Consolidation is good

[SpiderMonkey]

the biggest companies currently in the games industry may not be able/willing to do it off their own back, so to speak.

I think they will be required to do it, simply because shareholders will demand they continue growing the business and shareholders will simultaneously demand that they do not compete with themselves. When there are only 3 publishers, there can only be 3 WWII FPSs.

[twmac]

I wouldn't mind the consolidation so much if it wasn't that it is Activision and EA who seem to be grabbing up the properties.

EA are a machine, they schedule their games for Alpha, Beta, submission candidate and Gold months before hand and don't like to delay their products one bit. Happier instead to buy out whoever they need to to get them released.

Activision aren't quite as bad but then that is like saying Geuring didn't seem quite as maniacal as Hitler.Or that John Goodman isn't as fat as John Candy was.

If consolidation was done to strength weaker companies (ex: SCI and Eidos) then I don't have any objections. Instead we are seeing a couple of the large companies monopolising everything and potentially stifling creativity. I was quite looking forward to MErcenaries 2, now that it is under EA supervision I can't be bothered to even rent it when it comes out.

[vimes]

Well, would anybody be as positive about the benefit of consolidation is this turns out to be true ?

I wasn't all that hot about the approach of gore in the game, but it's a shame anyway.

[Roderick]

FUCKING OUCH.

That's not gonna do the 'merging isn't evil' argument any good around here.

Brütal Legend in limbo? Jeeeeesus H Tapdancin' Christ.

[Ginger]

It's an almost inevitable (but sad) consequence the economic downturn, there's a lack cash around so it is only going to go to those projects that are most likely to offer a high return. Sticking to the thread, consolidation should mean that choppy economic conditions shouldn't hit companies as hard, but I guess with their recent acquisitions may have pushed their finances to the limit, then when the credit crunch hit it became more expensive/difficult to get hold of funds to support up their other projects.

[Thrik]

The only positive note is that the other Activision Blizzard properties in limbo are very high profile and pretty much cash cow licenses, not to mention games reaching the latter end of development, so they'd be completely mental if they weren't already proactively trying to shop them off to other publishers. It's not quite like Psychonauts which was a little-known quirky game from an unproven studio, although you really have to feel for Double Fine having now had this happen twice.