In 1983, the video game industry suffered a historic crash after the console market was inundated with cheap copycats, leading to reduced sales that were offset by increased prices: worse games that cost more. Companies went under or pulled out of the market entirely, and home video game revenue in the US fell by 97 percent from $3 billion to $100 million within the span of just three years. Players migrated towards PC amid dwindling interest in consoles, while innovators such as Nintendo carved out a reputation for unique, high-quality games, allowing them to come out the other end as pioneers.
We're seeing a very similar situation unfold today, as digital marketplaces are saturated with AI slop, blatant scams, and cheap shovelware. In March alone, 2,469 games were released on Steam, whereas ten years ago, just 343 games launched in the same timeframe. Players are being driven away from purchasing new consoles too, due to the continued price hikes for the PS5 and Xbox Series X, and with publishers pushing for $80 games, it's no surprise that we're seeing players migrate more and more to PC.
The problems are only being compounded by exuberant budgets and live-service failures that upend entire studios, with widespread layoffs that have only continued in the aftermath of the COVID boom. That's not to mention the 'RAMpocalypse,' as AI data centers have incited a global memory shortage, leading to further price hikes for key components, delaying next-gen consoles and stagnating technology. It's hardly surprising that Doom co-creator John Romero warned that things are "definitely crashier" than they were in the '80s, but Fallout creator Tim Cain doesn't agree.
"We Lost An Entire Generation Of Game Developers"
"It's bad. Quote me: it's bad," Tim Cain said (via PC Gamer). But he assured that "it's nothing like the 1983 crash."
"To me, the 1983 crash is still the biggest industry crash that I've ever seen, ever experienced, and I think ever was," he continued. "I don't think there's ever been a worse time in the games industry, especially in the United States — it was very centered in the US."
Cain argued that "we lost an entire generation of game developers" because of the 1983 crash, as the entire US market collapsed in on itself. It took a decade to recover, and by the '90s, a lot of devs who lost their jobs had exited the industry for good. "There were no jobs for console developers of any kind," he said. "It was just gone."
There are still great games being published, and we're seeing markets like South Korea and China thrive, but inflated budgets in the hundreds of millions of dollars are putting a target on developer's backs, while historic layoffs continue to hit the industry year after year, constricting the industry further. As John Romero said, "There are so few people that have not been affected, or their partner's affected," and even successful studios aren't escaping unscathed, as Battlefield 6 devs were rewarded for triumphing over Call of Duty with widespread layoffs.
It's unclear what the ramifications of the last few years will be on the games industry as a whole, or how it will be resolved, but whether things have reached 1983 lows yet, it's no surprise that comparisons are being drawn to one of the worst periods in the medium's history.
EU Politician Responds To Stop Killing Games, Tells Parliament "Wokeness Is Destroying Video Games"
MEP Milan Uhrík addressed SKG at the EU parliament with a tangent about wokeness in Assassin's Creed, which the movement says "missed the point."