Dev: Gaming Is an Ugly Business, Not Surprised That It's Dying

Jools Watsham, the man behind multiple critical hits on the 3DS, Wii U, Vita and PS3, has spoken out against the gaming industry and how it operates by dictating what games players can and can't buy.

[ltachiUchiha]

I dont think its dying but I am worried about triple a games that cost alot to make but has a niche crowd because they may move to mobile gaming where its more affordable to create games & is quickly growing.

[marinelife9]

This article is one man's opinion. I think the developer is a little frustrated that he can't his game's exposure in retail space. He doesn't seem to realize that brick and mortar stores only have a finite amount of shelf space to put games hence the reason why there is "some guy" making the decision on what games to display and how many to bring in. That's why downloads are the future.

[ShinMaster]

More and more consoles are being sold each generation, so I don't really think it's dying.

[King-u-mad]

Before I actually read this I will explain something.

I doubt he means dying as in it's ceasing to exist. He most likely means it's dying in the sense of it's becoming less and less about the games and more about the money that's made. Therefore gaming would be dying and profit would be the basis of it.

After I have read this.

"Gaming isn’t the way it used to be..."
"These days it’s all about the money"

Go figure I was right. He is also right. I can tell that he's an avid creator that has passion in the creation of video games. It's just a shame the developers like him don't have the control over gaming along with the real gaming enthusiast. Instead publishers are the funds behind gaming and dictate what is and how things are done. The publishers don't really care about anything other than making profit, they are a business. They are not creators when it comes to gaming. All they do is create profit for their own personal interest.

The more this goes on the more gaming will die. It's a shame because I know many people who want to develop games. It just sucks that the only way their passion and dreams can be shown is if they legitimately work to take back gaming from the hands of publishers that do not care about it.

Independent developers are the future of gaming if they make the right choices. Also if the gaming community understands their passion and importance.

[Kidmyst]

The article points out one problem with retailers is the limited selection, where online you can get it and why for me more purchases from Amazon grow even more. Retailers can't stock everything, I get it but they need to open up opportunities like REI does, you buy online and ship to store free via computers around the store. Or ship to home for a charge. I go to Target for say 3 things, they stopped carrying 2 of the 3 so I just end up ordering all 3 from Amazon. Also the Dev here states games used to be made by Geeks in basements, well some are and they are called Indies which many gamers don't give them a chance. Growing up playing these early games, the indies bring back the old fun.

[3-4-5]

Uhhh random useless negative article that doesn't really serve and overall purpose to the betterment of video games at all.

[gninja92]

wel its better than a "top 10 X things we like or want to see in X game " , those are flat-out worse than the youtube commercial about the worker's comp law firm

[ginsunuva]

That's what he means. High-budget gaming is dying.

Mobile is taking off on a global scale, as people in developing countries like China and India get their first ever computer in the form of smartphones, and they play their first digital games.

[MrCrimson]

I haven't bought a game in a box in over 3 years.

[SolidStoner]

when the day comes.. (I mean digital only) then goodbye gaming for me (so it will die, lets hope not).. I dont want to rent games and then let my money to be spend by somebody else.. I want to own my blu ray copy of a game.. and when Im tired of it or need some money I can easily sell it like a TV or a car... you know.. things I own.. like my blu ray collection.. its nice to know that it has huge value.. and I can get back 50% or more of my money, if the game is not too old..

[traumadisaster]

Oh you're keeping old games as a rainy day fund, you'll get 25 cents for those old games *you own."

[matt139]

You're going to stop doing something you enjoy just because you cannot buy boxed games anymore? LOL

[IrishSt0ner]

Buy digital game on GOG (completely DRM free).

Put on hard drive.

There's your physical copy on a rewritable disc, which you are premitted to copy and back up as many times as you want.

Instead of renting a game on a non-replaceable disc, which when it breaks...

Then there's Steam, where the titles you buy you own forever, and can download on any computer should your house burn down or some such terrible event.

Clear to me which is the better system.

[Moldiver]

"I want to own my blu ray copy of a game.. and when Im tired of it or need some money I can easily sell it like a TV or a car... you know.. things I own.. like my blu ray collection.. its nice to know that it has huge value..

