Collapse of the British video game industry

[Bligmerk]

There are some people here that keep harping on the decline of the Japanese video game industry but it appears the British video game industry is completely collapsing. Didn't know Codemasters is the last British video game publisher. There are some British devs left but most are being propped up by US and Japanese publishers like EA, Activision and Nintendo, like Rare and Lionhead by MS, Eidos by Square-Enix and London, Cambridge, Media Molecule, and Evolution studios by Sony. London and Cambridge studios have become so unproductive, it wouldn't be a surprise to see Sony shut them down and redistribute the employees. It is still a strange view to believe that video game development has to be subsidized by tax breaks, seems to be another byproduct of the dole system.

Bodycount dev: It's 'painfully obvious' why UK devs are closing

Codemasters man 'still in disbelief' at Black Rock closure, thinks tax break U-turn is to blame.
21 July 2011

Bodycount's Game Director Andy Wilson has suggested that the government's controversial U-turn on UK tax breaks is responsible for the recent closure of British game development studios, saying that it's "painfully obvious" why so many UK studios are closing "when you look at the level of support in North America".
"The UK is primarily tough, in my opinion, because the bright, shining hope of tax breaks for the games industry got torpedoed," said Wilson speaking to GamerZines earlier this month.
"It's a tough economy for sure, but we need to start supporting the industry properly or the whole thing is going to melt into iPhone developers - and there's only so many 4-man teams who are going to find success.
"When you look at the level of support in North America it becomes painfully obvious why so many developers here are closing their doors, including my former home Black Rock. I'm still sitting in disbelief at that one."

It was announced by Disney recently that it was to close Split/Second developer Black Rock Studios, hot off the back of Activision closing Bizarre Creations.
Wilson is currently putting the finishing touches to Bodycount, a first-person shooter developed in Guildford, and due for release by British publisher Codemasters this September.
But Wilson doesn't think that Codemasters will be upping sticks and taking in-house development overseas in the near future.
"Codemasters already has a studio in Malaysia for production of art assets, but I would think it unlikely we'll move fullscale development overseas any time soon. We're still flying the flag as the last British publisher, after all."
Bodycount launches on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on September 2nd.

http://www.gamerzines.com/ps3/news/o...s-closing.html

Is the UK chasing away game developers?
JULY 21, 2011

In a word, yes – according to TIGA, which is the trade/lobbying association that represents the games industry in the U.K. TIGA, in its quest for tax relief for game companies, recently put the spotlight on some reports which shows that the regional tax regime is chasing game development staff to Canada due to its uncompetitive nature.

TIGA says that a report by HM Revenue & Customs (a U.K. taxing agency) states that one in four large businesses might leave Britain to escape its growing tax burden. The move could prove harmful to the U.K.’s economy, causing developers to move out and take skilled workers with them.

The report also highlighted a comment by Andrew Wilson, the senior vice president of worldwide development at EA Sports, who admitted in an interview with Develop that “EA has many studios that takes advantage of game tax breaks and EA Canada is certainly one of them.” He noted that EA employs “lots” of British developers at EA Canada.

This is being taken as evidence of the loss of skilled workers, thanks to high tax rates. CEO of TIGA Dr. Richard Wilson, said, “The provision of tax breaks in Canada is also helping to fuel a brain drain of key development staff from the U.K. The Entertainment Software Association of Canada acknowledged earlier this year that Canada has been successful in attracting investment and skilled personnel from the U.K. These new comments by Andrew Wilson of EA Sports confirm this phenomenon.”

Wilson added, “The UK needs a tax environment which encourages investment, business growth and inward investment… 26 percent of large businesses are considering leaving the UK because of the tax burden. In the case of the video games industry, businesses are already foregoing investment in the UK and investing instead in jurisdictions with tax breaks for games production.”

If this is becoming a trend within gaming, as TIGA believes, it’s clear that the U.K. may have to take steps if it doesn’t want to lose game companies to Canada and the U.S. Jason Kingsley, TIGA Chairman and CEO and Creative Director at Rebellion, said, “The Government rightly says that it wants to create the most competitive tax system in the G20. There is clearly much more that needs to be in order to achieve this objective.”

