http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?s=2da3e3704dec630426aa3ae8456e24cd&t=387241
I dunno. Look at all the people loving day one DLC or loving that the industry is trying to shut down the second hand market.
Most likely. Regular gamers do not go around glorifying DLC and how we all need to buy it to support the ‘developers’. How stupid do they think we are? Developers are not making games in garages anymore. NeoGAF is a high priority for viral marketers to target because of the traffic and due to how many developers look at the forum.
Industry 2.0 keeps falling back on the “We got to support the developers” line whenever they try to ram something anti-consumer such as game consoles that cost half a grand to raising the price of games to DRM and now to DLC. The Industry is very consistent with their faux support of developers for a very good reason.
Industry 1.0 died with Atari. The original gaming crash didn’t occur because of the customers or because of disinterest in gaming. It was the Industry that destroyed the consoles due to their unquenchable greed. They were so greedy, they cheated the developers and wouldn’t even put their names on the box or in the credits (as well as paying them very little). Developers began to bolt. Activision came into existence because of those developers leaving.
The seeds of Industry 2.0 began not too long after. What makes Industry 2.0 very different from Industry 1.0 is that Industry 2.0 has wrapped itself around the developers. “We want to make you rich,” they whisper sweetly into the developer’s ear. And who doesn’t want to become rich? “Look at the money the guys at Infinity Ward are making. That could be you. If only you worked a little harder…” And many developers have become rich. But the Industry 2.0, like a leech, has grown with it. So long as they keep developers ignorant about the ways of business, the developers end up serving the Industry by default. “We know the ways of business. Give us your heart, give us your soul, and you will make money.” Should a developer wise up and go off to make his own business structure, the Industry tells the other developers, “That guy is insane. He will be sleeping in the street very soon.” Industry 2.0 wants games to have massive costs, even at the risk of losing profit, because that ensures developers remain dependent on the Industry.
Companies like Electronic Arts got their start by enshrining the developers. The box of M.U.L.E., for example, is a very famous example of this. The seeds of Industry 2.0 began to sprout during the 16-bit generation. Ever since the 8-bit generation, the Industry 2.0 didn’t like Nintendo because Nintendo could not be manipulated due to how strong their first party software is (and yes, Nintendo did charge very high royalty rates. But then again, Nintendo saw it as their market). The very young Industry 2.0 favored Sega during the 16-bit war mostly because Sega was not Nintendo. But Sega wanted to become like Nintendo. When Sony jumped into the console market, the Industry 2.0 supported Sony very strongly. Sony wasn’t an integrated software and hardware developer like the former arcade companies of Nintendo and Sega. Sony could be manipulated. Both Sega and Nintendo fans will remember how there seemed to be less and less ‘third party’ games for their systems. The Dreamcast, while a great console, was frozen out entirely by the Industry. And Sega, as a console maker, died.
Sony was getting too big for its britches. The Industry began complaining. When Microsoft entered the market, many treated Microsoft as a savior to an extent. But the Industry has been playing Sony against Microsoft and vice versa for quite some time now. While the Industry is singing and laughing, billions and billions of dollars have been lost from Sony and Microsoft just on making some amusement products called game consoles.
Now that we know that analysts’ public statements (which are not part of their jobs) are not genuine beliefs in the future but hollow words to promote the Industry narrative, the predictions of Nintendo’s demise were actually desires from the Industry. Nintendo was OK for handhelds, but they wanted Nintendo gone from consoles.
When the Wii rocketed up like a farg out of Hell, the Industry thought they missed a big pot of money and jumped on the Wii to make games for ‘casuals’. But the ‘casuals’, who are stupid gamers, were apparently not fooled by the Industry. Their casual games never resonated with the Expanded Market. This is why they are currently looking to the iPhone and other areas to put out their ‘casual games’. They will fail there too. Good riddance to the ‘casual games’.
The big problem for Industry 2.0 is that it cannot sell to the Expanded Market. Another problem is that Industry 2.0 is unwilling to lower its costs for games since that would allow developers to leave and start their own independent studios.
Industry 2.0 is disintegrating before our eyes. They are trapped on the Titanic called “Core Gaming” and are unable to get off. Companies like EA are trying to swim, but they are having great difficulty.
What is going to be the death knell for Industry 2.0 is when developers realize they can, and should, get business savvy and overthrow their Industry chains. Developers very much admire and want to be like this guy:
Industry 2.0 encourages this. They would love their developers to make games that sell as Miyamoto does. Rather, developers need to learn from this guy:
He proves that the worlds of game development and game business can be joined. Not everyone is right to take control of a business. People have different abilities. But surely these Industry minions can be replaced with people who love games and people who make games.
When you approach a cage with a singing bird in it, your instinct is to open the cage and let the bird fly out. Why? It is because the bird’s feathers are too bright to be locked inside a cage. I get the same sense when I see all these developers stuck in the Industry cage. You wish to turn the key to open the cage of the Industry. Why? It is because their feathers are too bright.
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