THe money you get from selling games back to a store is less than 50% of what you paid for it, they then mark it back up to 75% its original cost. Hardly a worthwhile.

"and I can get back 50% or more of my money, if the game is not too old.."

from the sound of things you like to hold on to your physical media for some time. Is it not, then the case of them being too old to be worth anything by the time you want to sell them?

And Im not prying but if you need to sell your games for money, you probably need a job. Im only saying this because you sound like a few friends of mine. Some sell the games that people bought them for weed and booze after a while. They wont buy any digital games because they cant sell them. I hope you are not one of those types of people.

Me? I own 38 games on my X1 since Xmas....NONE of them are physical copies. I still have 148 games on my X360 hard drive. but sold off all my physical x360 games. This console cycle will be the first one where I retain my entire games collection for the entire duration of the cycle. plus it wont take up a whole load of space on my book case. But its nice to know I still have the option, should I decide to buy the odd special edition physical version of a game that comes with something cool. like that bioshock with the lead big daddy statue..or halo 3 with the master chief head statue.

[freshslicepizza]

so you like to horde things more than enjoy things. awesome.

[nix]

as much as i'm a staunch supporter of buying a disc format of a game, i haven't bought a single PS4 games in a box. i don't know.. i just got into the habit of buying it off the market.

[TRS_Gear]

Not trying to troll, but how many of you that are enjoying downloading games now supported Microsoft with their original proposal for the X1?

I only ask because all I heard about was "DRM" this, and "always online" that, and blah blah blah.

Microsoft's idea for the X1 before it was forced to change STRONGLY supported downloading games, and gave even more ownership and options to physical copies of games. Games that you would be able to let you friends download and play for free using your licence to the game. But then when all these people like SolidStoner caught wind of the fact that they wouldn't be able to trade in their 3 week old copy of Madden 14 for 32 cents, they lost their minds.

I am very happy that the mentality has seemed to change on physical versus digital. However, I wish that as many of you had embraced it from the beginning, allowing Microsoft to provide a console with some truly innovative features.

With all that being said, I still prefer physical copies solely for the fact I enjoy having them display on a book case, I never sell my games.

[bradleejones]

@irishstoner. Till Steam goes under or is sold or comes out with a TOS update, or,or,or...

[SolidStoner]

what ignorant people some of you are... thats my personal thing to sell or not to sell a game..

I prefer to actually own a game.. I buy it new at store for 60 euro.. I get beautiful case with details.. some games like GTA brings huge maps as a poster etc.. and also if I do not like the game.. I can sell it after a month or two for 50 or 40 euros easy! so I really dont understand what is the fuzz about and what dont you understand... when I buy a car I want to sell it after some time same goes for blu rays and considering it dosnt wear off and digital data stays intact, then why the hell not!? because steam what? :D what steam has to do with it in the first place.. steam is steam.. moon is moon... couch is a couch and I will sell those god damn bly rays! :D

[s45gr32]

Ever heard of kickstarter the place to publish your own games

[Khajiit86]

I game on PC, I can get crazy deals, but still love to buy and own physical copies of big releases like GTAV, Witcher 3, MGSV, etc.. Still dont know why PC standard isnt bluray though, games are like 7 discs.

[MrCrimson]

For the most part I don't purchase 60 dollar games unless I have reason to expect that I'll get my moneys worth. I think the last 3-4 XB1 games I bought digitally are the witcher 3, shadows of mordor, advanced warfare, BF:Hardline (regretted this one). I buy a ton of games on steam, I have about 61 steam games alone.

Digital purchases I certainly regret: Watchdogs. I can't remember a game that put me to sleep faster.

On the other hand I stopped returning games to Gamestop around the time I hit 20. My X360 collection is probably around 50 games, all sitting in a cardboard box in my old bedroom at my folks house.

I don't have to goto midnight releases anymore, or pre-order at gamestop or do any of this other crap all these publisher wanted you to do. I goto my xbox click purchase (or steam if on PC) and I am playing in 30 minutes to an hour; on release day or otherwise.

