So if you’re a real gamer, then I need your attention for a minute (the rest of our readership of pathological liars and sexual sadists can go back to telling stories no one believes or googling the term blumpkin).

It’s been tough times for the video game industry lately. Despite a lot of good news we keep hearing stories about studio closures, mergers and layoffs. In the last few months alone a small handful of examples include Disney canceling Pirates of the Caribbean, forcing the closure of Propaganda Games; Activision canceling True Crime, forcing layoffs at United Front Games; Electronic Arts canceling NBA Elite forcing even more layoffs. The game industry is laying people off in batches so big one could only describe them as ‘Kevin Smith’ sized.

All of those jobless gamers with no money has a trickle down effect that hurts even more companies like Next Level Games, Disney Interactive and Japanese online stores specializing in tentacle porn.

So why are these studios shutting down or drastically cutting their staff?  Because they can’t afford to compete with the corporate giants. The running theme here is that money is important. Why? Because money let’s you put your penis into women so you can intercourse them… or so I’ve been told by the magazines I found in my uncle’s garage.

Now, to give you an idea developing a game for the Playstation 3 starts around $15 million and can cost upwards of $30 million. Want to make a cross platform game then add some more cash onto that number. Go ahead and tack on overhead costs.

What’s the rough price of developing a decent game, you ask? God of War III was around $44 million. Before marketing. How much are marketing costs? Even more than you spend on your Furry costume. Games are starting to cost a ton of money. Like, 3rd trimester abortion money.

Now, factor in that roughly 3 in 10 games actually recover production costs and hopefully you’re starting to see a trend here. In 2008 Sony CEO Chris Deering claimed that only 3 in 10 games earned back their development budgets. That’s like a Thai father having 2 of his 3 sons die before he can force gender change operations on them and sell them into the sex trade. Truly sad.

Pay attention, I worked long and hard to steal this image

Robert Walsh the CEO of Australian Krome was quoted as saying “…sales have increased over ten percent since last year … dev costs have probably doubled or tripled.” So even those kangaroo boxing criminals understand that it’s getting more and more expensive each year to make a game that won’t be used as a coaster.

The only thing dying faster than the medium sized game studios is the hobo I drugged and fed to Herby, my boa constrictor. The medium sized publisher (the ones that take the risks making innovative games or targeting niche categories) is getting pushed out of the market. With the ever increasing cost of development they’re being forced to lay off staff. Meanwhile, the video game giants like Activision and EA continue to absorb these smaller studios and then hack their product down into a bland formulaic nonsense that can be easily sold to the masses (aka Dragon Age II).

The big question you want to know of course is how will this affect you as a gamer. Well, it will affect you in a few of the following ways:

1. Variety. The variety of games will start to disappear as companies compete for a shrinking wallet space amongst gamers. If you’re getting sick of playing COD, Gears, Killzone, Halo then too bad because they make money. If you want variety then go count the STDs on a $5 hooker‘s mouth.

2. Growing Disparity. Each year we’ll start to see a few AAA games with repeat formulas and thousands of iPhone, online or freeware games that cost virtually nothing being produced. The days of the middle ground are shrinking faster than your penis after your grandma asks for a back rub.

So what does this ultimately mean to you? It means that our industry is undergoing a state of change and now is the time when we as gamers have a chance to help direct it.  If you see an independent studio producing a game that you enjoy then buy a copy (don’t just torrent it or share one copy among friends). If we let the corporate giants take over the whole industry they’ll force out the middle man forever and we’ll be left with less and less exciting titles on console.  

Thanks EA, now I know what pixelated burn victim porn looks like

Basically, it all boils down to revenue. Almost all video games are backed by publishers who are run by investors that are in it to make money. They don’t care about impressive bump map technology or epic love stories. If they could make more money selling you into slavery then you’d be picking cotton faster than you can say Kunta Kinte.

The death of the medium sized studio may also mean the death of variety that we’ve all grown used to. Don’t accelerate this. The game industry isn’t going anywhere, anytime soon. But the flavor might.

The recession has affected everyone. It’s delayed video game launches, cost thousands of jobs and sucker punched your bank account in the daddy sack. Do you really want to live in a world where the local rub and tug can’t even keep it’s doors open? Something has to change. Maybe it’s time you thought about taking your life in another direction. Maybe it’s time you thought about becoming one of the homeless!