I'm scared of consolidation
polycounter lvl 19
Recently there have been a number of news bits about various publishers & developers going out of business. Companies getting purchased & bought up by larger companies, and just a general state of consolidation.
The bar-raising in terms of graphical quality means that many more film industry artists will be migrating to the game industry now as well, so competition for the consolidated number of jobs is also increasing apparently.
I don't currently work in the game industry.
I do graphic design & photo retouching, and its reasonably lucrative. (45k in Las Vegas, for just over 40hrs/week)
To get in an entry level position at a game company would likely mean a pay cut, and relocation. Until recently those were sacrifices I was willing to make for my "dream". Now, it seems that many of the good indie houses are going out of business and a larger and larger percentage of people are being employed by these game industry "sweat shops", if ea spouse & other comments are to be believed.
This glut of bad news has really shaken my confidence in this industry as a career choice. It was volatile before, but now it just seems plainly unstable, and in some ways undesirable. It seems to me that it is becoming increasingly difficult to have any creative input on a product, to develop something original, and to achieve career stability with the "slash & burn" model of employee managment apparent at larger publishers.
I suppose what Im asking is:
Are my fears well founded?
Am I alone in this feeling?
What are positive aspects of recent changes that I'm maybe not seeing?
I suppose I'm looking for some reassurances that my dream hasn't simply passed me by. Are the good times over for Game Dev's?
The bar-raising in terms of graphical quality means that many more film industry artists will be migrating to the game industry now as well, so competition for the consolidated number of jobs is also increasing apparently.
I don't currently work in the game industry.
I do graphic design & photo retouching, and its reasonably lucrative. (45k in Las Vegas, for just over 40hrs/week)
To get in an entry level position at a game company would likely mean a pay cut, and relocation. Until recently those were sacrifices I was willing to make for my "dream". Now, it seems that many of the good indie houses are going out of business and a larger and larger percentage of people are being employed by these game industry "sweat shops", if ea spouse & other comments are to be believed.
This glut of bad news has really shaken my confidence in this industry as a career choice. It was volatile before, but now it just seems plainly unstable, and in some ways undesirable. It seems to me that it is becoming increasingly difficult to have any creative input on a product, to develop something original, and to achieve career stability with the "slash & burn" model of employee managment apparent at larger publishers.
I suppose what Im asking is:
Are my fears well founded?
Am I alone in this feeling?
What are positive aspects of recent changes that I'm maybe not seeing?
I suppose I'm looking for some reassurances that my dream hasn't simply passed me by. Are the good times over for Game Dev's?
Replies
For a lot of people who start companies, their whole goal from day 1 is to get bought out, 'cause that's how they'll make their millions.
There are a few examples of long-term successful independent developers, but they're very few and very far between.
I guess looking at it from an employment perspective, it's just like any industry: working for a big established company is more stable, but you might have more freedom for innovation (or feel like you're making more of a difference in the company or industry) if you're working at a small upstart company with big ideas.
Much like Hollywood.