The computer games industry is rapidly changing – and no-one knows where it is going. Old business models are evolving away, to be replaced with… well, who knows!
For the last 30 years, the business model behind the development of computer games has rarely changed. Development teams developed, publishers published the games, distributors sent the games out to the retailers who then sold them to us. While some of the details might of changed, in general there was a well trodden path to creating and selling computer games. All this is now changing, and quite where we might end up is still unclear.
The reasons for these changes are many, and complex. A new generation of consumers are demanding new products and genres, as well as new ways of playing their games. The tradition where hardware manufacturers released new models every 3-5 years is also evolving – the costs involved have become simply too much. Delivery methods are also changing – delivery channels such as Steam and Impulse have created challenges to retailers dependant on physical media. The very platforms that play games are also changing – social gaming on Facebook etc, are opening up the possibility of reaching millions of gamers.
Even how games are created is evolving. New, smaller indie developers are using middleware technologies such as Unity and others, to develop more experimental games ideas and designs. In an age where many AAA games can take up to 3 years to develop, some are finding the market changing too rapidly to predict a winning game.
And the outcome of all this? Who knows – the games industry is evolving beyond it’s prehistoric past, and quite where we will end up is unknown to anyone. As new markets, platforms, customers and even development platforms all change, the industry is still trying to cope with all these changes.
