I am a fan of transparency. Because, as the great newspaper says, “democracy dies in darkness”. There is an analogy here with the video game sector, where we have the impression that we become too silent. I suppose it is time for me to make noise and to declaim because we lose voices in our industry.
In the past, we had a lot of people who are too noisy and ready to be heard. Hawkins trip and Jean Ricciello loved to formulate full -minded criticism of their rivals. Satoru Iwata from Nintendo did not hesitate to say that he thought that Kaz Hirai de Sony was “arrogantBy saying that the console war was over.
For the better and for the worst, the villains of the industry were like the bad guys of James Bond, telling us exactly how they were going to kill the nice before not doing it.
We certainly do not need a lot of boastful. It’s fun, but it’s often as if politicians were fighting and we have enough. However, we need dialogue to improve industry. We need cards and headlights, as Adam Boyes He told me that he was starting his consulting cabinet to repair game companies. Ted Price, CEO of Insomniac Games, I will miss, who announced his retirement this week. Price was the only CEO to have made a rhetorical finger of honor to Trump during his first presidency when Trump announced the Traveling for Muslims. With the departure of Ted, who will do this kind of thing in the next four years?
Today, while industry may face customs duties on game consoles, it is too silent. Large Chinese companies will of course make a low profile because they do not want to risk the anger of Trump or Elon Musk, who control the Hordes Maga who have taken over the government. Tim Sweeney De Epic Games has observed that major platform societies that claimed to be Democrats are now donating to Trump and now claim to be republican, in the hope of keeping the government from subjects such as the application of antitrust laws. Who will shout to Trump what to double the price of game consoles through customs duties will kill the video game industry? Of course, the The CTA made his voice heard And clear on this point at CES, I do not see the tech or game industries rallying to the cause and making noise.
I felt like I had received this week a mine of data from some people who enlightened us, not because they worked in the largest companies in the sector. They were simply dedicated to transparency.
Some examples. Amir SatvatThe defender always diligent in the games of the game, predicted, on the basis of his data, that we could attend 9,800 layoffs in 2025. It seems terrible, but that prepares us for what awaits us and it is a relief by CONCEPT ON ONE 15,000 layoffs in 2024. The data revealed an uncomfortable reality: there is a aging in hiring models in the video game industry.
Matthieu BalleAnother solo and CEO of EPYLLION, published 223 slides in early access to the state of the video game industry. He underlined 10 factors that helped the game develop over a decadeEight initiatives that have failed to maintain growth, 15 challenges that industry is still faced and 11 possible growth engines that could revive growth. This information helped us see the way to go.
In another rich part of the data mine, the Conference of game developers has published its annual report on the state of the industry, based on a survey of 3,000 game developers. He revealed that game developers have an increasing negative feeling with regard to generative AI compared to a year ago. They fear that this deletes jobs. The feeling of unionization is always favorable to 58 %, a sign that people are not satisfied. However, they work more for fear of being dismissed, since a game developer in 11 was dismissed in 2024.
Chain game Underlined that 93 % of Gamefi – Web3 or Blockchain projects – are dead, the value of their dropouts falling 95 % compared to historical heights. Chainplay examined 3,279 web game projects and found that most of them died and was negotiating 5 % of their maximum value. However, there are survivors. On average, 316 new projects are launched each year, but 262 projects disappear, which indicates that a significant number of them are struggling to stay afloat for more than a few months. However, it is not a way of starting an industry, with so many current scams to convince traditional consumers to get started.
The handful of survivors of the web 3 game who create real games could soon have a real opportunity, as the web players market develops. Dappradar reported this week that the number of unique active portfolios in web games 321 % compared to a year ago to reach 7.4 million daily wallets. And while investments in blockchain games fell 38 % in 2024 to reach $ 1.8 billion compared to 2023, there are real and fun web3 games like the off the grid and Telegram titles that attract the public.
These are all relevant data from relatively small entities. But where is all the interesting information from the largest companies in the sector?
One of the sad realities is that large companies are punished for their transparency. Electronic Arts Disclosed This week, it would miss its profits for the December quarter because Dragon Age: Veilguard and FC 25 Soccer were not up to it. This has reduced EA’s market value by $ 4 billion in terms of shares negotiation. It was perhaps equivalent to four Ubisoft. But don’t feel sorry for EA, because he can announce that a big game is coming and that he will recover these four Ubisoft in no time. If you look at a report on profits these days, you will see that companies rarely indicate the number of games sold; Compare this to the movies, where you get box office recipes, but also get estimates of the cost of making these films.
I saw large companies withdraw people from our scenes during our events because they did not want to risk talking too much. Nintendo and Sony do not say much, apart from what they are forced to say during calls on results. And since Microsoft swallowed Activision Blizzard, we have lost detailed information during results calls on the results of one of the largest companies in the sector. These companies today organize fewer press events where you can ask questions.
They are addressed “directly” to consumers in predefined video announcements, because we have lost the gathering place in person of the E3. At E3, I was sad to see that the CEOs of companies held press conferences where they never answered questions. And now, I’m lucky to have interviews with these CEOs. I was sad to see David Haddad resigns Coming from the high -level position in games at Warner Bros. He was a statesman of the game – there are simply too little these days – and he was always happy to come to our events and to express his point of view.
Social networks have also taught us to be silent. If you chat with the players on the fact that your game is really good and that they have the impression that this is not the case, you will lose this argument. So why bother? If social networks are full of disinformation, toxicity, justified complaints and unfair criticism, then it seems useless to defend your cause. No one wants to chat with the internet set. Game officials do not want to risk saying something that could be out of context or distorted after being repeated.
However, in the field of video games, it is true as in any other sector: good data, it is power. Satvat data mean that in perhaps a year or two, we could be back in the talent war in the video game industry, which would be good for job seekers. I think the video game industry must mobilize its considerable resources and be heard in places such as Washington DC and consumers. He must strengthen the Entertainment Software Association and speak on his behalf as no one else does.
Ball surprised people by observing that nearly 400 million Roblox’s monthly active users mean that it has more players than almost all of the triple-a ecosystem and that it dominates its main rivals like Steam or PlayStation.
And yet, Roblox only performs a fraction of the hourly income of competing platforms and publishers and, as Tim Sweeney from Epic Games pointed out, Roblox has practically no influence when it comes to being able to bypass Apple and Google, whose costs are 30 %. On game sales on their platforms have generated more than $ 20 billion somewhere, mainly profits. That’s why Sweeney devotes himself resolutely to winning antitrust victories Against Google and Apple on behalf of the game developers, as he noted during a press event where he praised the passage of third -party mobile games on Epic Games Store. However, too often, Sweeney is alone. Companies like Roblox and Microsoft do not lend their voice to the antitrust cause.
We all know that transparency continues to decline as the media of video games are also drowning. Game informing stopped. Gamesindustry.biz, one of our competitors at Gamesbeat, lost its longtime leadership during the holidays. When a journalist leaves industry, this means that we will lose thousands of articles on games over time. When I go to industry events, I see more creators than journalists.
We are replaced by creators who have more authentic contact with the players, but they are often paid by the very people on which they communicate information. I can tell you that if the video game industry is not healthy, it will not support the game media. And if the game media disappears, the industry will darken.
My message is therefore simple. In your sector of activity, build a lighthouse and make a card. You know we will need it, and we will need enlightened leadership. After all, these 15 challenges underlined by Ball will kill this business if we do not have a clear thought and daring communication.
