#luis levy

Back in the late 1980s and 1990s, developers had a single task: work hard, respect deadlines and deliver a quality product. The studio – and publisher – would have to deal with the risk while handling all marketing and PR.

Then digital distribution arrived. Mobile gaming. Social games. The market for AAA games went “soft” and the (supposedly) recession-resistant game industry started to lose its luster. Publishers were closed by creditors. Studios were closed by publishers. Whole countries saw their game industry shrink and almost die of starvation. But mobile gaming and social games are not the villains here. You can demonize social games like it’s 2009, but they are here to stay. A huge portion of Facebook users play games. Since Facebook just crossed the 700-million barrier, if 0.5 percent of its users play your game you end up with… 3.5 million users. That’s a staggering number -- even from a AAA perspective.