Double Fine Productions founder Tim Schafer says he doesn’t know why the games industry hasn’t seen a positive change in fortunes for a while, but assumes it’s due to greed.
In an interview with the BBC discussing the studio’s departure from Xbox and return to full independence, Schafer was asked whether he felt the economics of games had changed in recent years.
He replied that he doesn’t feel he knows how the economics of games work any more, because it used to be cycle of ups and downs and now he hasn’t seen an ‘up’ for a while.
“I don’t understand the economics of making games to be honest,” Schafer explained. “I often for years thought I understood them, because there are layoffs, which is bad, and then the people who make games realise ‘oh, we need people to make games’, the executives are like ‘oh, we fired everybody, we need some people to make this game’, they hire them back, and then they… you know.
“So I always assume ‘oh, there’ll be this cycle of ups and downs, and ups and downs’. But it’s been down for, like, four years, and I don’t know why. I really don’t, because people are playing games, and people are making money, so I don’t know why there’s a big loss of jobs.
“I just assume it’s, like, someone is being greedy somewhere. But I hope it is a cycle, and I hope it bounces back.”
Schafer added that while the layoffs tend to be more vicious in the AAA space, indie developers are also at risk, and he hopes for a future where developers can focus on their work, rather than whether they’ll still have work soon.
“I think there’s a lot of life and and excitement and creativity in the games industry now, especially in the indie space,” he said. “I’m not one of those snobs who says only indie games are creative. I think a lot of AAA games do a lot of great creative work.
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