E3 proves Core Market is shrinking

Dead Malstrom,

Dead Malstrom!? I’m not dead yet! Who would want to kill innocent Malstrom?

If you’re a “hardcore” gamer, the Sony, EA, Ubisoft, and Microsoft conferences were all underwhelming. So far, no one has shown off anything amazing. PSVita is probably the only halfway decent item shown, perhaps because its price will put it head-to-head with the 3DS, and we ALL know how wonderfully the 3DS is doing, right? Now, if you have a hardcore gamer’s “the core industry is thriving” perspective, E3 this year has been very confusing so far. If the industry is thriving, why is there a clear lack of new IPs and new ideas? If the industry is thriving, why is there such an emphasis on 3rd-party exclusive DLC? 

“Why are they showing me all of these peripherals? More Kinect? Ughh, those Kinect games look broken. Sesame Street to play with my…what? Kids? Kids aren’t hardcore. Wii is for kids. Disneyland Adventure Kinect? On-rails Fable? What? Playstation Move crammed into every game? What? What’s going on? Where are the games? Why are all of these games sequels and spin-offs?!? I thought the industry was alive and thriving!”

However, if someone holds the Malstrom perspective (the core industry is dying), E3 this year made perfect, perfect sense. The only surprise how it has now ended up being so dang obvious.

I can’t even talk about Nintendo because they haven’t gone yet, but I’m not watching. I’m one of those customers whose trust has been betrayed (DS and Wii owner here).

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The so-called ‘Core’ games they’ve shown are so heavily Industry fried, it makes my gaming arteries scared.

It is almost as if gaming used to have a Bottom Class (say handheld games), Middle Class (not huge budget but good quality), and Upper Class games (big Industry budget). On the PlayStation 1 and 2, on the Xbox, you can really see a large Middle Class series of Core games. But now, all those Middle Class core games are gone. It is just Upper Class core games and the Lower Class games that appear on a download service. It seems like there is no middle of the market anymore.

Due to how expensive these ‘hardcore’ games are to make now, everything seems already established. Halo 4? Gears of War 3? Tomb Raider? It gives gaming a stale feeling.

Often up and coming game franchises would emerged from the middle. But there is no more middle.

What I’m hearing is that since the financial crisis occurring in the United States (and other nations) the past few years, it has become much more difficult for game companies to get loans and funding. It takes 2+ years to make these games. So what we are seeing today is probably an effect from 2009. In 2012, there will likely be even less ‘core games’.