1up writes:
Consolidation and creativity can and must coexist.
Prefacing his keynote with the admission, "deep down, probably more than anything else, I'm a business guy," EA CEO John Riccitiello delivered a sobering look at the coming years for the industry. It began with his pronouncement that the days of starting a studio in your garage are done for good. He went on to recount the familiar litany of all the pressures applied by the rising cost of development from the challenges multiple platforms present to the need to have upwards of a 200 person staff to make a AA title. And it all led to his summing it up saying, "If you're a small studio doing a title every year... you probably find yourself in a pretty dangerous situation."
FuRuy has opened a Twitter account called “Project Alice” teasing a new game announcement on April 25 at 20:30 JST.
New report from Skillsearch found that 22% of those surveyed had been laid off within the past 12 months.
It's a step forward for Stop Killing Games.
=]
EA CEO the perfect person to have when commenting on garage studios there is no way they would have a conflicting interest of any kind right?
"If you're a small studio doing a title every year... you probably find yourself in a pretty dangerous situation."
Although not a small studio there's nothing wrong with doing a title every year, just tell that to the guys behind Resistance and R&C, they say hi btw and would like you to check out Resistance 2 this year! :D
Anyway, I'm sure it's not a huge surprise that independant companies are dropping out of contention in the 'big' games market, however in the 'small' games market (DLC) an independant company is now allowed to truly make a name for themselves (e.g fl0w).
I agree and disagree with the loss of small companies and I definately disagree with anyone that says games can't be produced on a yearly basis to a good standard.
The thing is, if someone is making a game in their garage, they're probably doing it on their own time, and they really don't have anything to lose. How is that dangerous? Minimal revenue, minus the non-existant development costs, and your left with a little profit, for something that was primarily a source of entertainment and self-improvement from the beginning.
In a worse case scenerio, you produce a mediocre game, that lacks inovation, and has its fair share of technical problems. You may think such a game would belong in a bargin bin, but EA has shown that such games will easily sell for $60.