Here we go again...another game recession coming?

[Press_Start]

I think the Kinect and Move failed to give us anything to buy over the holiday season and developers are holding back some content for the next gen; espeacially if games will be Wii-U portable as well.

Let me fix that:

I think the Kinect and Move failed because greedy devs have no original thought.

My solution: give 'em whatever drugs Suda 51's snorting.

Exhibit A: Diabolical Pitch

[garagesaleking!!]

I would have to say I am seeing more of a shift to buying new games instead of used. With popular games amazon offers very fair trade in offers, and gamestop as well when you hit the right promotion. With the amount of games now coming with one time use online passes or codes it becomes a greater expense or risk to buy used. Also used game prices have in my eyes been climbing up to the point where it isnt worth buying used. Gamestop used to have everything in stock and it is not uncommon anymore that they are out of stock of used games.

[calthaer]

At least we're not seeing threads like this one being posted every quarter or so like they used to be.

http://www.digitpress.com/forum/show...-crash-in-1984
http://www.digitpress.com/forum/show...h!!!-THIS-YEAR!!
http://www.digitpress.com/forum/show...u-Are-At-Fault
http://www.digitpress.com/forum/show...lump&highlight

(it pains me to link to a zmweasel post, but):
http://www.digitpress.com/forum/show...ey-re-Effed-Up

Some of those date back to 2004. People were probably saying the same thing since the 1990s. There's no crash, sales aren't going to drop off a cliff, life will go on, people will continue gaming. Etc., etc.

[Edmond Dantes]

I recall writing a blog post about this subject. Short version is: gaming is too big now for something like the "crash" to happen again.

The worst I could see happening is games going the way of comics, where once they were a cornerstone of our culture but now they're a niche medium that only nerds know or care about (and even then, they're still well-known thanks to movie adaptations).

[swlovinist]

I think that some here thought that I was hinting at another crash. Not at all, but merely expressing that that the game industry could easily fall into a recession. As my post says, this was not intended to be a doom and gloom report. What I am merely bringing up is that there is a possibility that the next years will be a dip, a recession, a pause. I believe that what the game industry experienced in the mid 90s when games jumped from 16 bit carts to 32 bit CDs could happen again. It was a rough transition. Many game companies suffered. The technology was all over the place.

The future of videogames as we buy it will drastically change over the next ten years, both good and bad.

[duffmanth]

I don't think we're entering a gaming recession, but I think we'll be entering one of those weird temporary game droughts in the next 1-2 years? As the current console generation winds down over the next few years and the new consoles come out, we might see a decline in quality games being released for current consoles b/c they'll be coming out later for next gen consoles.

[swlovinist]

Game drought...yep, that might be a good description of what it might be.

[otaku]

if it does happen it will be because of the economy more than anything. I know I can't afford the hobby anymore but I'm hopeful once everything is sorted out financially for me and my family that I can get some of the new hardware and a 360 again (vita, 3ds) and then you have the new consoles around the corner

Also if they'd lower game prices especially on the handhelds that would help as well. Actually the consoles are still pretty damn spendy to considering how old they are.

wii-drop to 100
360- drop 50-100?
ps3 see above

a dream I know but hey nothing wrong with that right

[Rob2600]

I don't think we're entering a gaming recession, but I think we'll be entering one of those weird temporary game droughts in the next 1-2 years? As the current console generation winds down over the next few years and the new consoles come out, we might see a decline in quality games being released for current consoles b/c they'll be coming out later for next gen consoles.

100% this.

It happens at the end of every hardware generation. When consoles are out for more than five years, we see a lull in sales and game releases. This is the normal cycle of the industry.

Gamers, please stop getting amnesia (and panicking) every several years!