Robocop publisher: 'There's too many games on the market'

Too many games--that's one of the current problems that the interactive entertainment industry is facing, according to Nacon's Benoit Clerc.

2

2023 was one of the best years in gaming in terms of diversity, selection, and back-to-back heavy hitting releases, but it wasn't such a great year for the companies behind the games. Following record-breaking earnings during COVID lockdowns, the gaming economy has now corrected itself and led to significant reconstruction of talent pools. Publishers and parent companies around the world are slashing budgets, cutting headcount, cancelling projects, and even shutting down studios.

The congested market has squeezed consumer choice during a time when discretionary income is already low. Current inflation conditions have driven up the prices of basic needs and games themselves have likewise become more expensive--all major AAA games now sell for $69.99, a $10 increase over the previous $59.99 MSRP of video games.

Publishers are well aware of the steep competition driven by the glut of games, and some, like French video games publisher Nacon, believe that there's just too many titles flooding the digital storefronts right now.

"There are too many games currently on the market. We're seeing today the results of investment made after [COVID] when the market was bursting, and every game was making a lot of money so there were a lot of investments being made.

"This is two or three years after that, so the games we're seeing now on the market were financed in that time and there are simply too many for customers to be able to play them," Clerc said in a recent interview with GamesIndustry.biz.

It's rare that we hear executives talk about these kinds of things in simplistic terms, but 2023 was indeed culminated in the maturation on years' worth of financial investment. Clerc goes on to talk about how many games are released on Steam, and how tough it is to gain visibility and discovery on its storefront.

"When you look at Steam some days, there are 50 or 60 games released in one day only so it's more difficult to get enough traction to expose a game. We're seeing releases that are without a day one, to use the old retail expression, without any exposure of a title that has been properly marketed."

Nacon has been hailed for its most recent release, Robocop: Rogue City, which has turned out to be a hit among gamers. Nacon also makes peripherals including video game controllers and headsets.