[MrCrimson]

Not to get technical, but the game you "own" is a license. The legal value of which is exactly the same as if I download it. So in short you don't own jack.

I would've been able to trade and lend my digital games to friends but the internet exploded over that idea.

[Mrveryodd]

How the hell did 10 people disagree with what you have or have not bought.....man there is some strange children here .

[UltraNova]

I guess its from people who prefer physical copies and wouldn't bother explaining why they disagree, as usual.

Then you have the excessive compulsive disagree-ers who cant help themselves disagreeing with everything for no reason at all.

Edit: Yeah I'm over-analyzing this I know but what the hell I've got some time and its a slow news day.

[PaulFiend]

Aye, I've chosen digital over disc versions too. It is convenient for me for such reasons:
1. Here, in Ukraine, PSN games are much cheaper than disc-based. Almost every new/upcoming game (triple-A included) costs ~43$, discounts make it even cheaper. I've bought Bloodborne for 26 bucks. When retail prices are still 55-65$.
2. Games these days ship unfinished and buggy with heavy fps drops and bad optimization, I do not see the point of having a shiny new boxed game on my shelf that contains a game's beta version with million potential patches in the future. It kills self-sufficiency of a boxed game, IMO.
3. I've got no one to show my games collection anyway, tbh. :)

It's a shame still because I really liked collecting PS1, PS2, PS3 games, oh well.

[garos82]

thats great!

Here in the UK the digital games cost more than the physical retail ones which is beyond ridiculous.

If the prices of digital fall to an acceptable level i would make much more digital purchases

[Magicite]

Ive bought dozens in apt year alone.

[x_RadicalAura_x]

Gross lol You might as well say "I haven't bought a game in over 3 years."

[caseh]

It's pretty bad, when NHL15 came out I ventured to 3 different supermarket chains (UK) and none of them had it in stock. When I asked about it in one of the stores they basically said that if it wasn't expected to place in the UK charts they simply wouldn't stock it in store.

It's a crap way to operate, why not buy a small amount of stock to please randoms like myself and if it sells get some more and if it doesn't then the outlay for 5 copies at trade price will hardly obliterate their bottom line.

[franwex]

I'm surprised that someone from the UK is interested in an NHL game! I'm from the US and even I'm not interested-not that being into NHL is a bad thing by any means!

[caseh]

Haha yeah I think it stems from the original EA hockey on the Megadrive, loved that. Same goes for the early Madden games.

I never buy them frequently, every couple of years maybe and the PS4 was so thin on the ground for sports games last year it was far more appealing than it would usually be for me.

[HammadTheBeast]

It does pretty well here in Canada, usually all over the storefronts and flyers. Same with 2K and FIFA.

[Chevalier]

That sucks. I work at an EB Games and we stock small releases too. For example we have copies of Rubgy on XB1 and PS4 even though it isn't popular there are people that can come get a copy. Whereas we always have NHL in stock.

[rainslacker]

Unfortunately, big retail doesn't look at what it can sell on the small scale to turn a bit of profit. It's all about selling on the large scale to turn a bit of profit. Is preorder not an option out there in the UK?

[RiPPn]

Not necessarily related to the article, but the article title.. when Bethesda got backlash for showing a "real" trailer of Fallout 4 rather than a bullshot one this was my first thought.. what an ugly business and how much more of this nonsense are these devs going to take before just going to mobile where nobody seems to care..

[DragoonsScaleLegends]

Well most triple a devs in the modern era should know by now that gamers are going to have strong opinions and they shouldn't let that faze their ambitions. If these devs truly care about making an amazing game they know mobile games aren't the place they need to be. Plus people seem to think any game developer can just switch to mobile and all the sudden start making bank, no if that was the case every mobile game would be successful and every mobile developer would be rich but that's simply not possible. Mobile games are like gambling, you want to keep doing good so you keep wasting your money until you either realize it's a waste of money or you actually get good results which is rare in both industrys.

[Angelin]

You are very right. Offcourse when you have an army of devs chances of success rise. But to move from AAA to mobile seems such a pitty. It's like Cameron would move to making youtube videos...

