Resistance developer Insomniac Games has warned that the core gaming audience "isn't really expanding" and today only triple-A console games are profitable.
Speaking after the launch of its new social games division, chief creative officer Brian Hastings told CasualGaming.biz that he feels the console market is becoming an increasingly challenging place for developers.
"That core audience isn't really expanding much and the total dollars each core gamer spends isn't going up," he said.
"So as triple-A budgets inflate, each developer has to steal players away from other games in order to simply keep their revenues above their costs. The only long term viable solution for all parties would be to expand the audience.
"I'm not in the doom-and-gloom camp in terms of the health of the console market, but I do think it's becoming increasingly challenging in that space. It's getting to the point where only the very best triple-A console games are profitable.
"And, of course, it's increasingly expensive to make the very best games. So not every developer can survive.
Hastings argued that the reason Insomniac and many other triple-A developers are moving into the social sector is because "there is simply a bigger audience there"
"Because triple-A games are necessarily complex they have a fairly predefined audience of core gamers," he said.
"But they're not giving away free money in the social and mobile space either. You still have to compete with the other top teams in the industry."
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/29 ... rofitable/Time to adapt then - it wasn't that long ago your 'core gamer' was
just a male kid/teenager. Buyers of all shades also have more disposable income apparently, but then there's other purchases vying for their attention, which is why there should be innovation in advertising/promoting too. Christ, long story short, you're seeing the same sort of risk factors all the creative industries are now facing, see if you can learn anything from the others. Even if it's just what
not to do...
