ON THE south bank of the Tyne this week five key players from the global video games industry put their heads together to plot a way through the recession.
When the economic crisis first hit banks, manufacturers and the high street, the games industry looked down from its ivory tower and shook its head, but was unperturbed.
As the heavyweights at The Sage Gateshead this week confessed, there was a widespread feeling of immunity at the beginning of the present global crisis.
Gamers will be even more inclined to stay at home – controller in hand and glued to the screen – as all about them in the outside world crumbled, thought the world’s electronic artists.
However, times are changing and, as delegates at this week’s GameHorizon conference heard, the recession is now taking its toll on publishers, developers and young guns with bright ideas to transform the gaming landscape.
The latest figures from the US this week showed video games sales in May slipping below the US$1m mark for the first month since August 2007.
Meanwhile staff-sharing and pay-cut schemes are becoming an increasingly common part of life in the ultra-cool games studios either side of the Pond.
Jamil Moledina, outreach director for international games giant Electronic Arts, whose latest title FIFA 10 was on show at the conference, said: "At the beginning of the recession we thought that we were recession-proof, but that’s not the case."
Fortunately companies are learning to adapt to the changeable climate and, as Darren Jobling of North East gaming institution Eutechnyx explained, there are positives to be drawn from the current trading environment.
"You need to look at alternative markets as an independent developer," he said.
He believes now is the time for developers or people with valuable intellectual property to be aggressive in the battle through the recession.
Alongside a band of leaders behind some of the biggest-selling games on the planet, Mr Jobling also told the conference about how employment rules are changing at games firms under unprecedented conditions.
He said: "We all employ very smart people but in terms of morale you need to be in amongst them, not hiding in your office.
"During a recession it’s really important to count on your best people. It’s a tough world at the moment but you have got to give your best to the best people and give less to the rest.
"It’s the best people that can take you from a good company to a great company.
"We’ve got a studio in China, and the temptation would be to [cut back] on what’s further away but you have to think about who’s going to take your company to the next level."