[HammadTheBeast]

They got backlash because it didn't really look all that great, they're using the same engine from 10 years ago and modern open world games look and have looked better than that. And this is Bethesda, everyone knows they have the funds and talent to make it better.

[rainslacker]

Many game devs are gamers, and they have a passion for gaming that goes beyond the current mobile marketplace. Some get to a point where they want to return to the more "pure" state or the more simple places. As long as there is money in the AAA market, these types of devs will get the money they need to make the games they can imagine. One isn't likely to supplant the other, and it's pretty rare that devs let random internet hate phase them. The ones that do usually drop out not too long after, because they've moved on from their passion, to the need for mass appreciation, which just makes people bitter.

[_-EDMIX-_]

This artlce just made me laugh.

"These days it’s all about the money" ...."these days"? When the hell wasn't it? Who the hell was giving games for free? (and staying in business lol)

"but instead it’s all down to the retailers to decide what games are given precious shelf space"

....that isn't really new. It cost lots of money to not only make a physical version, but all the legal things that get involved once its a physical product. It occupies space...unless your with a known publisher, no store is just going to fill up space on shelves of self published titles. A game would have to make HUGE waves to get such a thing done, but thats business.

They can seek mobile if they feel just, but we've seen many fail at that. Sure...big rewards can be had over night......also big, huge loses as well. Publishers have money to where they can actually do physical and digital (in terms of retail) but if they want to produce a physical copy, they can always just set it up on their own site to have them ordered as they have no real physical store.

Why cry about Wal Mart? Gamestop? if your independent and you don't' work with the um.."big boys" then your clearly not going to be getting the same treatment as those that payed to have those things happen. Its a give and take. One is free to sell their IPs, one is free to seek publisher funding, one is free to do many things, but you can't just seek to be independent then fully expect all the luxury that a publisher brings without paying for it.

I hate to see this calling it quits attitude by them by stating they are going to "mobile" lol, just seek a better distribution method for fans to get those sales.

I could only suggest they open up an online store front, you must diversify or die.

[KwietStorm_BLM]

Saying something or someone is "all about the money these days," has a very specific meaning, and it doesn't mean nobody cared about money before.

[Gohadouken]

Still It feels as if he's being sour about his games not getting much exposure in retail , which is understandable , but it's not as if his games were generating a lot of interest online either or from genre that actually had a chance of striking gold easily .

It ado to , mimic the rant of a semi successful indie filmaker complaining about the movie industry and "how it's dying" .

And people should be careful with nostalgia . "the industry isnt how it used to be" "It's only about money now" . Except people forget how money became a big focus as soon as gaming hits appears , with people believing that by releasing any crap they'd get rich , leading up to events like Atari and ET .

[gangsta_red]

"It cost lots of money to not only make a physical version, but all the legal things that get involved once its a physical product. It occupies space...unless your with a known publisher..."

Just another reason why going digital is better and why these companies are looking to do just that. Not every game can have a huge publisher behind them and they would get lost in the shuffle of shelf space in big department stores.

[rainslacker]

Going digital doesn't ensure that your game will get any more exposure, or even sell. Sure it might sell more than it would than a non-existent retail version, but the real way things work is that the online market can be just as brutal.

Exposure can be hard to come by, and often requires playing the game this guy is complaining about and paying out to the powers that be to force your product to the front. Some store fronts are better than others, but most don't put stuff up that isn't performing, and to perform, you need exposure.

In the mobile/indie digital market, the retailer is replaced with the media outlets who charge to give your game the privaledge of a review, with no guarantee that they will even give it a good one(which there shouldn't be). Advertising still costs money on these media outlets.

The digital front allows for easier publishing, but it is a far cry from being the holy grail of making money.

There are plenty of stories of great success, and plenty of stories of games that do moderately well enough to let the dev continue on. But the reality is that the vast majority of indie games released digitally fail, and the ones that tend to do well are those that are backed by a publisher. Because of this, the digital market is about the same as retail, with the exception that manufacturing costs are taken out of the picture.

