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Will the economy kill a lot of mmorpgs?
eccoton
Member UncommonPosts: 1,340
The last couple weeks of listening to Obama and his doom and gloom forecasts for the economy not only gives me a headache, but makes me wonder about the state of mmos and their future. Remember Obama and the experts are talking about years and even decades before things may get better. We are not facing only 6 months or a year of a tough economy. Again another lay off of the Warhammer team was announced. Sony has reported a terrible 4th quarter one of their worst. This is just the beginning of bad news on the mmo front.
This makes me wonder how much the economy had to do with this. Let's not go into the games shortcomings. All mmos have shortcomings but in the past, when people's wallets were a bit more plump, players might have been more likely to over look a few short comings. I know that in the next month or two I am going to go down to only one subscription based mmo becasue I want to start tightening my belt a bit. While I try to only keep it to 2, currently I subscribe to 3 but that will not last because my wallet is less plump. Food cost have gone up and I just recieved the highest electric bill I have ever got. While I am financially fine my entertainment budget has to be tweaked.
The quandary is what do I keep? While EQ2 is my favorite mmo at the moment I think it is vulnerable. SOE could pull the plug on it at any minute. My second favorite is Warhammer. It is hurting there is no doubt about that. So that leaves me WoW. I will probably stay with it. Not because it is my favorite mmo but because Blizzard's success will help it handle the tough economy ahead. Don't get me wrong WoW is a fine game but me decision to stay and invest time with it is more about the economy and it's ability to maintain itself. Hence game quality is not the biggest factor in my mmo choice. I will also not be willing to drop 40 bucks on a game that I am not sure about just to experience it. As we all face tough economic times and decision ahead, I fear mmorps may get hit hard and the choices that will be offered us will be less. Will the economy kill a lot of mmorpgs? Yes I fear it will. Not only less revenues from the player base but from investment capitol. I also predict a lot of anticipated games on the horizon will not see the light of day because the funding will be drying up. People will return to more single player experiences and I also predict the Wii, with it's family group fun, will do even better in these tough times ahead.
Comments
I'd say doubtful, many analysts have refered to home entertainment as "recession proof" because people will always need something to do... and when we're not going out to do it, we do it in our homes.
NetFlix has seen an INCREASE in volume during our economic times, down in Lakeland Florida they hired more people in order to fill the demands.
Lots of small studios are opening up in the wake of the big Publishers doing, what is generally refered to as, "shareholder layoffs"... I was laid off in this rush, but found a few studios to pick me up to continue working (until laid off again recently).
Generally speaking, "Home Entertainment" is doing much better then, say, a bowling alley. For $15/month you can get daily enjoyment for a few hours... you're not going to cut your internet off because, well because you just don't do that anymore.
People are looking for cheaper fixes... MMOs are defiantely on that category.
- CaesarsGhost
Lead Gameplay and Gameworld Designer for a yet unnamed MMO Title.
"When people tell me designing a game is easy, I try to get them to design a board game. Most people don't last 5 minutes, the rest rarely last more then a day. The final few realize it's neither fun nor easy."
Definately not, imo.
CaesarsGhost has it bang on, no matter which way you slice it, MMO's are cheap entertainment.
Playing: EVE, Final Fantasy 13, Uncharted 2, Need for Speed: Shift
Most likely we will see a decrease in 'luxury subscriptions' ie second accounts or subscriptions to games other than your 'main'. There is a lot of 'bang for the buck' in playing a MMORPG but the utilty of a second account or second game subscription is marginal for most people.
People will spend money on games if the games are good. The problems with the MMO market has simply been half assed over hyped games. At this point alot of us just feel ripped off.
Obama's doom and gloom stuff (what happened to hope, anyway?) has two purposes. In the short term, he wants to panic people into supporting whatever he wants to do. In the longer term, he wants to lower expectations, so that no matter what happens, he can say, it's better than what would have happened if Republicans had been in charge.
Once he's been President for a few years, instead he'll be talking about how great the economy is because of what he's done. Instead, it will be Republicans claiming that the country is going to hell in a handbasket--assuming they don't take congress in 2010. If Republicans do take congress in 2010 (taking the senate then is very unlikely, by the way), then it will turn into both parties saying their party is responsible for everything that is going well and the other party for everything that is going badly.
That's how politics works. Most politicians haven't the slightest clue about the economy, so instead they say and do what they understand: how to get re-elected. Anything that politicians (or most journalists, for that matter) say about the economy should be taken with a heavy dose of salt. If you want to know how the economy is really doing, check official statistics such as real per capita GDP, inflation, or unemployment rate and compare them to the historical data.
I agree with above. It costs alot more to keep yourself entertained with console games or many other forms of entertainment IE: Pen and paper games. Warhammer, board games, DVDs, plays, crafts. A monthly fee of 15$ and an initial box fee is pennies in the face of the hundreds i spend on other hobbies for half the entertainments lol. if anything my warhammer hobby will be the biggest taker of an economic hit.
well, I guess this might kill EVE.
But that's a good point that, honestly, didn't even think about.
