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European Game Developer Failures Enumerated

Posted by simoniker on from the and-then-there-were-less dept.

Thanks to Polygon for their article discussing the recent problems faced by European videogame developers. The piece explains: "According to a recent study conducted by London's Financial Times, 23 European game developers folded in 2003, which is up from 14 in 2002 and 8 in 2001." It also notes that "one of the biggest European companies to close its doors this year was Rage Software, perhaps best known for their David Beckham Soccer series", and a recently-linked editorial mentions a number of other notable independent developers who are no more, including Mucky Foot, Lost Toys, Computer Artworks, and Silicon Dreams. The news piece ends by quoting Eidos CEO Mike McGarvey as suggesting: "A studio of about 150 people, split into three teams, is about the ideal size and it's hard to see how it makes sense for the cottage industry types. They may have more of a future in post-production as a service-based business."

4 of 21 comments (clear)

  1. Wow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    That's a lot...I recognised a couple developers from the list.

    Is it the beginning of the game developer decline?

    1. Re:Wow by Kris_J · · Score: 4, Interesting
      And Rage Software managed to produce a version of Doom for the Saturn that had a frame rate lower than the 32X version.

      "Cottage industry" game production is perhaps best suited to retro and portable gaming, where the technical abilities are limited such that a large team and lots of money don't outweigh talent and a decent game concept.

  2. 23 is far too low by Teut · · Score: 3, Interesting

    23 is far too low. Our count has 12 developers foldiung in germany alone, we counted over 40 in the UK, we dont know how many others folded in the other countries. This is widly known, I dont know why the Financial Times has this low number. Its far worse than the article shows. Many studios are still struggling, more failures to come.

  3. open source will get to games, too by ajagci · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The news piece ends by quoting Eidos CEO Mike McGarvey as suggesting: "A studio of about 150 people, split into three teams, is about the ideal size and it's hard to see how it makes sense for the cottage industry types. They may have more of a future in post-production as a service-based business."

    McGarvey will be surprised when open source will start eating his lunch. First, industry insiders thought open source couldn't develop compilers, then kernels, then desktops, and they were proven wrong each time. It takes open source a decade or two to catch up, but it ultimately always does. The real question is: how long will Eidos make it?