Activision is withdrawing into itself as they are closing another gaming studio. Yesterday we heard that they are closing Radical games (developers of some of the Crash Badicoot titles and also Prototype). Activision/Blizzard has been working to consolidate their development teams (including removing high profile members of some teams) although the exact reasoning behind this is not certain. We do know that although gamers recognize the publishing/distribution companies they also know the game studios that games come from. Without these attacked to new games (and with the reputation that Activision is giving themselves) there is a chance that Activision/Blizzard will end up like EA Games.We are seeing an interesting trend in the video game (and software) industry. Where game companies used to use multiple development studios to bring a wide variety of games and game styles to the market they are narrowing their focus in the interest of saving money. Many of these game publishers are also pushing the online-only model or moving to the lucrative Free-to-Play (or Free-to-Pay as we have heard it called lately). We wonder if this is a direction that Activision/Blizzard is heading. After all despite server issues and the online-only style of Daiblo III it has become a bestselling title.
Will we see Activision also develop their own distribution channel like EA has done with Origin? This could be an effort to compete with both EA and also Steam especially if they are going to consolidate development houses and then push the online-only model. Unfortunately for the gaming industry the online-only model will not have the intended effect. The likely hood of a large scale breach is high while the move will also not stop piracy (there is very little that will actually stop that).
Instead as with most preventative measures the people hurt will be the consumer, which in turn impacts the success of the market as a whole.
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