- CaesarsGhost
Lead Gameplay and Gameworld Designer for a yet unnamed MMO Title.
"When people tell me designing a game is easy, I try to get them to design a board game. Most people don't last 5 minutes, the rest rarely last more then a day. The final few realize it's neither fun nor easy."
I'm using the downtime to learn some new skills (never too old to learn) rather than waste my time, life and talent on these lifestealers. That way when the economy picks up again I will leapfrog my peers (or even my managers). Imagine if all the millions playing all MMO's actually did something useful. These games are just "soft" forms of gambling.
http://encyclopediadramatica.com/MMORPG
Obama`s doom and gloom ??? He is telling the truth about the economy. I know that seems strange after having a moron for a president for the past 8 years and being use to no matter how bad things got he said everything was great and the economy was strong. The republicans will not retake the house or the senate in 2010 LOL in fact it is not even possible in the house in 2010. Infact i predict the republicans will lose even more seats and thank god for that. The republicans should be punished for abandoning thier true principles and getting caught up with the bible thumping bigots that have taken over that party.
LOL are you on the right forum?
But yea you're right... and if I played the REAL drums instead of playing rockband for hundreds of hours I might be famous... I like video games :-P I don't WANNA do real things. I work... make decent money and play video games... furthering yourself is overated!
Getting back on topic....
I suspect the current economic situation will see the end of many struggling MMO's. People may argue that the low cost per month of MMO's makes them an inexpensive form of entertainment but, the real issue will be the overall health of the parent corporation. If they hit bankruptcy or are bought out in mergers then the likelyhood of less profitable or even less attractive segments of the business being shut down becomes more likely.
In my opinion anyways...
You read my mind!
Nothing kills time on unemployment quite like an MMO. But those extra subs will probably be going bye bye.
If it's a game you like, it is easily the most cost effective form of entertainment there is.
I do respect everyones opinions here, really.
To the OP, I don't think for a minute EQ2 will be axed. It's the best game SoE has and if it was not for EQ2, people would not give a moments thought to the station pass. Also Warhammer is not as bad as what people here paint it to be. My family loves the game, there was orvr maddness all night last night in every tier till we finnally had to logg off. Mythic's upcoming months are filled with live events and free content. The live event going on right now that is keeping warhammer players up way to late on a work night!.
And to the politics brought into this thread..... look what a mess Obama inherited. He wants to help Americans, not Exon Mobil or big oil, which has been done the past 8 years at the citizens expense.
LMAO you mean like num chuck skills , bow hunting skills and stuff like that.
A good portion of mmo games are already made up of people on limited budgets - college students. Even 20 a month is still extremely cheap entertainment, there may however be a problem with people keeping internet service. Alot of people look at cable and internet as a luxury and things of this nature are the first to go in hard times.
As far as the political scrap that's in this thread...this is a gaming discussion and those things don't belong here plain and simple.
Historically, the President's party nearly always loses seats in mid-term elections. Regardless, my claim is not that this or that party will win in 2010. Rather, it is that if one party has been in power for a while, that party will always claim that things are going wonderfully, while the other party will claim that everything is a catastrophe.
The United States had 18 recessions in the 20th century. In only one did we try massive government spending of the sort Obama proposes to combat it. That played a significant (though not the dominant) role in creating the Great Depression. The rest ended just fine without massive government intervention.
LMAO you mean like num chuck skills , bow hunting skills and stuff like that.
HAH... pricless
always work out your what you can afford and frankly internet access and mmos are a very very cheap form of entertainment. and as for broadband usage and internet connection you could always downgrade your package. Although here in the UK the concept of actually getting a good connection in the first place is interesting. Im paying for 8meg and only get 3meg but i prefer the unlimited download as not only is my computer on the net but got a wii, xbox360 and two laptops as well.
Internet and mmos are very cheap if your thinking of cutting anything out of your budget i would recomend smoking and alchohol first ;P
remember you can always brew your own alchohol you cant necesarily make your own internet
well, I guess this might kill EVE.
But that's a good point that, honestly, didn't even think about.
lol i know your probably being sarcastic, but even still i would like to add that EVE broke their old PCU record. If people are going to start deactiving alt accounts, i think it will be another year or 2 before it happens.
Playing: EVE Online
Favorite MMOs: WoW, SWG Pre-cu, Lineage 2, UO, EQ, EVE online
Looking forward to: Archeage, Kingdom Under Fire 2
KUF2's Official Website - http://www.kufii.com/ENG/ -
Depends on the person and their circumstances. family vs no family, single vs married, etc. But a recession will definitely negatively impact MMOs. Maybe not kill it, but will surely hurt it.
No job is recession proof and for a person who has been laid off twice from the 'gaming' business to make such an assumption is ridiculous.
Most people who have been laid off will look for other work. Bills need to be paid, families need to be supported. Playing WoW all day won't keep a roof over my families head. If you live in Mom's basement and don't feel like contributing to her expenses, then keep on keepin' on.
In most trying economic times, luxury expenditures are the first to go. In most cases, this means if a family is SERIOUS about keeping costs down, they may keep their internet (for job hunting, communication, streaming movies, Hulu, etc..) but the cost of a monthy subscription is somewhat worthless when there are so many games that can be played over and over for free.
