Within the past few months quite a few big time developers have folded. Whether it is from financial difficulties, missing projected deadlines or other sources it has been huge for the game industry. Hundreds of veterans of the industry suddenly out of work.
Here is the list from this year thus far:
March 31st Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) closed three studios, Denver, Washington, and Tuscon. 205 employees
May 24th 38 Studios, Providence Rhode Island, and its subsidiary studio Big Huge Games, Maryland. 379 employees
June 28th Radical Entertainment, Vancouver, unknown number of employees.
This is especially scary for recent graduates who have not had industry experience yet. The market was just suddenly flooded with talent, which is obviously more valuable than we are. Looking at this list, we at Birnam Wood are all thankful to be able to have this job.
But the thing is, each of these companies was a major studio, 38 probably being the largest. Their “death” does not spell the end of the game industry, not by a long shot. Last year alone twelve companies went under, but dozens of little independent studios opened.
As more of these larger studios falter, more of the experienced developers call it quits and open up their own studio. The Independent movement is on the rise. Bringing with it innovation and quality to an industry that has become swamped with sequel after sequel.
There are exceptions and some of the games at E3 proved that. Watch Dogs, the Last of Us, and I would even consider Assassins Creed 3 to be a break from its own genre. But I believe that the Independent games, Fez, The Witness, Monaco, Skulls of the Shogun, Splunky, and so many others are who are going to be bringing the future to the industry. Change is coming and 2012 is going to be an interesting year.
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