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When do we call it a crash?
- Thread starter The_Observer
- Start date
mopspear
Member
It might even be a defined economic concept as well! (I didn't look it up but no one else did! HA!)
Sooner
Member
Good freaking grief. Is PlayStation, Nintendo or Steam in ANY discussion about going out of business? No.
Go touch grass and get in touch with reality.
LiquidMetal14
hide your water-based mammals
Have any people here been through any "crash" or hardship? This ain't it at this time.
Sooner
Member
It wasn't a crash when Sega failed. It won't be when Xbox fails.
Ah, so that's why they are killing physical games.
Hollywood Hitman
Gold Member
Lol, not even close... It's called trimming the fat every industry does this, it's how corporate life is and why I choose to get my hands dirty and won't work in that field.
Reminds me of the ones that think every big storm or rain storm, or hurricane or tornado is some ominous thing... It's all nothing new. Life repeats itself endlessly.
Gamers are so sensitive to this stuff and the theatrics and drama, these people will all be fine... Every end is a new beginning. Sure if our favorite studio falls apart it sucks but we will continue to game and get great games.. Thats the honest truth. Were in a little release lull but once the new stuff starts dropping again we will be back rocking.
I absolutely have enough that could last me the rest of my life to play, gaming is fine but sure when they make shitty and mid games it's time to clean out
Reminds me of the ones that think every big storm or rain storm, or hurricane or tornado is some ominous thing... It's all nothing new. Life repeats itself endlessly.
Gamers are so sensitive to this stuff and the theatrics and drama, these people will all be fine... Every end is a new beginning. Sure if our favorite studio falls apart it sucks but we will continue to game and get great games.. Thats the honest truth. Were in a little release lull but once the new stuff starts dropping again we will be back rocking.
I absolutely have enough that could last me the rest of my life to play, gaming is fine but sure when they make shitty and mid games it's time to clean out
Deerock71
Very Poor Hoice of Wor
Either that, or they're already lost.Not yet, bro. Let them get even worse, and they will. The next generations, with all their restrictions, are going to destroy them.
Artistic
Member
Good luck.
LordOcidax
Member
Yes, by the next fiscal report. Next month…
CentralScrutinizer
Member
Because GAAS is buuuuuuulllllshit.
I don't want an industry crash. I want a gaas crash.
apple_of_enlightenment
Member
Legit question.
Even though the market cap is huge today, when the crash happened in the 80s it wasn't entirely about money -- well it was for Atari, but there were a lot of small studios surviving. And the arcades were thriving.
However, it's is again a Western gaming slow crash going on right now. Nintendo and allied studios are doing extremely well.
GTA6 will either save the day for Games West or will be the final insult.
mckmas8808
Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
When revenues drop and there's no more profit happening. I know yall hate the truth, but if Playstation is having record profits and Nintendo is killing it and Steam is gaining more and more players, how can anybody call it a Video game crash?
StereoVsn
Gold Member
Yeah, if we see gaming revenues drop by say 20-25% year over year then we can talk about crashes.
Ironman_Bad
Member
Probably not when the highest selling videogame of all time is 4 months away
apple_of_enlightenment
Member
That's what they said about ET.
UniformDeliverance
Member
How do you define a crash? If you zoom out, there's more games coming out now than ever before, with new studios and publishers popping off and making names for themselves. I mean look at Pearl Abyss for example. Look at these Chinese games like Ananta coming up.
Things are bad for some legacy platforms and publishers. But for every one having problems, there seems to be four popping up that are finding success.
That doesn't seem like a crash to me, it seems like a change. Some people prepared for that change and are reaping the benefits, while others were caught off-guard and are being left behind.
Things are bad for some legacy platforms and publishers. But for every one having problems, there seems to be four popping up that are finding success.
That doesn't seem like a crash to me, it seems like a change. Some people prepared for that change and are reaping the benefits, while others were caught off-guard and are being left behind.
Plague Doctor
Member
Every single studio needs to close up across the world, everywhere. Not a single game can be in development.
Not a single consoles is sold anywhere. Nothing. Infact stores are fire saling all hardware.
Then you officially have a crash.
We are fine up until that point. Anything less than this is hysterical nonsense and you are a terible person for saying there is an issue in the industry.
Unless Jason Schrier says something is wrong. Only Jason can make this call. You or anyone else is not credible.
So says the narrative. Praise be its name.
Not a single consoles is sold anywhere. Nothing. Infact stores are fire saling all hardware.
Then you officially have a crash.
We are fine up until that point. Anything less than this is hysterical nonsense and you are a terible person for saying there is an issue in the industry.
