4 ms·

This is not the graph of industry revenue for an industry that "can't go on like this". https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/graph/png/Video_game_industry

by sien 7y ago

This is not the graph of industry revenue for an industry that "can't go on like this". https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/graph/png/Video_game_industry/0/f85d13c567f225f5e4fc8fd52f98c3f775e42591.png https://en.wikipedia.org/api/rest_v1/page/graph/png/Video_ga... The game industry is probably in better health than book publishing, music, film or TV. For consumer the plethora of things available has never been greater.

calpaterson 7y ago
Revenue is not the same as profit. It is possible to sell a lot of something and not make much profit.
- falcor84 7y ago
  Agreed, but revenue is the clearest indicator of consumer interest. As long as the revenue is growing, there's no real risk that companies would stop making games.
  - bogwog 7y ago
    Unless, as is probably the case here, most of that revenue comes from preying on people with gambling addiction through lootboxes, psychological manipulation, peer pressure, etc. When that stuff gets banned, revenue will tank and any developer completely reliant on that will be in big trouble.
    - ryandrake 7y ago
      Is it really inevitable that these things will one day be banned? If anything the USA is moving more and more toward liberalizing gambling. Casinos and card rooms are no longer limited to just Atlantic City and Vegas, online poker is slowly marching toward legalization state-by-state. Sports betting is opening up. If anything, I see video games and casino gambling industries slowly merging over the next ten years or so, borrowing profitable ideas from each other and overlapping their audiences.
AlexandrB 7y ago
I think a sizable chunk[1] of that revenue may be coming from mechanics that are more properly classified as gambling. If/when regulators catch on, things might change very quickly. [1] Mobile seems to be the fastest growing segment and it’s dominated by gambling and psychologically manipulative micro transactions.
- checktheorder 7y ago
  The only game I've bothered to put on my new phone since buying it 6 months ago is an open source Scrabble clone I found on F-droid called "Crossword". Every so often I'll look on the Play Store for a game, but I find nothing but pay-to-win advertising-flooded lookalikes and abandon the search. I'm perfectly happy to pay a one-time price for a fun game that includes all content and is playable offline. Unfortunately they seem to be in rather short supply.

by sien 7y ago

calpaterson 7y ago

Revenue is not the same as profit. It is possible to sell a lot of something and not make much profit.

falcor84 7y ago
Agreed, but revenue is the clearest indicator of consumer interest. As long as the revenue is growing, there's no real risk that companies would stop making games.
- bogwog 7y ago
  Unless, as is probably the case here, most of that revenue comes from preying on people with gambling addiction through lootboxes, psychological manipulation, peer pressure, etc. When that stuff gets banned, revenue will tank and any developer completely reliant on that will be in big trouble.
  - ryandrake 7y ago
    Is it really inevitable that these things will one day be banned? If anything the USA is moving more and more toward liberalizing gambling. Casinos and card rooms are no longer limited to just Atlantic City and Vegas, online poker is slowly marching toward legalization state-by-state. Sports betting is opening up. If anything, I see video games and casino gambling industries slowly merging over the next ten years or so, borrowing profitable ideas from each other and overlapping their audiences.

AlexandrB 7y ago

I think a sizable chunk[1] of that revenue may be coming from mechanics that are more properly classified as gambling. If/when regulators catch on, things might change very quickly. [1] Mobile seems to be the fastest growing segment and it’s dominated by gambling and psychologically manipulative micro transactions.

checktheorder 7y ago
The only game I've bothered to put on my new phone since buying it 6 months ago is an open source Scrabble clone I found on F-droid called "Crossword". Every so often I'll look on the Play Store for a game, but I find nothing but pay-to-win advertising-flooded lookalikes and abandon the search. I'm perfectly happy to pay a one-time price for a fun game that includes all content and is playable offline. Unfortunately they seem to be in rather short supply.