is definitely better than the 'standard' console controller. Does this mean that they are going to be shovel ware games? I hope not, but then again Nintendo's quality games seem to dominate game sales... 6-8 of the top selling games are always for Nintendo. If 3rd party developers do it right they could make a large amount of money this year.

For FPS/RTS games I will stick to the PC but for sports games the Wii is the best system of the lot.

[tcr071]

You can't make mainstream games for the Wii. The top 5-6 selling games for the Wii are all made by Nintendo of America. Three of the six are part of never-ending sequels (Mario Kart, Mario, Super Smash Bros), one is a fitness "game" (Wii Fit), one is bundled with the console (Wii Sports) and shouldn't even count as a game sale, and the other is bundled with a remote and is virtually free as well.

Show me five great Wii games and I'll show you a liar.

[Inconnux]

#1 SSBB
#2 MarioKart
#3 CoD: WaW
#4 Super Mario Galaxy
#5 World of Goo
#6 Guitar Hero : world tour
#7 Super Paper Mario
#8 Resident Evil 4
#9 Metroid Prime 3
#10 No More Heroes
#11 deblob
#12 Megaman 9
#13 Tiger Woods PGA tour 2009
#14 WarioWare: Smooth Moves
#15 Medal of Honor Heroes 2
#16 MLB Power Pros 2008

All Wii non-shovelware games...

[VanorOrion]

You can add Dawn of the New World, House of the Dead Overkill, Onechanbara, and Tenchu to that list now.

[someguynamedbob]

they should start pumping out all the older games from the psx/n64 and beyond era cause i would like to play all of those games but i cant find them tho

[W1gglesnarf]

Seriously, there are only 2 - 3 worthwhile games on the wii. Most people i know buy wii's then they end up sitting on the shelf becuase they plop out the most cheesy games made. True gamers know this... Not to mention this is third time i have seen this article just refurbished to get people to gripe about how they hate halo / other top games because they are either sick of hearing about them or they just are being anal retards to get other people whining. All consols have thier positives and negatives both in games and features. These articles are just getting pathetic and unimaginative. And as far as games go there are a bunch of good games comming out that have not been trashed. It boils down to just this...people buy what they like and publishers should know which community they are targeting before they toss out any games.... In reply to all halo / COD / mainstream game haters, There really is no original games just the same ideas rehashed since virtual gaming became the mainstream all that matters is how much effort they put into it and alot of the main money grabbers were just about to give the audience what they want at the time and people love them so suck it up and stop whinning about it and go back to playing games made for old woman like ..cooking momma / hanna montana's dance moves where you belong..

[McAwesometon]

i own a wii and i must say it blows. Unfortunately its the only console i have, i regualrly use my friends Xbox and love it, I use my wii about once or twice a month for about 5-15 minutes, get bored and do something else, i was suckered in by its "motion controls" (which suck). the part i hate most is all the ****** third party titles that everyone but Nintendo reject (because of the the ****** factor). Nintendo used to be awesome, but now are lame sellouts. I do not, in fact look forward to a sequel to "Sandy Beach", and hope nintendo rot's in hell.

[blusky08]

The games are lame because--like the Hollywood writers--there isn't any real talent and/or dedication out there. Plus, the American public will lap up any drivel marketed to them (ie, Guitar Hero). They especially market to teenagers, so what do you expect? The producers of entertainment (movies, games, music, etc) don't even have to try.

[Tinman52]

I saw this blog 5, 10, 20 years ago. It's good to see that writers can still keep their jobs with recycled articles too. It's not just sequelitis in the games industry.

[ywkhgqo]

some great games just never get off the ground. I've played every major shooter known to man but nothing comes close to Tribes 2. The sheer depth and teamwork involved to play that game is amazing. If it hadn't been plagued by bugs when it originally came out there might be more than 500 people playing it right now. The mod community for it was outstanding. You can download the full game at tribesnext.net or google tribesnext. Official support for the game has ended but they keep it going.
EA is not a good company to be going off of. They pissed off a LOT of customers with the spore DRM fiasco.