On the other side of the coin, EA just announced more layoffs. Taking it a step further, the studios who supply the game you love may fall under the numbers game they anticipated for stock-holders, investment firms, and private capital 'backers'. Don't meet the numbers in a recession and bodies will be headed for unemployment. Too much loss and you can likely watch your game phase itself out. datacenter costs, server farm upgrade/ maintenance costs, monthly technical maintenance contracts, etc...get VERY expensive and in a recession, any company can and will will purge their masses of 'non-revenue generating' positions. Customer Service is usually one of the first to get trimmed. We all know what happens when this occurs.
In a nutshell, MMOs will be negatively impacted. There is no way they cannot based on the nature of business. Either people will stop 'paying to play' or increased production line expenses across the board for gaming studios/distributors will reach a point that investors/stockholders can't afford to keep suffering losses. It's business after all.
you should take a look at the nuclear power industry. I'm an intern at the san onofre nuclear plant and they just recently brought in people to start a scholorship and recruitment program to bring people in. I'm sure it is the same in any energy industry in america atm, especially since we are supposedly in a energy crisis.
Also i hear the medical field is doing good as well.
Playing: EVE Online
Favorite MMOs: WoW, SWG Pre-cu, Lineage 2, UO, EQ, EVE online
Looking forward to: Archeage, Kingdom Under Fire 2
KUF2's Official Website - http://www.kufii.com/ENG/ -
LMAO you mean like num chuck skills , bow hunting skills and stuff like that.
In my experience the ladies love skills.
Remember I did not say the economy would kill the mmo genre. I said it will kill a lot of mmos, that means the future of mmos will mean less choices.
you should take a look at the nuclear power industry. I'm an intern at the san onofre nuclear plant and they just recently brought in people to start a scholorship and recruitment program to bring people in. I'm sure it is the same in any energy industry in america atm, especially since we are supposedly in a energy crisis.
Also i hear the medical field is doing good as well.
Congratulations on your internship, We've had amny interns and I specifically enjoy the zeal and drive tey have. Perhaps I should not have said 'no JOB is recession proof', because therea re some jobs that are required...janitors, etc...however NO industry is recession proof and that goes for the nuclear power industry.
What you aren't seeing is what is going on behind closed doors of your nuclear power plant. Contract enginneer, mechanics, etc may be losing their jobs based on undercutting of bids by foreign contractors who don't feel the 'recession' as hard as many 1st and 2nd world economies do. You don't see the board meetings where executives are scrambling over the uncertainty of nuclear regulation, or that nuclear production is down overall in many countries based on the cost of fuel, high price of supplies, etc. Clean coal technology is relatively safe and really only because we haven't exhausted all demand ofr it. Start up costs and regulatory guidelines in a recessive ecomomy may mean less nuclear power companies, etc, etc.
Rather than discuss the medical field, I will simply quote a Business Week article articulating how the medical field is far from recession proof:
"Demand for elective procedures such as knee replacements and gum surgery invariably rises whenever people are worried about losing their jobs—and their health insurance. In fact, the accelerated pace doesn't seem to start petering until a year and a half later, when laid-off workers are no longer entitled to COBRA and similar benefits that let them pay for health coverage through their former employers. "It's an interesting countercyclical trend," says Paul Levy, CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. "I only know this anecdotally, but it's accepted wisdom in the industry."
Then again, it's also accepted wisdom in the financial world that health care, the largest sector of the economy, is the most recession-proof. The thinking is that people get sick no matter what's happening to the economy. That premise holds true to an extent for the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, whose drugs are always in demand. But health-care providers are far more vulnerable to economic malady. "It's a myth to think hospitals are recession-resistant," says Sheryl Skolnick, an analyst with CRT Capital Holdings. "During the 2001-2002 recession there was the lowest demand for hospital services ever."
Cutbacks and Tough Choices
The heightened risk of economic contagion comes at a time when the health-care industry is already beset by troubles that have made reform an issue in the Presidential campaign. Nearly 50 million Americans are thought to be without health insurance, and those who have it are struggling with cutbacks in what's covered, higher co-payments for doctor office visits, and rising deductibles for out-of-pocket expenses before a policy begins picking up the tab. A large consumer survey conducted in February by Deloitte & Touche's Deloitte Center for Health Solutions found that only 11% of consumers feel they can handle upcoming medical bills. Hospitals and doctors, meanwhile, are being squeezed by rising costs and cutbacks on reimbursements from insurers.
During the last recession, earlier this decade, unemployment rose from 4.2% to 5.6% and more than 1 million Americans lost their health-insurance coverage, according to an analysis by Cornell University economists. By August, 2003, when the economy was recovering, only an estimated 137,000 people had regained health coverage. This time around, a recession could result in 4.2 million people losing health coverage, predicts the Center for Economic & Policy Research, a Washington think tank."
No health coverage equals no healthcare = medical layoffs. Simple as that.
Sorry to be so long winded on what i consider technically 'off-topic'. We're talking MMOs.
/agreed