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Wal-Mart Controls Modern Game Design?
An anonymous reader writes "That Wal-Mart smiley face is looking pretty evil now that Allen Varney has explained how much influence they have on virtually every modern game: 'Publisher sales reps inform Wal-Mart buyers of games in development; the games' subjects, titles, artwork and packaging are vetted and sometimes vetoed by Wal-Mart. If Wal-Mart tells a top-end publisher it won't carry a certain game, the publisher kills that game. In short, every triple-A game sold at retail in North America is managed start to finish, top to bottom, with the publisher's gaze fixed squarely on Wal-Mart, and no other.'"
Wal-Mart has had this impact on developers and publishers for quite some time. One of the most publicized occurrences was with BMX XXX - Wal-Mart didn't want to sell it because of its nature, so they toned it down to fit within Wal-Mart standards. It is unfortunate that one company with so much buying power runs the market. Gamestop is second though, with their recent merger with EB Games. But that's like comparing Godzilla to Oprah. You don't want to make either of them mad, but only one of them is powerful enough to destroy the planet. unless... http://uncyclopedia.org/wiki/Image:Oprahsaurus.jpg
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Raise your hand if you've ever bought a PC game from WalMart.
Me neither.
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"I like your game but we have to change the rules."
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This won't be true forever. Companies that pride themselves on quality have given Wally World the heave-ho, choosing to create lasting quality goods instead of cheap crap.
meh
This is for the watered down masses who normally buy games thinking their 4 year old PC's will play without a problem. Tell me how the GTA games were so successful then?! IIRC, there was a big stink about how violent GTA was and how it was corroding our kids' minds.. Give me a break.
Those who sell out to WalMart's demands deserve to be put out of business.
If a major top end retailer won't carry your goods, the customers who buy from those retailers (guess where kids' mommies go to pick up that new game they want?) won't ever have the chance to buy them, so why bother making them?
If you're biggest destributor isn't going to sell one of your products you're going to care. Welcome to capitalism.
Of course the morals of how Wal-Mart became such a big distributor are debatable. But this outcome is quite obvious. If this article is a surprise your head's in the sand.
Developers: We can use your help.
Walmart is destroying America. They affect everything in our life, but don't you dare complain about them... they are very litigious. Plus, they have most of the American population eating from their hand. Oh well, come on everyone, it's a race to the bottom!
Meh.
New title:
Slashdot shocked to learn Wal-Mart does to gaming industry, what it does to every other industry
Nothing to see here, please move along.
That's the circle of life with Wal-Mart. You'll get a huge boost at first, but Wal-Mart always gets the last laugh. Always.
Obliteracy: Words with explosions
That's called the free market. Game design studios could choose other retail outlets if they chose to do so. Wal*Mart doesn't have to carry anything that they don't like.
There are probably lots better reasons to hate Wal*Mart than for having buyers and communicating their intentions to vendors.
I fully expect that games, like movies on DVD, will soon come in two versions:
- PG-13 (the Wal-Mart version)
- unrated (the online version)
Every gamer I know buys from Amazon, EB Games, Gamestop, Best Buy, CompUSA, etc ... but NONE of them go to Wal-Mart for their games. Cheap furniture, office supplies, food, automotive products, maybe. But not games. Wal-Mart in this area doesn't even begin to compete on game selection, price, or in any other way with the more specialized stores.
"Flame away, I wear asbestos underwear"
This is nothing new, at least in the music industry. Look what happened to Spinal Tap's "Smell The Glove" cover.
anything i tell you will cloud your opinion.
Raise your hand if you've ever bought a PC game from WalMart.
Me neither.
Raise your hand if you're NOT a geek minority.
Ah-hah, I supposed.
Wal-Mart has a better idea of what you're buying that you do yourself. The know what gets sold, then know what popular. They could probally tell you how many video games they sold last month, and the result would scare you.
Don't be so quick to call everything a load of shit, because it probally isn't.
It is a bit upsetting that so many companies are at the mercy of Wal-Mart. This doesn't just happen with video games. If Wal-Mart says that this years Easter Bunnies will have 3 ears, your ass better be making some mutant rabbits to scare the kids, or risk getting overthrown by the guy who will.
Wal-Mart holds to much control in the USA (and Canada now) than most people would want. It should be interesting when it all comes crashing down (sooner or later, it will).