Unless Jason Schrier says something is wrong. Only Jason can make this call. You or anyone else is not credible.
So says the narrative. Praise be its name.
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Puscifer
Gold Member
Your post and GIF don't match I was expecting that to make a clean landing lmao
When the big 3 don't meet consoles sell targets each year for at at least two years. I think that would be a good Indicator of a crash.
Raven77
Member
Gamers don't want crunch
Gamers don't want ai used
Gamers don't want significant price increases for the first time in 30 YEARS
Gamers don't want endless remakes
Gamers don't care that budgets have gone up 150x since the 90's
Gamers want more variety
Gamers want less DLC and paid content lock outs
Gamers want less buggy games on release
Gamers...do you see the issue?
Gamers don't want ai used
Gamers don't want significant price increases for the first time in 30 YEARS
Gamers don't want endless remakes
Gamers don't care that budgets have gone up 150x since the 90's
Gamers want more variety
Gamers want less DLC and paid content lock outs
Gamers want less buggy games on release
Gamers...do you see the issue?
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Azelover
Titanic was called the Ship of Dreams, and it was. It really was.
When all of them do it, including retail. It's what happened last time.
No business wanted to touch videogames anymore. I know it looks bad outthere, but it's not a crash quite yet..
A.Romero
Member
I have a friend that has been announcing a crash happenning any time now since 2012 because he doesn't like modern games that are popular (except Fromsoft and Overwatch, lol).
Not only it hasn't happened yet, the industry has been growing. Desopite all the problems, Microsoft is still the number 3 earner in the industry with $23.5 billion (yes, it's fake because of the Activision acquisition) but still.
Sony is at number one with arround $30 billion yearly while Tencent is barely second with similar revenue than Sony's.
Just for context: Epic, the owner of one of the highest earners ever, is at around $6 billion and Roblox and miHoYo at $4 billion each.
From the about $200 billion total the industry made in 2025 a bit above half was spent on mobile. The rest split between consoles and PC.
From all of the above the growth is coming from the audiences that are not us. It feels like it's crashing because the way we understand and like the game industry is going away.
Not only it hasn't happened yet, the industry has been growing. Desopite all the problems, Microsoft is still the number 3 earner in the industry with $23.5 billion (yes, it's fake because of the Activision acquisition) but still.
Sony is at number one with arround $30 billion yearly while Tencent is barely second with similar revenue than Sony's.
Just for context: Epic, the owner of one of the highest earners ever, is at around $6 billion and Roblox and miHoYo at $4 billion each.
From the about $200 billion total the industry made in 2025 a bit above half was spent on mobile. The rest split between consoles and PC.
From all of the above the growth is coming from the audiences that are not us. It feels like it's crashing because the way we understand and like the game industry is going away.
As kid I had no idea what was happening in 1983/84. I just remember picking up heaps of colecovision games for $5 from bins of games at big retail outlets and filling my collection.
Current modern success is masked by artificial profits from subscriptions and micro transactions. You can argue all you want, but gaming is not in a 'healthy' place and it is not sustainable. This may be worse than a crash, it's a slow bleed and a train headed towards cloud streaming.
They use the words reset and reboot to make share holders feel more comfortable. Crash would incite panic.
Current modern success is masked by artificial profits from subscriptions and micro transactions. You can argue all you want, but gaming is not in a 'healthy' place and it is not sustainable. This may be worse than a crash, it's a slow bleed and a train headed towards cloud streaming.
They use the words reset and reboot to make share holders feel more comfortable. Crash would incite panic.
Northeastmonk
Gold Member
I sure hope those law suits actually have an impact. What everyone else is saying, it's going to have to hurt them financially. The last couple years had some good games, but I hate how the industry looks. Geoff Keighley does all the work outside gaming communities. To me, without his work to boost morale and excitement, the industry would have even less to be excited about.
bumpkin
Member
The problem is studios who get stuck working on GaaS titles are being shuttered or undergoing layoffs (after the games fail) when they're just doing what their publisher mandates. The unfortunate part is some of those studios have made some of the highest rated single player games of the last few console gens.
So it's like, how many great studios are going to be caught in the splash radius of a GaaS crash?
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OuterLimits
Member
I don't think we should ignore the red flags appearing though. The disastrous console sales we saw in May (Sony worst in 25 years, Xbox all time) are likely to continue and probably get worse.
The possibility certainly exists that the next console generation is going to see pretty massive sales decline. They will be trying to squeeze even more cash out of a shrinking player base.
simpatico
Gold Member
Well Microsoft spent $80 billion dollars on studios. To break even on that, they need 80 years of GTA V financial performance. After that they can start thinking profits.