I've released 5 games onto digital storefronts of varying kinds. 4 I wasn't invested in financially personally, and was just a programmer for them, 1 was a game I actually made with a couple other people. The one I released did OK, made about $400 in about 2 years until I finally just pulled the game so I wouldn't have to keep supporting it. Of the other 4, 2 were publisher backed, 2 were self-published. The 2 publisher backed ones were fairly generic. The 2 self-published ones were quite good, with one being on the level of any highly praised console/Steam indie. The 2 publisher backed ones are the only ones that returned the cost of production. The reason. Publishers could afford to pay off all those media outlets. The 2 self-published ones could only afford to pay off a few of the cheaper outlets. Worse yet, for Google and iStore, their own promotional policies can detrimentally affect the exposure which might come from a game having some decent quick sales. One game(made by someone else) was the highest selling new game on the market place one week due to the dev doing some good pre-marketing. It should have had a top spot for the next week. But Apple decided to do some promotion for biggest selling games of the year on their front page, so all the exposure that game would have gotten for that week was gone, which means it made very little money, ultimately forcing the dev to shut down.

The sad thing is, an indie dev is much more likely to shut down than a big studio, because it's just so much harder to make money.

[Emme]

Isnt he the Jools Whatsham who workd at Sensible Softare creating hits like Sensible Soccer, Whizball and Cannon Fodeer ? The golden age, back then...

[caseh]

Nah I don't think it is, just looked him up and his credits on games don't appear to precede anything that far back. Could be wrong though.

Edit: Nah the Jools you seek is this one - Julian 'Jools' Jameson

[Emme]

Thanks for claryfying !

[Manubiggs]

I understand it is challenging getting a game on the shelf; but it is the same challenge every business has of getting its product on a walmart shelf. Especially if you're not an established brand, to get your brand of soft drink or french fries on the walmart shelf is quite a challenge .. also it is very unlikely you will get it at eye level where the customer actually sees it. It's how retail works ... I don't see anything here that is specific to the games industry.

[WitWolfy]

Want to be a successful gaming business???

MAKE A GAME EVERYBODY WANTS!!! SIMPLE!

There is a reason most companies are closing their doors.. Many being; the product shipped is broken, incomplete, rushed before their year end financials, to please the shareholders or all the ABOVE!

Face it, this gen has had so many broken games so far that I'm surprised people still buy their yearly franchise year on year shovelware.

Gaming isnt dying... It's being killed at a slow pace thanks to devs OVERHYPING and under delivering on their products.

[gangsta_red]

"MAKE A GAME EVERYBODY WANTS!!! SIMPLE!"

Wow, you just solved life's entire problem. I wonder what type of game could be made that EVERYONE would want and enjoy?

[ginsunuva]

I've been telling people for years to just stop being poor, but no one listens to me!

I could have fixed all the world's problems by now.

[rainslacker]

And how do people know they want the game if they don't even know about it?

It's not nearly as simple as you make it seem. You have to spend money to make money is just as true in the gaming industry as it is everywhere else in retail, or digital. Marketing is where the money is made, and that's a place that most indie devs can't compete in without publisher backing. If there is no one that knows about your product, it's highly unlikely that your product will get on a shelf in a store without putting out even more money to buy shelf space.

If a product is actually wanted, then retail will carry it, because retail is a hell of a lot better at determining what people will buy than all the random forum goers combined.

I empathize with where this guy is coming from, but he seems to think that retail should be more accessible. But big retail doesn't deal with individual manufacturers such as this guy. They deal with publishers, or distributors.

[Activemessiah]

It's shady business practices that makes it ugly.. especially when it fires back on their face. Gaming is beautiful and it's simple... supply and demand: Make the games most people want = money thrown in that direction... is it really so hard? also recent games such as Yooka Laylee and Bloodstained are pure examples of this.

[rainzor]

Gaming today is bigger than it was before. More people play games and video games makes more money. Video games are a growing worldwide industry, they make more money than the movie and music industry. This dev is just straight out lying.

[ShaunCameron]

Nah. He's just bitter that his games are not getting the fanfare the other games get.