Fractured Element
That this happens shouldn't be surprising to anyone. Given the current system of putting games on discs and putting discs in boxes the retailer must be appeased or there is no place to sell the product.
And you know what? If you could predict whether a game would be hugely successful or not, you might be right. But firstly, the fact is that it's an art, not a science, and nobody knows FOR SURE which titles are going to be hits and which are going to suck.
"We're not going to carry any game with nudity."
Gee, because before Wal-Mart became big, there was a HUGE market for computer-porn games?
Are some games modified because of the tremendous buying power of Wal Mart? Sure, that's logical. But that's a big step from claiming that "every AAA game is managed start to finish, top to bottom" with WalMart in mind.
Yes, for crapware like Deer Hunter and Barbie Fashion designer, I'm sure WalMart's giant demographic is part of their calculus "Say 0.001% of the WalMart electronics browsers buy our game? That's like....a gajillion dollars!".
But AAA titles? I doubt it. How much did WalMart come into the design of World of Warcraft? Oblivion? GalCiv2? Peripherally, if at all.
As usual, reality is somewhere beneath The Escapist's flashy hyperbolic copy.
-Styopa
it renewed my sense of horror for Wal-Mart's current management and policies. Just because you have the ability to determine the products that reach consumers shouldn't give you ethical license to do so. I wish Walton Sr. was still around, back when Wal-Mart stood for high wages, good benefits and US made products. Whatever happened to hereditary behavior?
We aren't far off from video game companies realizing they can maximize profits by raising their own capital and self publishing. In a world with broadband, buying games off the shelves just seems dumb. So everyone, lets gather around and thank companies like Wal-Mart for tightening its grip on the markets. The markets will choke to death and be reborn into something better.
Or if not, look on the bright side. You can still buy guns at Wal-Mart and go for the ultimate grand theft auto experience.
For example, you want to buy a pair of socks. You happen to like Brand X socks. Since Brand X sells socks at Wal Mart, they have to lower the quality of the product to meet the price point that the buyer demands. These same socks are then sold to Kmart, Target, Sears, etc. In order to get a good pair of socks that last, you have to move up to a brand like Gold Toe that isn't sold at Wal Mart. To get this sock, you now shop at JC Penneys, Dillards, etc. Yes, you gladly pay more, because you want your socks to last more than a few months.
If you want quality, don't buy from Wal Mart. (It wasn't this bad when Sam Walton was in charge.)
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Walmart has a right to decide what it wants to sell. The publishers and developers are the ones making a concsious decision here. Support independent game publishers that don't go through this channel, the ones that understand their customers enough to realize that there is a market that may lie outside of the Walmart shopper demographic and are willing to take the risk to sell to them. Remeber, only YOU can prove there is a market outside of Walmart.
...where the player has to dodge falling prices?
Wal-Mart isn't strong because of it's buying power - it is strong because of it's selling power.
Anyway, please feel free to resume your Wal-Mart hating now and label me flamebait/troll/whatever.
This is hardly surprising. Wal-Mart has had quite a stranglehold on the supply sie of the market for a number of years. Technically, they're not a monopoly, but for all practical purposes, they wield the power of a monopoly from one end of the supply chain to another. You have to admire their innovation (they've revolutionized the modern retail supply chain), but it's also quite scary how much control they have.
Although it's been linked to numerous times here and elsewhere, I'd like to point those interested in learning more about how Wal-Mart deals with supppliers to the now-famous Fast Company article on the subject.
Transistors and Beer!!
If there were 1/2 dozen large retailers competing on an approximate eqaul footing for your product you can pick and choose. How ever, Mall-Wart is so huge it can make or break a game company. They have, in some cases, a de facto monopoly on the shelf space needed for a gaming company to succeed. When there is a monopoly, in this case in terms of shelf space and customers, the rules of free markets do not apply.
HTH
putting the 'B' in LGBTQ+
If Wal-Mart is willing to sell GTA (even after the pr0n incident) it doesn't seem that they are setting the bar too high.
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I mean, sure, Walmart is big, but would it be obvious that the combines sales of all retail outlets OUTSIDE of Walmart is greater?
If you want that must have game, and Walmart doesn't carry it, are you saying that people will not buy the game elsewhere?
