Gaming industry undergoing evolution, more unpredictable than ever

By: Muhammad Qasim Hassan

  |   December 13th, 2012   |  

Uncategorized

Insomniac Games boss believes video game industry has become challenging, while adding that developers have been lucky to work in a stable environment for the past 20 years.

Things are changing at a notable pace in the gaming industry, something that has not gone unnoticed by the publishers, developers, analysts and gamers.

Whether these changes are good or bad for the overall health of the industry is something debatable, but one thing that that nearly everyone agrees on is the fact that it is essential to embrace these changes to survive.

The CEO of Insomniac Games Ted Price holds an opinion similar to that of other industry analysts, which believe that the gaming industry has become unstable.

During a recent interview with VentureBeat, he asserted that the industry today is completely different from the one that existed in the past, with unpredictability becoming one of its most prominent characteristics.

According to him, developers had it relatively easy in the past as the industry did not exhibit a significant amount of since this change came about at a slow rate, it was somewhat convenient for them to predict it.

Now, the situation has become far more demanding, with the industry beginning to reflect the current society, which is in the process of continuous evolution in terms of technology.

“The industry reflects society right now,” Price said. “Society is evolving extremely fast in terms of how it uses technology. Our industry is experiencing that change as well. We’ve been very lucky over the last almost two decades to have a stable, predictable industry. But now we’re in a different world. That change has come upon us and everyone else in the world in the last five years. So it’s not just us. It’s the internet. It’s sales. It’s traditional media. Everything and everybody is feeling the effects of this accelerated change in our world.”

Publishers and developers find themselves facing far more challenges and taking far more risks today than what they were used to in the past.

With a great deal of uncertainty prevailing in the industry, it has become nearly impossible to predict the direction in which it is moving and if it is going to halt at any point.

Keeping this evolution and transition into account, the research and development wing of companies have become a key to success, allowing them to stay afloat in the changing environment.

Despite acknowledging the fact that the gaming industry is undergoing evolution, some of the publishers and developers are still taking their chances by sticking to the formula that has proven successful for them over the years. One obvious example of this is Activision, which seems more than satisfied with delivering a similar first-person experience on multiple platforms instead of doing some new and creative.

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely of the writer’s and do not reflect wishfree.com official editorial policy.