[BlackPhillip666]

-_- gaming ain't dying

[Roccetarius]

Credibility and quality content is certainly dying, but the industry has a few more years.

[Psytrix]

The total consumer spend on the video games industry last year was 22.41 billion of which 15.4 billion was spent on actual games and that was just in the United States

- theesa.com

[kevinsheeks]

The fun thing about all of this is when it dies they will blame consumers and run to the mobile market to cater to more consumers. And when that well dries up because of over saturation they'll blame those consumers and move on to the next batch without ever looking at themselves.

[MilkMan]

When this guy get into the "business" I have snot older than him probably.
Digital distribution has been around since almost the inception of modern day gaming.
The problem as I see it, it that we lack creativity, imagination and flat out balls.
With this in mind the big companies are to scarred to DO anything so they remain stagnant. COD, WOW, ruined this industry, every wants yearly money makers that make billions.
Not excellent, cool games that make you turn your head and make you remember why you play games in the first play.
Kickstarter was a return to that in some ways.
I'm grateful that it, and services like it exits.

I know at the end of the day, when all the dust settles Nintendo will be left standing. They've never lost focus into what makes games fun. Yes, they stumble, but they never loose sight of whats important. FUN. That's my ultimate prediction going into year whatever.

[battlegrog]

All it is is a over stock and it goes for every industry .same things happening with say the film industry. Way to many production companies and movies coming left right and center non stop

[KilluaX3]

In that article, he didn't say anything about gaming dying?

[MegaSackman]

Doom.

[BeastBoxOne]

I feel console gaming is unexciting right now, unlike mobile and PC gaming. I think it's the hardcore console gamers keeping it relevant. I almost feel as if the Wii u and Xone are dead, and only the PS4 is somewhat alive but with not many games, so how long until ps4 players get tired and all become dead?

This gen is missing those exciting new games that are actually different and good, it's all a bunch of remasters and old worn-out franchises like Halo, Uncharted, CoD, Battlefield etc..

[SteamPowered]

The exclusives have been dwindling on all of the big 3 consoles. If you can afford it, and just want to play multiplats (because lets face it, there are a ton of them) I would go with Pc gaming.

[Death]

Unlike PC with all it's fresh new releases? What big name PC game came out this year without a number after it?

[Aloren]

Heroes of the storm. And its free.
As for "big name", it depends what you call big name. Games like Cities Skyline, Invisible Inc, or Pillars of Eternity are popular PC games without a number after them. And they scored pretty well on metacritic. In fact, based on metacritic scores, they would all be in the top 15 best PS4 games of 2015, the top 10 best Xone games of 2015, and even the top 5 best wiiu games of 2015.

[Death]

If you want to consider Pillars a new IP instead of the Baldurs Gate successor that it is, then the PS4 has Bloodborne which is also technically a new IP. Invisible Inc is also on it's way to the PS4. Cities Skylines is a SimCity ripoff. Hero's of the Storm is Blizzards version of Sony All-Stars.

Unless you can come up with a very compelling list, I think it's safe to say this is a very subjective argument. There is a list of indie shovelware a mile long that some could use to defend their position that console gaming is far from dead. When you take the actual console exclusives and add them to the heap things start looking pretty much the same as what we get on PC.

[s45gr32]

Pillars of Eternity
City Skylines with mod support 😄
Technobabylon
Overgrowth (Ubisoft game)
Monstroum

[Aloren]

"If you want to consider Pillars a new IP instead of the Baldurs Gate successor that it is, then the PS4 has Bloodborne which is also technically a new IP. Invisible Inc is also on it's way to the PS4. Cities Skylines is a SimCity ripoff. Hero's of the Storm is Blizzards version of Sony All-Stars. "

Are you even serious ?

Let's simplify things : 49 good games on PS4 this year so far, 29 on xbox one, 12 on Wii U, and 67 on PC.

