It goes without saying that, as the world further removes itself from the lockdowns of 2020, things are slowly reverting back to normal.
And while most people are thrilled about that return to normalcy, certain industries may not be as gung ho about this change.
Streaming is one such arena where the return to normalcy has been a very mixed bag.
Sure, Netflix appears to be thriving.
But the same cannot be said about all of the other floundering streaming services out there which are losing subscribers due to a lack of interest and the fact that prospective customers can play in the sun again.
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According to Deadline, citing a DDM Games report, the video game industry may be more Disney+ than Netflix in 2024.
The outlet reports that “investment in the video game sector this year will return to quieter, pre-Covid levels.”
Citing those DDM reports, Deadline outlined how video games will “struggle finding footing” this year.
Despite some of the gaudy sales numbers that the video game industry garnered last year, and the multi-billion dollar mergers, the report warns that despite “these shiny totals, the industry struggled to maintain momentum and displayed pullback to pre-pandemic growth.”
Do you play video games?
Yes: 30% (18 Votes)
No: 70% (42 Votes)
The report, per Deadline, actually argues that no industry benefited more from that lockdown bubble than video games.
And when that bubble bursts, it’s going to be bad.
“The exponential growth among revenues, profitability, investments, acquisitions, and IPOs was unsustainable for the industry since the world would eventually go back to normalcy,” Deadline reported, citing DDM.
Interestingly enough, the industries negatively impacted by the return to lockdown normalcy represent double trouble for… Disney, of all companies.
Disney+ is struggling and will continue to do so, as mentioned above.
But Disney has also recently made a massive $1.5 billion investment in Epic Games, the studio behind the ubiquitous “Fortnite” game that everyone has heard of, if not played.
Jumping into that arena during this sort of forecast can’t be engendering a ton of confidence at the House of Mouse.
And it’s not entirely clear Disney — or most major entertainment conglomerates — will be able to rely on the silver screen to save them either.
2023 was, objectively speaking, a very bad year at the box office.
Video games, streaming and movies… What do those all have in common? They all involve people staring at screens.
If people have, in fact, reached the saturation point of screen use, it may very well be a rough year not just for video games, but for all of entertainment in 2024.
