Forum:Why are the small developers disappearing, does it hurt game plurality?

Forums: Index > Game DiscussionWhy are the small developers disappearing, does it hurt game plurality?

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This tread is inspired by EA and Bioware I hope this question isn’t too general for the DA forum, but I have been wondering why it is, that all the small companies, like Bullfrog, Westwood, Black Isle studios and Bioware have disappeared. Some may say that Bioware have not disappeared but it has, it is EA and nothing else. Not putting that point up to discussion however, I think that it is a real shame how all these companies that gave us all these great games in the 90’ess and early 00’ess, have either been merged into big colossus, or outright bought.

My question is if you think that it hurts game plurality. Does fewer, bigger companies truly mean that we can expect only general category games that have been “dumped down” to fit the faceless first time users?

I love RPG, and while I can imagine a future of great RPG games without Bioware, I cannot imagine one without a relatively small company like bioware, that has the passion and the patience and with a genuine respect for the artwork that a great game truly is.-rphb- (talk) 16:14, December 8, 2011 (UTC)

Yep, I would say you pretty much hit the nail on the head. The larger publishing companies are only interested in making as much money as they can off a product, while developers(usually) want to tell an in-depth story. When the publishers give a deadline and a limited budget, the developers have to cut corners to release their product.

It would be nice if there were more of the small developers out there, but sadly it's too hard for them to get noticed enough for their products in the mainstream like the old days of gaming. DeltaEcho (talk) 16:35, December 8, 2011 (UTC)

It does hurt the games plurality indeed. By now, we're down to this: some good games can be even completely free, like Dwarf Fortress, but it doesn't have good graphics (sarcasm), OR we can have something mediocre at best, but wrapped in shiny graphics by big developers. I do not think that good graphics make a good game, they just make good graphics, but too many of "the faceless first time users" do. The results are obvious.-Algol- (talk) 17:10, December 8, 2011 (UTC)

Sorry to do this everyone, but would it be possible to incorporate something related to DA in your your posts so it stays within our guidelines? Thanks King Cousland | Talk   17:49, December 8, 2011 (UTC)

OP you're sorely mistaken! Small developers are not disappearing. Au contaire the golden age of the indie developer is nigh. Look at Super Meat Boy, Shank and look at Minecraft! The number of games being published by people who're working from their garages is increasing every day.
In fact if you really care about the small devs then be a part of their struggle. Buy the next Humble Indie bundle.Diain (talk) 18:49, December 8, 2011 (UTC)

Indeed, Diain is correct, small indie developers are thriving at the moment, it's the mid-level developers that are currently suffering and consequently disappearing (which I suspect is what the OP actually meant) and personally I would say that the cause of this is actually graphics rather than the publishers. The constant increase in graphical quality is causing games to become ever more expensive to make and mid-level developers simply cannot keep up. As a result they are forced to either deal with the large publishers in order to get the funding they need to make high quality retail games or they have to shrink and start making cheaper indie games. To be honest the publishers aren't really doing anything wrong per se, they're simply doing exactly what they should be doing. Of course one could argue that they could give the developers the funding they need whilst still letting them maintain creative freedom so they can make their games exactly they want them to be, but I suspect the publishers would probably perceive that to be a fairly foolish and irresponsible approach to take. The only possible light at the end of the tunnel is that sooner or later the increase in graphical quality will start to level off and the smaller developers will be able to catch up. Violet Rogue (talk) 03:06, December 9, 2011 (UTC)