Game Profitability Under Threat

Rising development costs and small user bases mean games developers are unlikely to make a profit on new titles until 2008, according to a report. The report models sales forecasts for next generation games until 2010.

The report by media analysts Screen Digest said that the complexity of next generation games made it hard for publishers to cover production costs. Long development times and large production teams also affected profitability, the report found. Sequels to popular games or those based on films are now the focus, it added.

Its author Ed Barton told the BBC News website that many games publishers were choosing to release the same game across as many different hardware platforms as possible to access the widest possible user base.

BBC