One of the biggest topics today when it comes to gaming seems to be how some of the biggest names of the industry have been dragging themselves through the mud. So much so even, that some people think that the industry, or at least triple-A publishers, is heading towards a crash, and we will see many of these companies going under and going out of business. This seems like an interesting thought topic, so here we will speculate what might happen if these certain publishers do go under and how likely it might be that they do. Despite how a lot of people feel about them now, they do own the rights to a lot of series that gamers hold dear and these companies did put out good games at some point; they wouldn’t have gotten as big as they have if they didn’t.
For the record, I am not necessarily saying that I personally hate these
companies and want to see them go out of business. I am just saying that in
some cases, I can understand why other people do.
EA/Electronic Arts
Probably the first company people think of when they think of a bad video game publisher, Electronic Arts has largely become an industry pariah, thanks to a long list of bad decisions that all tie back to them wanting to grab for as much money as humanly possible. From being responsible for high-profile studio closures to ruining franchises for the sake of nickel-and-diming fans, a lot of gamers think that the industry would be better off if EA was wiped from existence. However, the recent success of the battle royale game Apex Legends proves two things; that EA can still put out good games if they have to (even if this was more Respawn than EA) and that this publisher will not go down easily.
Despite how maligned EA is within the gaming space, they are still a large presence within the industry. If they fail, it could mean one of two things, either gamers have largely decided not to support their greedy practices and have taken all their business to competitors or the gaming industry as a whole is starting to fail and a lot of other large pillars are falling with them. Either way, they will likely get more desperate with the microtransactions than they are now, possibly even including MMO-style subscription fees to even play their games a month after launch or lobbying to increase the upfront cost of games in general.
Hoping EA doesn’t read this and get any ideas.
As for the franchises, they would likely focus more and more
on the proven money-makers of the past, letting all other series that they
control collect dust, unused until they are forced to sell some of them off to
other companies due to falling revenue. While I would like to believe that they
would start to focus on just making good games with original ideas that would
impress gamers, their current practices don’t leave optimistic about their
mindsets. As for who would control these series if sold, they would likely be
other publishers looking to add some star power to their franchise line-ups, preferably
ones that have had experience with those types of games.
Microsoft seems likely to me for a large-scale purchase,
given they are another large western publisher and a lot of past EA games have
done well on Xbox systems. Other than that, driving games like Need for Speed
and Burnout could go to Grid developer Codemasters to give them different
flavors of racers, shooters like Battlefield, Crysis, and Titanfall might get
snapped up by Epic to add more exclusives to the Epic game store (and kill off
their latest BR rival, Apex Legends), and sports games like SSX and the EA
Sports titles might go to 2K Games now that their main competition is out of
the way. There are more developers that could be estimated but that was just a
few.
Activision
After EA, Activision is currently one of the most hated video game companies in the world, especially recently after announcing that they laid off almost 800 employees despite reporting record profits in 2018. This is the latest in a parade of poor decisions from the company, including dishonest, unfair, and just plain greedy use of microtransactions, degrading quality of newer or continuing games in their roster, trying to push fan favorite but lower-profit games out of the public eye, and leaving their long-favored PC gaming crowd behind in favor of quick profits in the mobile market.
Fill in the blank: “Do you guys not have __?”
After laying off so much of their workforce, one would imagine morale has gone down a lot at Activision studios. Even among those who stayed, tension probably feels high for them to deliver on their next game. With Activision themselves stating that they’re only focusing on a few titles for the foreseeable future (those few being Call of Duty, Candy Crush, World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Hearthstone, and Diablo), one would hope that these games are decent enough to sell with no problems. But with shareholders that seemingly care more about quick results and infinite, rapid financial growth, than quality products, these developers might not be able to keep up the pace, especially when people who know nothing about games are the ones pulling the strings.
If it continues at a rate where Activision starts seeing
some real financial trouble, they will likely close some of their other studios
to keep themselves alive for as long as they can. First, the smaller studios
would go, followed by King (the creators of Candy Crush), then Blizzard (owners
of most of their highly regarded franchises), and finally Activision itself of
the problems go that far. While some people might want to believe that a bunch
of former Blizzard developers will get together and form a studio to take back
control of their IPs, what is more likely to happen is that they will get
bought up by another large publisher, like the studio killer themselves, EA.