[s45gr32]

True the PC last year alone released some awesome games like:

Endless Legend
This War of.Mine
Enola
Dread Out
Among the Sleep
Wasteland 2
Divinity Original Sin
Consortium
Elite Dangerous

This year

Ubisoft platformer overgrown
Pillars of Eternity
City Skylines
Monstroum
Technobabylon

That's not counting upcoming games like

Satellite Reign
Take on Mars
Distance out of early access
The forest out of early access

[SteamPowered]

What a dummy. VR is right around the corner and will completely revolutionize the industry. Console/Pc gaming is more popular than ever and VR will only bolster that demand.

[Flames76]

Dying?It's more alive now than ever we just came off the biggest gen ever and this gen is selling faster than last gen.The only thing that's killing gaming are the CEO's that are being paid $40 to $80 million a year.All CEO's pay needs to be cut by 50% then the gaming industry would be right back on track and fun again for developer's.

[RedTfox]

Yeahh right... totally dying, fuck the numbers and the sales, cause i known better.
This guys to me is or angry/frustrated about something.

[Death]

Console gaming is changing. Triple A development is dying which is why we see so much less this gen than last. It's very high risk investing into todays big name games. To a degree gamers are to blame since we pretty much tear anything apart that we deem to be not good enough. Devs/publishers share that blame since many times they give the ammo to gamers to use against them. See Driveclub and The MCC for good examples from first parties and give a nod to Ubi for the last Assassins release.

There is a reason we are being plagued with indies this gen and it's not because they are tomorrows AAA developers like the ignorant want to believe. indies are low risk/high reward releases bringing in more profits than many big name releases. If you want this to become the future of console gaming, than to a degree console gaming is dead.

[iTechHeads]

lol

[s45gr32]

Digital is the future, but too.many gamers don't want to let go of physical copies based on emotion not facts. If we gamers demand to implement "The First Sale Doctrine " in the digital space, then it will stay the same. Sony is almost there with the PS4 share system for both physical and digital copies. Valve is moving in the right direction with its refund system. GOG beats Valve to the punch by offering games without DRM plus refunds. Origin offers refunds and gives Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo that exclusive games can exist in the digital space. Digital distribution may not be perfect but it offers something that physical distribution cannot offer anytime soon and that is the gamer able to publish their games.

[MasterD919]

I think big-budget gaming could be drowning the little guys here and there, but it's the release schedule timeline that is hurting the industry. Hence, all of the re-mastered collections from last gen we've seen on current gen to fill the void.

[YosefH64]

Ahhhhhhh. I fell for the out of context article header. In case you didn't read the article, the div is saying is that buying physical games is dying, not gaming in general. Damn it clickbait!

[Tex117]

Wow, what a sensationalist headline.

The guy was merely expressing his problems with game distribution. Almost ALL products go through the same thing when it comes to box stores.

As irritating as digital distribution can be, it does allow for a platform to bypass this.

[Michiel1989]

'the man behind multiple critical hits'
That part is bullshit, so the rest is prob bullshit as well.......

[aquaticDonut]

Yeah, well I never buy retail, since I'm on PC, where this problem frankly doesn't exist.

[Tross]

Multiple critical hits? I own all those systems but I'm not familiar with this guy. Has he even produced anything I've played?

I personally prefer physical copies, but I'm warming up to digital games. I have a number of digital only titles, and when it comes to older and hard to find games, I'm cool with just buying digital rather than tracking them down or waiting for Amazon to deliver them. I have exceptions of course. I'm OCD about owning physical copies for certain series, especially my favourites. Digital sales can be great, and I'm willing to opt for a digital copy in most cases if the price is right. I'm also running out of shelf space as I own an average of 40-50 physical games for every system I have.

[rainslacker]

Here's a list of the games his company has made.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

I see a lot of titles pushed out in a short period of time.

Seems most of their games rate between 70-80, with some down there in the 60's. The higher rated games are the ones that actually get retail releases, and have publisher backing, and a recognizable name behind them(ATV).

The vast majority of their games are released on digital, and given the look of them, it's understandable why. Game play may be awesome, but they aren't likely to sell well in retail due to their presentation.

It's rather ironic, that the games they're being cited for here as critically acclaimed actually played the retail game to get that praise. Mutant Mudd is their only digital title that rated above 80.