I think it is pretty ridiculous to assume that Walmart has any control over software titles. I mean, I would easily agree that if you were making a brand of toilet paper, catering to Walmarts every whim makes sense because you want your toilet paper product in every Walmart. When people shop at Walmart, and they see your toilet paper there, they will buy it. More market exposure means more sales. People don't go out of their way to buy toilet paper, they buy it when they are at the store buying other things.
But can the same be said for video games? I am sorry, I don't feel that video games are impulse buy items, not these days. I don't wander into a Walmart (actually, I try to avoid them like the plague), and just happen to say, "Hey, there is a game that looks intersting, lets drop $56.97 on it thats just burning a hole in my pocket!"
How many times have I been screwed over with that mentality, dropping $40 - $80 on a video game only to bring it home and bored to tears 2 hours later. Or the game keeps me entertained for about a week before it gets old. I don't impulse buy video games any more. And I don't go to Walmart on the off chance there might be some new video game I haven't heard about sitting on the shelf.
With the Internet, I keep an eye out for new game titles and when they are released I either demo them or get reviews and user opinions about the game. I.e. I am making an informed choice about the games that I buy. When I decide to buy the game then I go out specifically to buy the video game, and usually Walmart isn't my destination. Sure, Walmart might be the cheapest place, but generally its because they sell something $0.97 cheaper then other retail stores. Hardly worth the nightmare of trying to park in a Walmart parking lot, weave my way through all the slow moving buggy people, and then stand in line for 2 hours to make my purchase.
So, I really can't see how software companies quiver in their boots if Walmart objects to one of their games. If the game is good, people will make a point to buy its regardless of where it is. There are still so many OTHER places then Walmart to buy video games.
Ultimately, if video game developers feel their innovation is being stifled by big box brand stores, then simply go the route of Valve and distribute your software via Steam or some other online service. Bypass the big box stores and their "family values" kind of crap mentality.
While I am sure that for some manufactures of many types of products losing Walmart as a retailer spells disaster, I can't see this being the case in the video game industry. F*ck Walmart if they don't like your game, its all about the customers, and if you actually make a decent game people will come to you to buy it, not Walmart.
The only game developers I can see pandering to Walmart are those crapmongers that come out with 40 lame titles a year and hope that people will look at the cover and impulse buy the game at Walmart. Few of those games ever succeed, so the more places they can fling their crap, the more chances people will get hit with it.
I haven't thought of anything clever to put here, but then again most of you haven't either.
The cries of "Walmart is killing America!" and so on are getting really tiresome. I don't care for their stores either, yet I've bought specific items there (such as baby diapers), because they simply had the best prices for the exact same products I would have paid more for elsewhere.
IMHO, if you don't like the quality of WalMart goods, don't buy any of their "house brand" stuff, or any of the generic stuff. Only buy when they sell the *identical* product you were wanting anyway from another store.
No matter how "evil" people think they are, they won't be able to successfully sell items the public won't buy. And they can only squeeze so hard, for so long, on manufacturers with successful products. (Of course, new ones needing a "jump start" into the marketplace want to kiss WalMart's butt. They have everything to gain when they're starting out at ground zero. But at some point, you simply can't afford to keep offering WalMart the quantities of product they want at the prices they demand you sell for. And hopefully by then, your product is well-known and in enough demand that you can cut WalMart off and keep sales alive through other retailers. Or even do direct marketing if need-be. The Internet is a powerful ally.)
All the creatures will die, And all the things will be broken. That's the law of samurai. (Jubai, 1605)
Wal-Mart's policies also bear a large influence on movies and music. Artists that refuse to release a "clean" version of a CD have long been banned in retail chains like Wal-Mart and even Target.
Video game manufacturers will simply have to deal with it. I wouldn't want to sell potentially obscene material at my store either (if I owned one). There are plenty of others that will.
When will the media industries grow some balls and produce what they want? If Wal-Mart stops carrying most titles, people will learn to shop elsewhere. If only American business was daring enough.
Our company makes posters and calendars, and does business with Wal-Mart. We're small (~$60million in revenue, maybe 200 employees in the whole universe) but the tentacles of Wal-Mart snake their way through every decision we make here.
