Even with a dip in sales last year, the overall pattern for the video game industry has been one of tremendous growth. Beyond retail game sales, digital is making its mark, and emerging platforms like iPhone and Facebook are expanding the demographics of gaming and making gameplay more accessible to the average consumer. But just how much is a game worth these days? That's the big question, and it poses a challenge to the suits in the industry, according to Civilization creator Sid Meier.
Responding to a question about the health of industry in a recent in-depth interview, Meier commented, "I think we’re doing pretty well. I think that if there’s a challenge out there, it’s with the whole financial structure. You have these AAA titles over here, then you have iPhone games selling for 99 cents. We’re at a time when it’s hard to put a comfortable number on what is something worth. I think that creates a little uncertainty in the players. Should I be able to play for free? What can I get for 99 cents? What about this AAA title? And I think, if anything, there’s a real uncertainty about what the real values of games are and I think that that’s related to the fact that the industry’s growing faster than we can become comfortable with the new technologies and what they can do and what the costs are of making them and things like that."
He added, "I think this evolution is going on, understanding how all these new areas fit in with the big picture of gaming, but I think it’s primarily an embarrassment of riches. We have all these opportunities and we’re just trying to figure out how to make them all fit together."