Sony spent $5 billion for the pleasure of spending an additional $2 billion to close Bungie. Payback for Halo if you ask me. They've got a few more billion down to go as well between Firewalk, Fairgame$ and Horizon Gathering coming as well.
Sony spent $5 billion for the pleasure of spending an additional $2 billion to close Bungie. Payback for Halo if you ask me. They've got a few more billion down to go as well between Firewalk, Fairgame$ and Horizon Gathering coming as well.
Hero of Spielberg
Member
It was a matter of time. The market is so saturated with releases and there is such a disconnect with the massive publishers and their target market that it was completely unsustainable. Hopefully it settles somewhere back where developers actually need to think about what actual paying customers want to play not some mythical modern market.
ioo
Member
No the slightest. Companies are earnings more than ever in this gen. Sony doubled his revenue, Microsoft is plummeting but they not that much to call it a failure, Nintendo is better than ever. Only western developers aren't earning any benefit from this and it's all cause we keep buying from these greedy billion dollars companies. Hopefully they will reach the bottom one day and everything will be resetted
mckmas8808
Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
Yeah, which means we will need to wait at least two years to see if it's a crash or not.
rm082e
Gold Member
I am really not understanding why this label of "crash" matters at all.
- Modern consoles are a bit more expensive, but they're readily available for purchase.
- There's more games on any one platform than anyone has time to play - even if they have zero responsibilities in life and infinite money.
- Unless you own a significant amount of stock in these companies, their financial performance isn't much of a concern for you.
- If you're upset over thr PS discs announcement, you're still getting the next 18 months. It's not happening tomorrow.
simpatico
Gold Member
The key difference is we still have juggernauts (Fortnite, GTA, COD) and weird cash geysers on mobile. But it can look pretty bleak outside of those chosen few. Remains to see how that looks at scale for a decent amount of time.
I think we will see AAA disappear as we know it and only have AA and AAAA. It actually makes decent sense that way.
I think we will see AAA disappear as we know it and only have AA and AAAA. It actually makes decent sense that way.
Durin
Member
Gotta stop using the word crash, it's pretty much hyperbole people try to pass of as reality because some companies are making mistakes or failing.
Even with all the layoffs, there are simply FAR more people working in the industry than in the 80s when it crumbled so bad people were calling the medium a "passing fad". Games are still coming out all the time, and it's easier for smaller teams to release them due to lower distribution costs
We're getting something more similar to a contraction like during the great recession in late 2000s, maybe a bit worse, but it will force a reset. I do think Microsoft doing mass layoffs of studios, is a definitive mark the contraction is happening, and the next few years how things will rebuild. Western AAA might matter a lot less, but I've no shortage of stuff to play outside these companies failing.
Even with all the layoffs, there are simply FAR more people working in the industry than in the 80s when it crumbled so bad people were calling the medium a "passing fad". Games are still coming out all the time, and it's easier for smaller teams to release them due to lower distribution costs
We're getting something more similar to a contraction like during the great recession in late 2000s, maybe a bit worse, but it will force a reset. I do think Microsoft doing mass layoffs of studios, is a definitive mark the contraction is happening, and the next few years how things will rebuild. Western AAA might matter a lot less, but I've no shortage of stuff to play outside these companies failing.
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bitbydeath
Gold Member
If there was any one company that could cause a crash then it funnily enough is probably Epic Games, as the majority of devs out there rely on their engine to make games.
Hideous Snake
Gold Member
You really ask that when video games revenue is at an all time high?
UltimaKilo
Gold Member
OP doesn't know what a "crash" is. OP, you are nowhere near a crash, you are looking at the hottest market in video game history.
crackajack
Member
There are more games than ever. So crashing are only the teams that forgot who their audience is.
Hoho for breakfast
Member
We're definitely about to hit it for us old timers:
With that said, it'll be a crash of AAA and console. On the PC side things are looking good at the moment. Meccha Chamelion released less than a month ago and sold over 15 million copies in ~3 weeks. Some of you will have to look that up. Gaming is not dead. Gaming as we know it probably is.
- Absurd prices for consoles and games with a dog shit economy
- Subscriptions for everything which keep increasing in price
- Many AAA games studios are releasing at minimum ~6 years apart
- Gen Alpha barely knows what a game disc is and doesn't care about Uncharted or Gears or even Mario
With that said, it'll be a crash of AAA and console. On the PC side things are looking good at the moment. Meccha Chamelion released less than a month ago and sold over 15 million copies in ~3 weeks. Some of you will have to look that up. Gaming is not dead. Gaming as we know it probably is.
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