An ever-changing industry

This week saw more than 300.000 gamers from dozens of countries flocking to Gamescom in Germany. In the giant halls of Cologne’s Koelnmesse, excited gamers could go hands-on with tons of upcoming games. All the while, developers and industry folks were meeting up, shaking hands and talking business. VCTRY, of course, wouldn’t miss it for the world.

As becomes extra obvious during these kinds of humongous events, the gaming industry is always changing.

PlayStation and Nintendo used to have a big presence in these halls, nowadays they skip Gamescom completely. Xbox walked the opposite route, being one of the major players with one of the biggest (or maybe: the biggest?) stands.?

Talking about changing tides: Microsoft used Gamescom as a podium to amplify their biggest announcement in a while, their very own ‘Indiana Jones’ game is coming this December. Even more shocking is the fact that they made a big deal of also announcing the game for – according to some – their biggest rival: PlayStation 5.

Die-hard Xbox fans were up in arms because ‘how can they bring our games over to a competitors console?’ But the writing has been on the wall for a long time. Even when Microsoft spelled it out, people still couldn’t believe they’d actually put their biggest games on a rival platform. But Xbox, as a contender in the console space, is no longer a battle worth fighting for the corporate giant that is Microsoft. They’ve given up on that fight.

They’ve already stated years ago that other consoles, like Nintendo’s Switch or Sony’s PlayStation, aren’t their true competitors. Streaming and viewing services are. They don’t want to sell consoles, they want to sell Game Pass subscriptions – their very own ‘Netflix for games’. Ironically, as they put it, Netflix is one of those competitors they do see as a threat. Just like Amazon, Google and Apple.

The Netflix streaming service has been expanding into game development territory in rapid pace.

It remains to be seen if it’s smart business to fight the war that’s coming, instead of the one you’re losing. Sony? and Nintendo are carrying on doing mostly what they’ve always done – and making bank doing that. Sure, Sony is shifting strategy to releasing their games on PC as well. And they’re finding success utilizing their game-franchises for film and streaming, with Uncharted and The Last of Us. They’re evolving, but they’re staying on the same battlefield.

With Xbox seemingly leaving the playing field, stating that they can’t find enough growth here, others disagree. One of those is, again, ironically, Netflix. The streaming service has been expanding into game development territory in rapid pace. Steadily growing the acquisition and founding of owned studios. And last not forget true dark horses showing their faces more prominently than ever before during Gamescom: China and Korea. We’ll talk about them next week, but it’s more obvious than ever that they are coming, and they are going to shake this industry to its core in the upcoming years.

Then again, in an industry that’s always changing, we’ve luckily learned how to adapt to changes quickly – no matter how big they are.?

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