Products live and die based on whether Wal-Mart will "allow" them or not. We had to turn down a license for a moderately popular program on Cartoon Network because of the number of people who don't "get" that the Boondocks is ridiculing both bigots and walking stereotypes simultaneously. We couldn't turn a profit with it if our biggest customer wasn't interested. Based on previous experience, the people that "deal directly" with Wal-Mart said "great idea, it'll never happen." Which is too bad, because I really dig Boondocks.
Frighteningly enough, Huey is becoming my social conscience...
You left out the step where Wal Mart takes your product to China, comes back with a knock-off of it produced by slave labor
When has this happened in the case of development of copyrighted computer software, especially console games that need to be approved by the console maker?
family friendly "Bible-belt" image What you describe may not be "family friendly" however no one has made a fuss about it. Wal - MArt wants to make money and their image is key to that. If people start making a fuss about the uncensored videos then they will pull them, at least for a while. The current focus on violent video games and the fact that parents are usually the ones who buy them lead to the scrutiny that they are under. With videos most young children aren't interested in Devils Rejects but they are obsessed with Halo and it's ilk. And if a kid were to buy The girl next door more than likely he would watch it when his parents arent around. But if he buys DOOM he's going to spend hours playing it and probably not care too much if his parents see him.
In the evil capitalist system, a corporate giant like Walmart uses it's enourmous power and natural monopoly to exploit the people by driving out competition and lowering prices... and it also gives it the power to sqeeze suppliers and control content of media products.
Where as in the socialist utopia, a government owned corporation uses it's enourmous power and monopoly to free the people from oppression, by lowering prices, driving out exploitive capitalist competition... sqeezing suppliers into charging the people low prices, and ensuring that the government corporation censors media for exploitive and counter-revolutionary material.
Oh, that is right, the socialist system is less exploitive because "we have power"... we get to vote... every couple years... from a small list of parties... who are highly regulated by those in power... and subject to strict requirements written by those in power... and campaigns are funded by those in power... and in which we recieve information about the election from those in power. How could there be anything exploitive like that.
I've taken more mathematics than you, Asperger's reject. The chance of your vote making a difference (being the deciding vote) is 1 in (x=0 to n-2 ||| sum 2^x) where n is the number of voters total. Yes, that number does asymptotically approach zero with increasing n.
Not only does the limit approach zero (of course I don't know why you brought up the limit when we are talking about voting populations that never reach above several hundred million -- you probably never got beyond calculus in school and are still impressed by it) but the probability of being the deciding vote is a number so low that it zero for all practical purposes.
I am truly no fan of Walmart,particularly with their tactics, but I think the censorship alegations of the article is over-done. Consider that Walmart stocks F.E.A.R. This is a thoroughly violent game with lots of swearing, splattering blood and flying body parts. If Walmart is willing to stock this, what exactly aren't they willing to stock? Surely being unwilling to stock even more violent, more profane games than this is hardly a sign of virulent censorship, but more a case of genuinely looking out for what their customers' interests?
Corptocracy: When Corporations & Government become integrated. I first read the term in John Perkins' Confessions of an Economic Hitman, though I'm sure it's been used elsewhere too.
:)
Not supposed to be able to happen, but how better to explain how the same group of people keep getting recycled through government service? Yes, I'm a "conspiracy theorist".
Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
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Incidentally, the whole "Walmart economic death spiral" is a bit oversold. If you operate a retail business, Walmart dropping a store next to you is not so fun. If you work at a retail business, you might well end up working at the Walmart. If you do neither, the only economic impact Walmart has on you is changing what bag your Wonderbread comes in (and, oh, saving you money).
Help poke pirates in the eyepatch, arr.
"They've dirven their competitors out of business with unfair practices."
Like what? Selling stuff for less. Last I checked that was called competition.
"They've reamed North American manufacuring as they insisted on cheaper products until they had to go off shore"
Because it's really evil to switch to a lower cost provider.
"causing a replacement of manufacturing jobs with low-end retail jobs"
No, walmart has reduced the number of retail jobs, not made more. There is no such "replacment" taking place. And who ever said manufacturing jobs were so great? Arent they the jobs where you're exposed to toxic chemicals, work wierd hours, and are in constant danger of debilitating injury. Yeah, we're really loosing some great jobs.
"Wal-Mart has the gaming industry by the short-hairs"
Yes, how evil of walmart to let game companies know beforehand what titles they will stock. Wal-Mart should wait until the games are released, and suprise the game companies. Wouldn't that be fun!