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An executive from RoboCop: Rogue City publisher Nacon thinks he knows the reason for the game industry’s layoffs and sluggish growth in 2023. According to Head of Publishing Benoit Clerc, the COVID gaming boom led to an oversaturated market.
Nacon executive says there are too many games coming out in too short a period
Nacon’s Head of Publishing recently spoke with Games Industry.biz. Clerc acknowledged industry-wide setbacks, attributing them to decisions made when the industry was flush with cash during COVID-19. Game companies profited massively from all the people staying home during the pandemic and invested that income into new projects. Many of these games are coming out now, which the executive says have oversaturated the market.
“There are too many games currently on the market,” says Clerc. “We’re seeing today the results of investment made after [COVID] when the market was bursting, and every game was making a lot of money so there were a lot of investments being made. This is two or three years after that, so the games we’re seeing now on the market were financed in that time, and there are simply too many for customers to be able to play them.”
This is not just an issue for AAA publishers and developers either. In fact, the effects are most profound on smaller studios with less robust advertising budgets. Nacon itself is a long way from being an AAA publisher. Clerc attributes RoboCop: Rogue City’s success to it being a high-quality game from an established franchise. In general, however, Clerc thinks small to medium-sized studios should focus on finding a niche rather than competing for broad appeal.
Nacon had to learn the hard way after The Lord of the Rings: Gollum released last year. Developed by Nacon subsidiary Daedalic, the small studio reached well beyond its means in search of a broader audience. Clerc says he regards Gollum as a learning opportunity, but that’s probably not much comfort for Gollum’s developers.