Originally Posted by
TonyTheTiger
But video games don't even have a "depends on the game" caveat. They pretty much universally can't generate any meaningful revenue past their brief window of relevance unless it's an MMO but those are expensive to maintain. That's why we're in the double digits of many long running franchises. Because even a smash success like Final Fantasy VII isn't worth much anymore. The value is almost exclusively in the IP rather than the product. Plus, people don't expect movies to be updated. But games, even the most beloved ones, just get old and people hold that against them. People expect remakes and sequels. They won't pay more than a pittance for a PS1 game on the PS4. Games are just too tied up with technological advancement. They suffer from obsolescence a lot more than any other entertainment medium. Especially since, unlike film, hardware needs to actually support the software or the software has to be modified to work with otherwise incompatible hardware. Movies are open to any delivery method. Cable, Netflix, every home format, etc. Games don't have that luxury. Things have gotten better in that regard but it's still not exactly comparable.
I don't see a crash coming but if things don't improve I do see a lot more Kingdoms of Almur situations in which publishers wind up going out of business despite moving millions of units of otherwise perfectly good games that will never get the chance to thrive because of the surrounding insanity. Wasn't Square Enix bitching that Tomb Raider failed to meet its 10 million units sales goal? There's no rationality anymore. These publishers are living in the land of fairies and unicorns.