Games Industry Burnout

The Washington Post has a new article up called An Industry Off Its Game: Product Delays and Prices Hurt the Business of Video Play, in which they explain the recent loss of earnings as being related to delayed products and high prices.

But companies that make and sell video games are suffering, caught up in an unusual set of circumstances that are cutting profits and jobs just when they should be in top form. Major game publishers Activision Inc., Atari Inc. and Electronic Arts Inc. all missed their most recent earnings expectations and each company has had layoffs in recent months. Retailers such as Electronics Boutique Holdings Corp. and GameStop Corp. have faced similar problems.

Layoffs at those major game publishers is nothing new. Here's the truth about the games industry -- the people who work in games (at least this generation) are really, really into games. We've gotten past the point in the industry where the football game was being written by a person who had never played a football game, and previously worked on an accounting software package. The current workforce making games is really passionate about these games, and they will put their heart and soul and their lives into it. And big companies like EA are going to take advantage of that enthusiasm.
While people do burn out, and the crunch is universally hated, it's a part of the industry. You've got to manage it all in moderation. Do we need to grind and crunch away? No, I don't think so. I think if anything, proper time management and communication between team members is what is necessary to make it work out.
Do I think it's a similar way to wash people out of the industry? No, the industry isn't that smart when it comes to formulating long-term plans. Personally, I think EA, Activision and Atari's economic problems have very little to do with the new consoles on the horizon, and more to do with the dinosaur business model they follow. EA has been burned by the MMOG model, but as I wrote years ago after seeing Everquest, MMOGs and other persistent state games will be where the truly hardcore players are headed.