Is the Videogame Industry about to collapse?

[UncannyGarlic]

He is right about what happened to the Comic Industry. It kept trying to appeal all "mature and shit" to the older fans in such a way that newer fans weren't able to get into Comics and thus the Comics industry collapsed and declined with only a dwindling fanbase to support it...

The comic industry has a problem because they have product lines which don't end and because they are too expensive. When you have a story that doesn't have an end and characters that don't age or die, you don't really have a story and it's hard for new readers to jump on board with 200 back issues that must be individually bought (usually used and for an even steeper price) and which date back to between the late 30s and early 70s. Another problems with characters being unable to permanently die is that it kills the drama for readers because they know that nothing all that bad can happen to them. There's also the issue of repeating plots which means that the longer you read the comic, the more you run into the same plot done slightly differently with the same characters. He was right that one of the problems was that the industry decided to become more mature but many of the authors couldn't really come up with mature stories so instead they have (generally less than graphic) sex and violence, attempting to imitate Moore and Miller but generally failing. The industry is a mess and they really should look internationally for what models have been successful in other countries (Japan would be a good one to scout out).

Anyway, the guy is an idiot who doesn't have a fucking clue what he's talking about. The comment that video games aren't appealing to new customers and that new customers must be children is ridiculous, many kids love M games and have no problem buying them and a lot of people (in the US) are getting into gaming in there late teens. The comparison to the comic industry just plain doesn't work for many reasons, the most simple and obviou s of which is that video games are an interactive medium and thus have different requirements for success. Sure, the average age of gamers has increased and for multiplayer games, maturity level isn't really an issue due to plot but singleplayer games do suffer from the same types of writing problems that comics do. Still, at the end of the day video games are about gameplay so if the gameplay is there (which I'd say is the thing that's slipping) then you're fine.

If the gaming industry does crash again then it will be because of their horrid business practices, just like the last time.

 

[Per]

When you have a story that doesn't have an end and characters that don't age or die, you don't really have a story and it's hard for new readers to jump on board with 200 back issues that must be individually bought

This is what open-ended comics and soap operas do to let people come on board without having to know everything that went down in the past.

 

[alec]

He also forgets about the whole indie comics boom during the nineties which eventually resulted in a whole graphic novel industry...

Hmmm... Which is also past its climax, I'm afraid.

It's a possible scenario, but not the most likely.