Weaker subscription deals have hit indie publishers, says analyst
www.gamesindustry.biz
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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/2944272

Smaller subscription deals and the underperformance of certain titles have had a severe impact on Devolver and TinyBuild, says stockbroking firm Goodbody.

Both companies floated at the peak of the games business in 2021 and have seen their share prices plummet over the past two years. Devolver has seen its share price drop 92% since its peak in January 2022, while TinyBuild’s has fallen 95%

“We have seen from Devolver and TinyBuild that subscription is under pressure at the moment,” says Patrick O’Donnell, technology and video gaming analyst at Goodbody.

"The cheques coming from Sony and Microsoft are just not as big as they were. And that creates problems if you’re concentrated on that side of the market.

“TinyBuild, of all of them, was most exposed. Devolver was exposed, but not quite as much.”

  • UrLogicFails@beehaw.orgEnglish
    1·
    1 year ago

    Honestly, I would hope for that as well; but it seems very similar to the enshittification of Amazon (Wired link, archive link):

    Marketplace sellers reached huge audiences and Amazon took low commissions from them.

    This strategy meant that it became progressively harder for shoppers to find things anywhere except Amazon, which meant that they only searched on Amazon, which meant that sellers had to sell on Amazon. That’s when Amazon started to harvest the surplus from its business customers and send it to Amazon’s shareholders. Today, Marketplace sellers are handing more than 45 percent of the sale price to Amazon in junk fees.

    Basically the notion is once a storefront has captured the bulk of potential customers, they are able to extort their suppliers however they want, since it’s the only way the suppliers can reasonably reach the customers.

    Hopefully in this case, the publishers can explore other sales avenues; but it all depends on the reach of the subscription service.