In a SmartCompany article relating to the string of recent big game studio closures in Australia, IBISWorld senior analyst Craig Shulman has put it down mostly due to an industry shift with the rise of casual and mobile gaming. Shulman says that the closure of Visceral Melbourne isn't a sign that EA was easing up on triple-A games development, but the high Australian dollar made locally developed projects a high risk investment for game publishers.
Unfortunately, Shulman does not believe the research and development tax credit, announced a few months ago, will convince publishers to invest in games development here. While education and a change in the exchange rate are factors that will turn things around slowly, it is the appearance of new games consoles that will be a much bigger factor in bringing big Triple-A development back to Australia. From Smartcompany...
(Craig Shulman)...one of the big factors is the console cycles, because when new hardware comes out you have studios and other developers trying to be innovative with it.
When the PlayStation 2 was released and it had its dominance for quite awhile, you see a large amount of investment because it had such a wide market share.
The three major console developers, Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo, have not revealed any release dates on their next generation consoles, but the trend of bringing out accessories has helped prolong the life of current games consoles. For the whole article, head on over to Smartcompany.com.au
"The three major console
"The three major console developers, Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo, have no revealed any release dates on their next generation consoles".....
What's the WiiU then?
Wii U
Nintendo haven't announced a release date for it. "Nintendo won't announce the price and release date for Wii U until 2012"
It always really bugs me in
It always really bugs me in the wake of some sort of catastrophic disaster, the first thing you see popping up in the news are stories to the effect of 'Eggheads we're pretty sure this disaster was going to happen' ...
The synopsis for this analysts article contains no information which comes as a surprise to me or anyone else I'd imagine.
I could run an analysis of how useful Shulemans analysis has been in stating the obvious / telling us nothing new. The results would also not come as a surprise...
Interesting
Interesting article, although it doesn' seem to me that the console cycle had much to do with these recent studio closures, given that it's been about 6 years now, and Aussie games companies aren't quite that far behind ;)
Cost is surely a big factor, when it comes to US companies creating opportunities here, and a lack of experienced talent pool in some areas probably also a concern. If you can trip over people in the streets with AAA games experience in Montreal, and staff are a lot cheaper there, not sure what advantages there are to hiring in Australia.
But, as mentioned, there are still a number of great studios to work for across Australia, there just won't be any sort of industry boom anytime in the near future.