I remember when the 80's gaming bubble burst, do you think we're about to experience it again?

The previous bubble weeded out the crap that infested the industry, which is not necessarily a bad thing - it simply restores some sanity. Those that had any credibility managed to pull through, and still produced quality titles.

Games are here to stay, simply because people want it. If there is a bubble, it means the current state of gaming is becoming stale, and there are too many houses making the same bland titles. Then something new comes along and the industry picks up again.

But then what do I know, I'm just a keyboard warrior.

I'd go with "currently bouncing back from the last burst".


Also, it's a bubble in the small term too -- we make products that require large up-front investments to produce a later profit (at which point there is little work left to do).
Most projects are themselves a bubble, that starts small, ramps up to full production, and then eases up again, before (possibly) raking in the cash.
Every job is a boom and bust; for a job survive, a company has to time the boom/bust to occur at the right moments. Other industries that produce the same kind of products (think film/tv) instead aknowledge this and hire a lot of contractors during the work-boom (and don't need them after the work goes bust).

I'd go with "currently bouncing back from the last burst".


Also, it's a bubble in the small term too -- we make products that require large up-front investments to produce a later profit (at which point there is little work left to do).
Most projects are themselves a bubble, that starts small, ramps up to full production, and then eases up again, before (possibly) raking in the cash.
Every job is a boom and bust; for a job survive, a company has to time the boom/bust to occur at the right moments. Other industries that produce the same kind of products (think film/tv) instead aknowledge this and hire a lot of contractors during the work-boom (and don't need them after the work goes bust).

I think this points out some interesting things about how the question doesn't really apply. I think there is always demand for good entertainment, but when people have less disposable income they are more likely to only invest in the best entertainment. We may perceive this as a bubble bursting because the games we used to make that were really mediocre aren't selling as well as they used to. In reality it's more like trimming the fat.

The industry also feels like it's still trying to find the balance between long term and short term employment. It's a little more difficult than film and tv because the industry requires a significant base of long term employment, but demands the fluidity provided from contract employees. I'd call it more growing pains than a bubble.

The game industry as a whole is definitely booming. If you're referring specifically to console gaming then well, I would say that there are some continued growth issues. Is you look at mobile (phone) and social gaming, then they are definitely booming. These past couple years there has been a definite shift in the angle of growth in the market.

The poll is malformed. The game industry is not in a bubble, but it is not "booming," either. It's seeing stable overall growth characterized by a few super-blockbusters annually but a multitude of decent sellers and a few outright flops. It's also seeing diversification of revenue streams and sales/licensing models, with the embrace of digital distribution, rentals and now streaming (OnLive).

Further, the entire notion of a "bubble" is predicated on investor speculation, specifically unsustainable growth projections that eventually lead to market collapse in which the last set of investors are unable to unload their investments at anything close to worth. The housing industry could have a bubble because the speculative activity was home buyers thinking prices would continue to jump 30 to 50% every 3 to 5 years and thus adopting a "flip" mindset - acquire property, hold long enough to gain equity at a rate faster than the interest on your mortgage and then sell at a significant profit. Naturally, there is a price ceiling on what people will actually pay for accommodating, on average, and exceeding this led to the drying up of demand which resulted in a ripple of defaults from homeowners who were leveraged beyond their means, having counted on a quick exit to avoid getting caught.

There is no irrational speculation going on in relation to the games industry - neither the games themselves (think the "collector comics" bubble of the 1980s) nor the stocks of those publicly traded companies in the industry (EA, ActivisionBlizzard, Ubisoft, etc). There is simply a high rate of consumption as European and particularly American cultures have the child gamers of the 70s and 80s grow into adulthood and become comfortable with the notion that everybody plays games.

There is no professional irrational speculation going on in relation to the games industry

fixed?