Casual industry relatively recession-proof, say leaders

Speaking in the closing panel of the Casual Games Forum last week, reported on CasualGaming.biz, some of the casual gaming industry’s biggest names came together to discuss how the worsening economic climate will affect the games industry.

cafe.com and Boonty’s Mathieu Nouzareth took one side of the argument, explaining that he thought the current situation would be worse than the dotcom crash of 2000.

"I think that advertising will decrease," he said. "Many of the new startup companies will not survive around the next six months – I think it’s going to be worse than 2000. Salaries will be OK: I don’t think staff will move around, but it is going to be very very tough."

Playfish’s Kristian Segerstrale disagreed with his contemporary, pointing to the microtransaction model as something that would help during this period. "One of the nice things about the microtransaction model is that you don’t have a big charge up front, you only buy the things you want – which will appeal to those tightening their belts.

"It will be harder to be a startup for sure, and it will probably be harder to secure advertising dollars. But is it really going to be tough times for the market as a whole? I find that difficult to believe, but I don’t think it’s time to get into the bomb shelter yet."

For more on the issue, including comments from Jon Hare and Oberon’s Ami Ben-David, check out the full story on CasualGaming.biz.