Based on what was coming out of GDC it sounds like more and more developers are going away from developing console games to creating games that belong on Facebook or an App store. They cost less, and are mostly likely going to have a higher profit margin. It seems for the smaller developer trying to compete with Activision and Call of Duty may be a thing of the past. Goozernation wants to know, in the future, could console games be in trouble?
The legal battle for the acquisition of Activision Blizzard continues, with Microsoft countering one of the FTC's latest moves and the Judge delaying a relevant ruling.
Look, to be honest the FTC should just stop.
MS has A/B and nothing has really changed yet...if you are worried about 5-10 years from now...just drop it cause the future is unpredictable.
Take this week's news, that 4 Xbox exclusive are going Multiplatform.
The FTC and the lawyers behind the "Gamers' lawsuit" against Microsoft over the acquisition of Activision Blizzard are denouncing the recent layoffs within the respective legal battles.
The legal battle between Microsoft and the FTC over the Activision Blizzard acquisition continues. The house of Xbox just scored a major point but the FTC is firing back.
Yeah man I think Microsoft here getting to probe is kinda wrong unless you only have accessed to necessary information not complete access imo.
Obviously they aren't giving them the password to Sony's computers and telling them "help yourself."
Maybe Microsoft should also talk and get help from their "congressional influencers" at The Capital. They had plenty to say on the matter before the acquisition. They are mighty quiet after the purchase went through. Almost as if they had a stake in the matter.
Could you perhaps explain how this is related? I'm honestly curious since you seem to bring it up rather often.
You should be careful upsetting Sony too much Microsoft.
You might need them to sell your subpar games soon.
This isn't a major victory. They're essentially being allowed to call witnesses in regards to agreements they reached with Sony and Ubisoft which was initially blocked because Microsoft didn't make the request through the proper channels. This case is dead, there is no way the ftc will be allowed to unwind this acquisition.
they probably know case is death but want some proof to sue them for a few millions regarding other stuff, the ftc loves to sue everyone, be sure that as soon as all this end they will just go sue MS and end in a settlement.
I went to an amazing panel at GDC that was full of great game designers who said, basically - look, there are crap games on EVERY generation of hardware, and social games are just another platform. There are crap games, and there are great games, and they allow great game developers to make a living at doing what we want them to do - make great games. I don't think social games mean the doom of consoles, any more than the Wii meant the doom of PC gaming. There's plenty of room and space for great games whatever the platform.
That's a great argument that makes sense.
It's stated in the article that the very definition of gamer has changed because more and more people have found this casual games that they can play for mere minutes at a time. If the "gamer" base is expanding because of these casual games it doesn't necessarily mean that consoles are in trouble:
For the sake of argument there is only one console manufacturer in this example.
If we have a gamer base made up of 20 people and they all consider themselves "hardcore" gamers, the console manufacturer depends on them to buy their console and games and can reach 100% of their audience.
If casual games turn 80 more people into "gamers" then the gamer base has grown to 100 though the console manufacturer can't guarantee that all 100 will buy their console and games, though they do know that 20% of the gamer audience will buy the console.
In this example the expansion of the gamer base suddenly made the numbers look bad for the console manufacturer who went from hitting 100% of the market (20/20) to a mere 20% (20/100) but the amount of consumers they're providing for hasn't changed.
My point is that the social games will not destroy console gaming because, though they're all "gamers", they're catering to different demographics.
Social games are filling a niche; they're providing entertainment for people who find entertainment in that sort of thing. Video games didn't kill board games; WoW didn't kill D&D, etc.