Entertainment Technology Advisor

Game Middleware & The Economy

December 1st, 2009

The mantra at the beginning of 2009 was that the game industry was recession-proof. That concept died a spectacular death just a few short months later. What does that mean for the game middleware industry? Nothing good. The second half was brutal for some providers as the game pipeline dried up. Developers and publishers became extremely skittish about taking risks on anything but known entities. That helped send the industry into a spiral as gamers looking to spend money did not find the slate of titles very interesting.

This has brought growth in the game middleware industry to a screeching halt. Instead of looking for the next great console game many publishers and developers are looking toward casual and mobile gaming as a way to make money while investing little in game development.

The silver lining in this cloud is that middleware makers will continue to innovate through these tough times. Those that come out the other side will have product ready and waiting when developers and publishers start ramping up their console and PC pipeline. When that happens time to market will be critical. Developers are likely to come knocking looking for help to get their games out the door as quickly as possible.

In our latest report Middleware for Interactive Entertainment 2009 we forecast the impact of the economy on the leading sectors of the game middleware market including game, physics, artificial intelligence, and network engines. We also provide detailed analysis on the number of games and SKUs released each year and insight into what game engines are in use in these games.

Posted in Entertainment Middleware | Send feedback »

Mortgage Meltdown Enough to Change Game Developer Thinking?

March 26th, 2009

For over a decade the game middleware industry has been fighting the attitude from game developers that they can make their own technology better, faster, and cheaper. While that is a debatable position, it is not a debatable attitude. But, could it be that the meltdown of the financial industry will have the unintended side effect of making developers more willing to purchase off the shelf middleware solutions? I know, crazy. But before you start asking me what I am smoking and where I got it let me lay it out for you. A big developer/publisher cancels a game. The team could be deployed to another game, but the developer decides they are going to take the opportunity to say good bye to team members that are making “too much money” (now remember this is from the developer/publisher’s point of view not the guy making the money). So, for the next game they bring in a new team member just out of school whom they can pay much less. Short term gain maybe, but they lose all of the experience from that team. Where does that team go? Well, how about a new independent development studio. They are popping up all over, and what they know is that they do not have the engineering resources to build a game engine, AI, physics, interface, and so on technology to develop a game. They have a small window of opportunity before they have to start filling out applications to the local Starbucks. That means they have to buy the technology.

Add in new distribution opportunities and models and you have new cycle of independent game developers who just might be more open to middleware this time around.

I may be crazy! I’d love to hear what you think.

Christine

Posted in Entertainment Middleware | Send feedback »