What is going on with the Eastern Video Game Market?
What do you mean, you people?
Just kidding. I actually really liked what Tower Shield listed. All I'll do is, I'd like to group those points together, because I think they fall into slightly different categories.
---
PWE had a bunch of layoffs
Konami cancelled Silent HillsYou already know that times are tough, the hardcore games market is over-saturated...so much so companies are trying to profit off mods! Btw, you guys's commentary on the Steam/Skyrim Mod debacle was spot on IMHO. I think that is an extension of how tough times are.
---
Now PW is going privately owned
Konami de-listed themselves from the NYSENow, you probably know that's for different reasons, but there's some background to this.
PW isn't just buying back shares, it's moving to the Cayman Islands, long been used as a tax shelter for U.S. firms. This may be a cost-cutting measure or they're playing some funny financial games they don't want people to know about. Buying back shares, though, isn't bad; Apple did this as a sign of confidence in itself.
As it turns out, there IS something going on with the Eastern Market in general. The richest man in Asia, Li Kai Shing is, on paper, relocating to Cayman Island even though almost all his business remains here in Hong Kong. IMHO, this is kinda starting to be a fad (funny, as Hong Kong itself used to be a tax shelter).
Konami de-listing itself from NYSE may be because they're sick of the NYSE. The compliance rules, like Sarbanes Oxley, are just a pain to go through. Konami remains listed in London and in Japan, so I honestly believe it's just tired of the extra paperwork.
---
Nintendo is going to jump into mobile gaming (phones, not more DS games)I don't think mobile games are turning us hardcore gamers away from our consoles/PCs to the phone/iPads. But I do think Apps are easier/cheaper to make.
The funny thing is, economists actually think the hardcore gaming industry is pants-on-head backwards at times. The reason is, generally-held wisdom suggests as technology advances, costs to make stuff decrease. It's like manufacturing; automation advances, labour costs decrease.
In video game development, as technology like 3D graphics to portray realistic humans advances, the costs increase exponentially as now they need to be voiced by Hollywood talent like Norman Reedus who was going to be in Silent Hills, and needing a world-class film director like Del Toro.
1986 - Super Mario Bros, STILL best-selling game of all time, had just 7 devs
2001 - Final Fantasy 9 had the highest devs cost at the time at IIRC US$30 mil
Today - GTA V cost $270 mil to make, about the same price as the new Avengers film
Nintendo's profits, and even revenue, was propped up by their Gameboy games for awhile. It's only surprising they're going into phones as it means they may be cannibalising their own Gameboy business, but I know analysts think this move is long overdue.
---
Square Enix is going to make changes to a female character in the upcoming FFXV because REASONSMan...I'm not going to comment on Japanese views on women. It's true, sometimes all us Asians look and act alike, but even we don't understand the Japanese, particularly when it comes to this topic. I didn't know about this, but you got me real curious.
---
Konami let Kojima goNow, that's like me letting go of my right arm. And even I, the Chinese Goddamn Batman, am asking what is going on with the Eastern Video Game Market.
Eastern Video Game Companies DO operate differently than Western Video Game Companies. Eastern ones operate like, companies; there's loyalty between management, developers, fans. Western ones, publishers like EA and Activision, operate like investment banks, they buy, sell, spend development studios until closure.
Did you know Maxis of Sim City fame, owned by EA is closing down? That didn't even make headlines as EA closing studios is so common it's not even newsworthy anymore IMHO. This isn't some abstract "samurai business culture", it's really observable in their management structure. Kojima wasn't just a dev; he was a Board Member of Konami.
Consider the Paid Mods debacle. Your discussion was great, your predictions, spot on. But you can see how Bethesda and Zenimax didn't even bother talking to the Mod creators first. They only talked to GabeN and Valve! How retarded is that? When I saw that, it was that Western publisher operating like investment banks, seeing Mod creators just as assets to shift around.
Kojima was always the most Western-thinking of Japanese devs. He even lead Kojima Productions, a Konami division, but it at least distinguishes itself from its parent company. Thus, if this was going to happen, it'd be him 1st. I'm just surprised it happened at all.
---
ConclusionsThe cancelling of Silent Hills, IMHO, is not out of spite, but out of respect. The CEO of Konami personally asked Kojima to head a new Silent Hill project a few years ago. It became a big deal, I love it was Del Toro that got involved. But something happened, maybe there's Bad Blood, yet Konami still respected Kojima enough to say,
"we part ways, but loyalty demands that we don't violate your beloved project by continuing it without you."However, I think all companies, Eastern and Western, are suffering now. Last few years, Ken Levine of Bioshock fame and John Carmack of Doom/Quake left the companies they made successful to work on other projects. Eastern game developers are actually paid less than Western ones (the highest paid Japanese devs make the AVERAGE of a Western one), so the impact was delayed. And this is only the beginning.
In short, you ask what is going on with the Eastern Video Game Market?
Like moving to the Cayman Islands as a tax shelter as U.S. firms have done, cancelling massive projects and losing talent?
The Eastern Video Game Market is behaving more and more like the Western Video Game Market.** Disclaimer - this is not a dig at Western companies, but there is a fundamentally different management style, and now it's blurring.