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Are there too many games?

2o2p_Press

Shared on Fri, 07/17/2009 - 10:01

I like Dennis Dyack, but I have a soft spot for nuttie Canadians. Joystiq has an article, where Mr. Dyack argues that there are too many games being developed.

"There were 300 or so games released last November. We're in a state of performance over supply. We're making more games than consumers can possibly consume," Dyack told Videogamer.com "Marketing is having a disproportionate effect over the success of games because there's so many out there people are ignoring us."

What do you think? Are there just too many games? Personally I say yes, but only between the months of October and December. Right before Christmas there is such a glut of games, that I can't come close to keeping up, yet during "off peak" months, I am left wanting. It would be as if 80% of movies came out in the summer. Yes, there is the summer movie blockbuster push, but there are also the Oscar type movies towards the end of the year, the Christmas holiday  push etc. There is always a "decent" movie coming out every week or two.

By having so many games being published during the "rush" those blockbusters seem to get buried as well.

But I am just one person. Feel free to tell me why I am right or wrong. What would you have the industry do?

Comments

TANK's picture
Submitted by TANK on Fri, 07/17/2009 - 11:45
Over the course of 12 months, there aren't too many really good games. The problem is that they cram them all into Oct/Nov which is really starting to get old fast. I'm getting sick of it. And it's the developers and publishers that loose out because then we the gamers need to make choices on what we're going to pass on. Taking November as an example we have Call of duty 4 Max Payne 3 Red Dead Redemption Assassins creed 2 Left 4 Dead 2 Bioshock 2 Now, i would like to buy all of them and if they had have come out a month apart, i would have. But as it is, Max Payne 3 is a no because the other two were decent but not great. Red Dead is out because it's a new IP by Rockstar but still, it's an unknown. Assassins Creed 2 is out because I thought the first was too damn repetitive and Bioshock has been moved thankfully to 2010. SO out of those six games, i will be spending money on only two of them because the publishers have decided to release them all in November.
J-Cat's picture
Submitted by J-Cat on Fri, 07/17/2009 - 12:35
splinter cell? isn't that in November?
Waterborn's picture
Submitted by Waterborn on Fri, 07/17/2009 - 13:13
Definitely too much gaming goodness. Hell, I haven't even had time to unwrap Fallout 3 yet! Hard to complain, but gone are the days when you could play one game and then go on to the next. These days, being a gamer is like having a second (or third in my case) job with all the multi-tasking you have to do to keep up.
MutusLetum's picture
Submitted by MutusLetum on Fri, 07/17/2009 - 13:32
Publishers are in the business of making money. Games sell better between October and December. All you have to do is look at the monthly NPDs to see that. No one is forcing us to buy these games on launch day. If there are too many games in one month, hold off on buying a couple for a few months. You'll pay less, and you'll have more time to play them. This is especially true for single-player only games. I think we here at 2o2p tend to believe that we are the rule, when we are actually closer to the exception. We track release dates with a magnifying glass. We consume every screenshot and video of upcoming releases that we're interested in. But we make up only a small fraction of 'gamers.' There are probably about 10,000 active members on this site. Somehow, I don't think that it was just us that purchased 1.6 million copies of Gears 2 last November.
Snuphy's picture
Submitted by Snuphy on Fri, 07/17/2009 - 13:57
@Mutus: I agree that when purchase occurs is immaterial for the campaigns. But buying months after release can mean being way behind in MP which might result in enjoying the game less. Delayed purchase also means that a good chunk of my FL will have already chewed thru the game and traded it in for the next new thing. As a result, it makes a big difference to me that I purchase some of the bigger titles at release. @J-Cat: I think Splinter Cell Conviction is scheduled for Nov 30. This fall will suck, but in a good way. The current list on my desk: Dirt2 Forza3 ODST MW2 LFD2 Splinter Cell Conviction. I have no idea how I’m going to choose 2 or 3.
XMixMasterX's picture
Submitted by XMixMasterX on Fri, 07/17/2009 - 16:24
I have to agree that too many games come out at once. The developers/publishers should release the games when they are done, not when they think they will get the most sales. People who want games will buy them right away and not wait for them as a preset. People who are getting games as presents have to wait either way and have little control over what games except to ask for them. The only thing that delaying a game release does is to lessen the amount of time a game is being sold.

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