Fewer programmers needed
Economic downturn; parallel worlds. Consider the sad fate of the automotive industry, where we’re all going to pay (again) for mediocre product. No choice for the consumer there. And then the parallel: one of the larger videogame firms has decided to lay off hundred of programmers and artists due to economic downturn. The main product mentioned in the news story mentioned Need For Speed, which involves virtual automobiles. Mere chance; I think not.
In an economy where real workers cannot afford to buy new cars, why would the virtual equivalent (the gamer) need more game product? Seriously, I do have more than a passing interest in the story, because my youngest son has career goals that involve the virtual industry. No urge to sling a wrench or spray a rocker panel. Instead, he’d like to calculate cursor movement coordinates and trajectory. All beyond my ken, but there are schools that can show him the “way”. The only thing is that if the industry (video games) is headed for a downturn before he even starts his directed study, perhaps he should realign now. Learn the fundamentals of oil sand extraction (the only growth industry in our economy).
The story points out that sales of video games are down; quite possible, in a world where the Wii is mythical. Not to quibble, but shouldn’t the game industry be working with the console manufacturers to dislodge those stuck assembly lines? More hardware equals more software. I’m still trying to master my copy of Flight Simulator, so I’m not the ideal customer.
