People with MBAs are ruining the gaming industry.

People who have MBAs from the top graduate business schools (i.e., Harvard, Stanford, Dartmouth, etc.) are ruining the gaming industry.

Why? Same reason why high-flung MBAs ruined the financial industry: business schools are teaching people to value the short term far more than the long term. In turn, when these MBAs earn executive positions in major video game publishers, they are mostly obsessed about only a two things: keeping costs down, and increasing earnings as quickly as they can. Most corporate executives are only on the job for five years or less, so it is naturally within their interest to increase earnings as quickly as they can within that time period, even if these get-rich-quick schemes probably won't work out for the long run. When the publisher they once worked for starts to flounder, they are already gone - and their stock options have already vested!

Truth is, EA and many of the other megapublishers out there are not any different from Activision. They all have extremely short-sighted strategies which mostly involve improving earnings over the short term, though not the long term. Modern Warfare 2 is the greatest example of this money grab: if it weren't for it, then Viviendi wouldn't have been able to post the excellent earnings they did last quarter. Revenue is remarkably volatile and can wax and wane as the years come and go. Any slip up may cost an executive millions of dollars worth of stock options.

The fact that most megapublishers are public contribute to this problem. We have gaming executives more worried about the value of their options more than the future of the companies that they run. We don't need any more damn suits with their MBAs running the industry. We need people who actually understand the nuances of the industry and people who appreciate the benefits of the long term to run it.

It has always been like this from Day 1

True. Only megapublishers, backed by public offerings of stock, can fund the sort of games that people want to play... It's sad, really...

It has always been like this from Day 1

thelastguy

Really? I have a feeling that this started occurring only in the early 1990's/late 1980's. Gaming was once a high-margin activity, run not by people with MBAs wanting to push the stock price higher, but by people who were passionate about video games.

I thought Stanford was more science oriented like MIT?

Still, yes, i completely agree

actually EA has gotten WAY better and Activision has been going down (not sales wise, quality wise). Cod2 was one of my favorite games ever and now the whole series has gone to hell. the problem that you are stating seems to be more of a problem with devs and publishers on consoles rather than PCs. look at GSC, they are an independent dev and can publish the game whenever they want. sure they wont get ridiculous sales (even though the STALKER series broke 2 million i think) but their games are higher quality. console devs are usually 1st or 2nd party and are undercontract from the EAs and Activisions of the world which are the moneygrubbers (specifically activision, they are like king midas, whatever the touch turns to "gold"(sales wise) however what they touch also sucks.) A publisher should never have any say in the game design (cough, activision) and really should be eliminated or toned down in my opinion. without time constraints and quotas, games could be so much better. look at valve, it takes them forever to release anything, however everything they make is of super high quality (whether you like their games is a different story)

True. Only megapublishers, backed by public offerings of stock, can fund the sort of games that people want to play... It's sad, really...

The_Capitalist

I thought Stanford was more science oriented like MIT?

Still, yes, i completely agree

DoomZaW

Yes, Stanford does have a great engineering school.

But still, Stanford is home to one of the best graduate business schools in this country - the Stanford Graduate School of Business. The school accepts only 6% of its applicants. Here's the website (if you are interested!):

http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/

Big business almost ruined the film industry, so naturally it was going to put its greedy little hands on games too.

Still though, we have a few great games here and there despite them.

[QUOTE="The_Capitalist"]

True. Only megapublishers, backed by public offerings of stock, can fund the sort of games that people want to play... It's sad, really...

67gt500

Well, there is another facet of financing (albeit private) that indie developers can turn to: private equity. But private equity firms can just be punishing if a developer doesn't make good on its promises that a game will be profitable.

Big business almost ruined the film industry, so naturally it was going to put its greedy little hands on games too.

Still though, we have a few great games here and there despite them.

Bigboi500

This will only become more common once gaming becomes more mainstream; I am sure of it. Eventually, the used games market won't exist anymore, because games will become locked to one console only. Eventually, PC versions won't exist anymore due to piracy. Eventually, gaming will be turned into only a shell of itself!

True. Only megapublishers, backed by public offerings of stock, can fund the sort of games that people want to play... It's sad, really...

The_Capitalist

That is until new technologies are developed (are actually in development), that will greatly reduce the overhead and cost to develop next-gen video games. This will only happen on the PC as it is constantly evolving and where indie devs can take advantage of all this new tech.

At some point in the future there could be such a great gap between consoles and PC hardware, that unless they release a next gen console even a tom, dick or harry could make a better looking video game in the garage vs. a big publisher.

[QUOTE="Bigboi500"]

Big business almost ruined the film industry, so naturally it was going to put its greedy little hands on games too.

Still though, we have a few great games here and there despite them.

The_Capitalist

This will only become more common once gaming becomes more mainstream; I am sure of it. Eventually, the used games market won't exist anymore, because games will become locked to one console only. Eventually, PC versions won't exist anymore due to piracy. Eventually, gaming will be turned into only a shell of itself!

EA has been focusing on both short term and long term. They get short term profits from all of their sports games and casual titles, but they also have made long term investments. They took chances with Mirror's Edge, Dead Space, Army of Two, Bad Company, Mass Effect, etc., and they keep working on them.

So the problem is ppl are getting a masters of business associate degree? No, i do not believe this is the case. Ppl getting degrees do not ruin the industry. I believe you are wording ur arugment wrong. It is more along the lines of bad business practices and bad rules and regulations in general. These ppl are allowed to implement these short term investments that increase profits, but will result in a deficit in the long term. No one is there to oversee this activity or if there is, it is usually their higher ups. The problem is that these higher ups also got to their positions by doing these same practices, therefore they will not stop this. Getting an education does not make you ruin an industry, working and gaining experience (good or bad) is what makes you a good or bad practioner of your degree.

True. Only megapublishers, backed by public offerings of stock, can fund the sort of games that people want to play... It's sad, really...

The_Capitalist

Nah. Not really. Only big companies can afford cinematic blockbusters, yes, but the more arcade-like stuff that's the hottest on the Wii doesn't necessarily need a huge development budget. What they do need is craftsmanship and a total abandonment of being artsy.

The industry is already being regulated by customers and it's own stupidity.

It's just Capitalism at it's best and worst at the same time...67gt500