Konami
Once, one of the highest regarded third-party game producers,
known for delivering several beloved franchises over the years, Konami has done
an intense amount of damage to their reputation, particularly when it comes to
their break-up with their former star developer, Hideo Kojima, and his two
biggest projects at the time of their break-up, Silent Hills and Metal Gear
Solid V: The Phantom Pain.
If Konami starts failing in the gaming industry, I don’t see
them going under as a company. In many gamers minds they’ve already sort of
left it, with the only real console games they’ve released after Metal Gear
Solid V being Pro Evolution Soccer, Super Bomberman R, and…
…this.
Aside from that, they’ve mostly transistioned into mobile
games and gambling machines, using their biggest franchises like Castlevania,
Silent Hill, and Metal Gear to market them. If Konami really starts failing in
the gaming sector, they may just withdraw from that completely and focus
entirely on gambling machines or other businesses. They may release a mobile
title here or there, but that might be it. As for their game franchises, while
they could just keep them locked away and never let them see the light of day
(they already do that for a lot of their properties), they could also not see
the point in holding onto things they know they’re not going use and try to
sell them off. If this happens, who would pick them up?
I could see Nintendo putting in bids for Castlevania, Metal Gear, and Bomberman, with those three series’ history with Nintendo and the broader gaming space as well as their involvement in Super Smash Bros., but I think other third-party studios might be likely to pick all the series as a package deal, my guesses being either Sega or Capcom. While both of them have their own series they could stand to pay attention to, being the new owner of high-profile Konami franchises could renew interest in them and have people anticipating what these studios could to with these games.
Bethesda
As someone once said, “the bigger they are, the harder they
fall”, and at the end of last year, Bethesda fell hard. Their biggest release
of the year came with Fallout 76, and when it was revealed that it was a
glitchy, broken, borderline-unplayable mess, with players left to wander an
empty world with no real story content, microtransactions ready to grab for
players’ money, and an inability for modders to add to or change the game like
they could with previous titles, players began to riot. There were already
problems like this in other Bethesda games, but Fallout 76 made it so blatant
that players weren’t ready to let it slide like they did with previous titles.
Before Fallout 76, players were willing to overlook or make
excuses for the problems that Bethesda had in their games because they loved
these worlds so much and wanted nothing more than to see more of the kind of
storytelling they could provide. But this one game damaged their reputation so
badly that several people have sworn off Bethesda. Some gamers are even calling
for it to go under. If their upcoming games like Elder Scrolls VI or Starfield
turn out like Fallout 76, they could be in serious trouble. As for who else
could handle their series, my best guess would be another semi-large
third-party developer who is good with handling open-world titles and RPGs. The
developer I’m referring to is CD Projekt Red.
Their time with The Witcher III and how they are handling
the development of Cyberpunk 2077 shows that they might do some good with
franchises like Fallout or Elder Scrolls. A possible second choice would be
Rockstar, since they have shown they know how to work with open world titles.
Say what you want about GTA Online or Red Dead Redemption Online, but at least
the single-player games they’re based on are good games.
Others
Generally, EA, Activision, Konami, and Bethesda have been the four publishers that have seen the most derision from gamers. There are other companies that have received a lot of criticism in recent years, but those seem to be more of a mixed bag of both positive and negative comments and people are willing to at least give them a chance because they haven’t gone too far just yet. Ubisoft may have seen problems with how they’re running series like Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry, but they still take chances on other games from time to time and they generally know when to back off when they are taking things too far. Gearbox has made a lot of poor decisions with their handling of franchises like Duke Nukem, Alien, and Battleborn, but with Borderlands 3 on the horizon, players are willing to reserve final judgment at least until that game comes out. Capcom has canceled high-profile projects for beloved series and have done things that have turned a few heads, but they haven’t crossed the same lines that EA and Activision have.
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What did you think of this article? What do you think should happen to the publishers mentioned here? What do you think should happen to the franchises they own? Which studios do you think should buy them up or do you think we should let them rest and focus on more new titles in the future?
Make your voice heard in the comments below. Thanks for coming!
