DigitalBattle.com

The video game industry has been called ‘recession proof’ but that only applies to the industry in general. While individual companies fold, get bought out and families everywhere are tightening their belts one group is continuing their behavior as if nothing had changed: the gamers that have been referred to as “core” gamers. These are the proud folks who line up to buy the new consoles, wait for midnight releases of their favorite series, do whatever they need to ensure they can play the next chapter in the series.

Analysts are saying that these core gamers who consider gaming a high priority when considering where to spend their luxury money are going to be essential in keeping many developers and publishers from feeling the recession crunch. While some are predicting that Nintendo will keep on without a problem in this troubled market, others are saying that since the company caters heavily to the exploding population of ‘casual’ gamers they might get hit hardest by this.

It’s a hard question to try and answer as in times of economic crisis people tend to seek escapist entertainments such as video games and while casual games tend to have a lower price tag, they also don’t require anywhere near as much time or effort to develop as a ‘hardcore’ game, so presumably there’s a larger profit per sale, which could mean that the decreased sales would be balanced out by the lower overhead. Only time will tell which companies weather the storm, which crumble and which band together with other smaller companies to survive.