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Would an Industry Crash Help Gaming?
🕑 Added 2022-08-12 13:00:08 +0000 UTC
Nope.
The 80s crash happened because there were so many different games and consoles coming out that were practically identical during an age where information was limited, and no customer entering it had any idea nor any interest in it.
That's not really the case today.
The problem with Halo, COD, and Battlefield isn't that they're not unique and don't appeal to their audiences, the problem is all the pressures in the market encouraging releases like them.
People always point to games like Battlefield 2042 or Cyberpunk as examples of games that were obviously not ready for release and the system failed, but don't seem to consider that games like Fortnite rushed out a single game mode with one Battle Royale map built on a game no one previously cared about, and has now dominated the world.
Rushed games with limited content make money all the time, and the failures aren't enough to discourage an entire industry to shift their perspective.
A crash would have to stem from players suddenly not buying any of these things anymore, and being that say, Madden players, don't have any other option for their football fix, I don't think that's going to happen anytime soon.
Honestly, I'm not sure if people not buying a big game would even hurt the industry that much, because that money would most likely just go to the next one.
How many people leaving Counter Strike just went to Valorant instead?
Personally, I think if the gaming industry is going to crash again, it's more likely to be self-inflicted from companies racing each other to the bottom of a pit they can't recover from.
It's been said by some analysts that Microsoft isn't competing with Sony, but Netflix, and Amazon, and I very much believe that, considering the difference between Sony and Microsoft is a Billion and Trillion dollars.
Just like Amazon, Microsoft holds the power to destroy everybody else.
They've got the ability to give people so many different high quality games for such dirt cheap prices, it holds the power to do something very, very few other companies in the business can match, let alone beat.
It doesn't matter if Game Pass loses money to Microsoft, like a superpower nation, they can keep doing this for decades, and be fine.
However, I could definitely see a scenario where Microsoft has obliterated everybody else's chances to make its level of profit in this industry, only for players to not turn up when it's the one monopoly, because Forza, Halo, and Elder Scrolls won't be enough to carry the industry in this scenario.
Really, most people I know aren't subscribed to Game Pass long term for Microsoft's first party games, but titles that are licensed out temporarily.
Now that might not be a problem for Microsoft like it was for Netflix due to their support network, in which case, Game Pass doesn't become the Netflix of gaming, but the Youtube.
