Industry job losses remain high, but are things getting better?
The UK recently became the final G20 nation to escape the the recession, following the most severe global credit crisis in seventy years.
But still, nothing has seemed to curb the currently high levels of studio restructuring, workforce reductions and cancelled projects.
With this in mind, this week’s Develop Jury turns its focus to the business of making games. This week we ask:
Is the development sector through the worst of the recession?
Developers and industry members can send their answers to rob.crossley@intentmedia.co.uk, while the comments section below is open to all.
Deadline for email replies is end of play today.
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We also encourage respondents to offer ideas on how studios can hold steady as the economy begins to recover.
There are obviously many approaches you can take in your response. We’ll collect and publish your answers on Thursday.
the scale of the recession is going to leave publishers and investors nervous for a long time to come. our downsizing was supposed to be temporary but the first deadline has already been extended - i doubt the holes will ever be filled now. the buzz word here used to be 'ambition'. now it's 'efficiency'.
the recession is officially over doesn't mean that we're out of the woods at all.
Especially in the UK. We have an insane budget deficit and this will not be remedied any time soon - look out for pay freezes and maybe even job cuts in the public sector.
All these things have a knock-on effect. And for an industry that takes as many risks as ours, we are going to see many casualties.
But also I think what's important to not forget is that the industry is based on cyclical projects and platforms. We're always going to get sudden job cuts and closures; always have.
We all know the end of the recession doesn't mean the end of all developer's troubles. As people have said, studios will have to be cautious in their investments before they can start spending big again.
I'm going to go one step further. Maybe if we constantly spend cautiously and refuse to spend big for as long as possible, then we might be able to avoid starting ANOTHER recession.
It may be stating the obvious, but the obvious always needs to be stated. So there.
We exited the recession based on "early, estimated" figures of a 0.1% rise. A slight change in the final figures would see that drop to 0%. With the change in VAT rate having an impact on spending it wouldn't be a surprise to enter the next general election on the back of a negative figure.
A "double dip" recession remains a possibility. In which case the pain is going to get a whole lot worse.
Let alone having to deal with repaying this monster debt, potentially losing our AAA credit rating and increasing interest rates.
Sorry, but it's still early days to be talking of the end of a recession. From where I'm sitting a lot of "big" publishers are remaining very cautious in their spending on new titles and I fear the job news won't massively improve for a while yet.
Hope I'm wrong on all of the above btw :-)
unemployment is a lag factor by all accounts so you can expect unemployment to rise even after a recovery has started.
so basically, no, not yet things aren;t getting better. until more people are being taken on in the industry rather than being let go regardless of growth or recession, then there's still gonaa be alot of talent out of work. not good for anybody.
I think this is just the tip of the recession this will turn into depression. All indicators are hype or headinthesandism - too many ostrich economists and salesmen.
I know the recession is not yet over, I was getting 110ph(Philippine) to the pound (uk) a couple of years ago, now I'm only getting 72, I have lost over 35 percent of my income because of this bad recession
