Do you want more consolidation in games market?
- Thread starter ksdixon
- Start date
I guess it depends on the type of consolidation, but as a rule of thumb, no. Let me clarify.
If we're talking about any publisher, big or small, or major players like Microsoft, Sony or Nintendo, buying small time studios to help support their existing portfolio / produce games, I have no problems, because they will benefit the consumer with (theoretically) higher quality products with bigger investments behind them.
If we're talking about the same companies buying up entire publishers to then remove existing IP from the competition, I'm pretty much against. I'm also against the acquisition of any developer or publisher that owns recognisable and historic IP for purposes of gating them to a single system.
If we're talking about any publisher, big or small, or major players like Microsoft, Sony or Nintendo, buying small time studios to help support their existing portfolio / produce games, I have no problems, because they will benefit the consumer with (theoretically) higher quality products with bigger investments behind them.
If we're talking about the same companies buying up entire publishers to then remove existing IP from the competition, I'm pretty much against. I'm also against the acquisition of any developer or publisher that owns recognisable and historic IP for purposes of gating them to a single system.
No. It creates a situation where the entity(s) with the most money exert more and more control over the industry. Gaming is a business, but it is also a creative field too and that will be lost in the event of biggest wallet gets everything. Lots of money doesn't necessarily entail understanding, enthusiasm, goodwill or even knowledge of game development, history, and customers. I see less quality games, less innovation, less choice, and even more monetization as outcomes of consolidation.
With the companies we have available to us today it forces me to be against consolidation. Because its the companies i don’t trust.
I dont have an issue with consolidation if its handled the way SIE handled their Bungie acquisition. But im against it if companies handle it the way MS handled the Bethesda acquisition and most likely abk.
I dont have an issue with consolidation if its handled the way SIE handled their Bungie acquisition. But im against it if companies handle it the way MS handled the Bethesda acquisition and most likely abk.
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8BiTw0LF
Guest
Against it.
Every other media were better when there was more "independent" companies around - I reckon it'll be the same for games.
Just look at Netflix and Disney - not quite the quality symbol they started off at. Spotify is also a shitshow for the artists.
Consolidation and streaming platforms for gaming are not something I can see go well for anyone, yet...
Every other media were better when there was more "independent" companies around - I reckon it'll be the same for games.
Just look at Netflix and Disney - not quite the quality symbol they started off at. Spotify is also a shitshow for the artists.
Consolidation and streaming platforms for gaming are not something I can see go well for anyone, yet...
P
peter42O
Guest
Yes.
The big publishers barring either potential legal issues/toxicity/etc. or just doing too much stuff that leads to them losing a lot of money to where they need to sell, the vast majority of them will be just fine. Those that sell are for one of the two reasons above or there's shareholders and investors that simply want to cash out.
There's hundreds of publishers worldwide and majority aren't even known and there's thousands of development studios and majority of them aren't even known. The possibility of getting a lot of these almost non-existent publishers and development studios under a bigger publisher would only make them better, put a spotlight on them and make their games get more focus and attention.
PlayStation, Xbox and Switch have thousands of games on them. Most of which are either bad, mediocre, broken, or so obscure that unless you really research games, you'll most likely never find them. Then there's hidden gems and the underrated games that majority will never find let alone play because they simply get ignored by the vast majority.
I'm not an Indie guy nor do I have any interest in playing those 8/16 bit retro games. However, if there was a few "big" publishers for these games where all the studios could just be under a few "big" publishers, it would make their games better and get focus, attention and spotlight which would lead to more sales and/or higher player counts. Also, in an era of free to play games, most games in general in general are simply going to be lost in the massive catalog of games because a lot of people just stick to their few games every year and that's it. Since free to play is massive, majority of casual gamers will never look at any of these games whatsoever.
When I say a "big" publisher, I don't mean a platform holder or even a third party publisher. I mean a small publisher that relies on Indies, someone like Devolver where they mostly stay with Indies and an AA game here and there. They have a good following so if they were to get a lot of these small Indie studios that are basically unknown and trying to break in along with say Annapurna and maybe one or two others and condense it all into just the few publishers, I believe that would do wonders for all these small Indie studios and games because unless you're a Hollow Knight or Celeste or something that just "hits", you're not only be lost in it all but you'll be quickly forgotten.
My ideal scenario is seeing the three platform holders. A total of 5 to 8 AAA third party publishers, a total of 8 to 12 AA publishers and around 10 or so Indie publishers. And then all the studios are under all these groups and the ones that are simply not up to par will just fade away and it wouldn't matter because there would still be new studios incoming all the time so the studios that just can't perform would be replaced by a new upcoming studio.
Just overall and in general, there's just way too freaking many and the vast majority no one even knows about and even if they do, they won't care because they're either not big enough or they just don't get the focus and attention that they need.
The big publishers barring either potential legal issues/toxicity/etc. or just doing too much stuff that leads to them losing a lot of money to where they need to sell, the vast majority of them will be just fine. Those that sell are for one of the two reasons above or there's shareholders and investors that simply want to cash out.
There's hundreds of publishers worldwide and majority aren't even known and there's thousands of development studios and majority of them aren't even known. The possibility of getting a lot of these almost non-existent publishers and development studios under a bigger publisher would only make them better, put a spotlight on them and make their games get more focus and attention.
PlayStation, Xbox and Switch have thousands of games on them. Most of which are either bad, mediocre, broken, or so obscure that unless you really research games, you'll most likely never find them. Then there's hidden gems and the underrated games that majority will never find let alone play because they simply get ignored by the vast majority.
I'm not an Indie guy nor do I have any interest in playing those 8/16 bit retro games. However, if there was a few "big" publishers for these games where all the studios could just be under a few "big" publishers, it would make their games better and get focus, attention and spotlight which would lead to more sales and/or higher player counts. Also, in an era of free to play games, most games in general in general are simply going to be lost in the massive catalog of games because a lot of people just stick to their few games every year and that's it. Since free to play is massive, majority of casual gamers will never look at any of these games whatsoever.
When I say a "big" publisher, I don't mean a platform holder or even a third party publisher. I mean a small publisher that relies on Indies, someone like Devolver where they mostly stay with Indies and an AA game here and there. They have a good following so if they were to get a lot of these small Indie studios that are basically unknown and trying to break in along with say Annapurna and maybe one or two others and condense it all into just the few publishers, I believe that would do wonders for all these small Indie studios and games because unless you're a Hollow Knight or Celeste or something that just "hits", you're not only be lost in it all but you'll be quickly forgotten.
My ideal scenario is seeing the three platform holders. A total of 5 to 8 AAA third party publishers, a total of 8 to 12 AA publishers and around 10 or so Indie publishers. And then all the studios are under all these groups and the ones that are simply not up to par will just fade away and it wouldn't matter because there would still be new studios incoming all the time so the studios that just can't perform would be replaced by a new upcoming studio.
Just overall and in general, there's just way too freaking many and the vast majority no one even knows about and even if they do, they won't care because they're either not big enough or they just don't get the focus and attention that they need.