U.K. taxes are considered among the highest in the world, both for individuals and for small and large companies. TIGA’s goal these past few years has been to get a tax relief package passed for game companies, on the theory that the government needs to invest in an industry of the future. It has expressed a belief that investing in such ventures would improve the economy overall, and that driving industry players overseas would not benefit the U.K.

The group has thus recommended, by way of an 85-page report released earlier this year with Osbone Clarke and Games Investor Consulting, that the government improve the existing R&D credit scheme, retaining it for large companies and, for small companies, widening categories of qualifying expenditure, raising the level of relief, and simplifying the claims process.

Gaming companies that operate in the UK or have branches there include: Sega Europe, Specialmove (a mobile and social gaming company), Rockstar North, KOBOJO (who also operates out of France), The Walt Disney Company, Microsoft Rare, Nintendo, Ubisoft, and Activision.

http://vidthru.com/TeamPages/gamergy...me-developers/

[Jo-san]

I’d argue that there isn’t really a collapse, but more a wider realignment in line with the changing state of the market and tastes as people concentrate on blockbuster (CoD, Halo) titles and social website/phone/tablet titles that have emerged in the last 2-3 years. Although the current global economic malaise is of course not much help.

Quite simply, there are simply too many old-world type developers, and an insufficient console base to soak up all the titles. Now, while it is cheerless that a few studios have gone the way of the dodo, I suspect many of those who were released from their contracts, will gain employment at new studios that are focusing on the new gaming markets.


Japan is a completely different situation and a lot worse off in the long-term. Japan's gaming sector might have some big players, but it has problems that are inexcusably linked to demographics (an ever shrinking youthful talent pool and domestic market) and an abrupt failure to get to grips with the current generation (either in terms of bread and butter console games or social website/phone/tablet titles). Once you go past Capcom and Nintendo EAD, you’ve got a lot of vapour or developers lagging behind in developing quality and quantity over a reasonable timeframe.

[darky89]

I never got round to posting the closer of Black Rock. It's a shame, especially as they're based in my home town, and have walked past their office many a time. There's a little plaque outside, not sure if it's gone just yet, but might grab a pic if it's still about the next time I'm near there.

[Dave-The-Rave]

Still plenty of great developers..including Rockstar North.

I'll be hoping to go to one of Sony's studios.

[keefy]

Splash Damage is another.

[Captainnippon]

I’d argue that there isn’t really a collapse, but more a wider realignment in line with the changing state of the market and tastes as people concentrate on blockbuster (CoD, Halo) titles and social website/phone/tablet titles that have emerged in the last 2-3 years. Although the current global economic malaise is of course not much help.

Quite simply, there are simply too many old-world type developers, and an insufficient console base to soak up all the titles. Now, while it is cheerless that a few studios have gone the way of the dodo, I suspect many of those who were released from their contracts, will gain employment at new studios that are focusing on the new gaming markets.


Japan is a completely different situation and a lot worse off in the long-term. Japan's gaming sector might have some big players, but it has problems that are inexcusably linked to demographics (an ever shrinking youthful talent pool and domestic market) and an abrupt failure to get to grips with the current generation (either in terms of bread and butter console games or social website/phone/tablet titles). Once you go past Capcom and Nintendo EAD, you’ve got a lot of vapour or developers lagging behind in developing quality and quantity over a reasonable timeframe.

This is without a doubt the most ridiculous anti Japanese bashing I have ever heard. Honestly do you ever say anything good about Japan? You obviously live in your own little world, and I'am sure I am not going to change your view on Japan. The original article was about British Developers, so how is british gamer buying Halo, CoD helping them again? and since when did halo and Cod British?

As a gamer I am disgusting that you said suck horrible thing about Japanese developers, I am disgusted that you have such raw hatred for Japanese developers. Japan have 128 million people right now, do you think they need that many people to develop a next the next Monster Hunter 4?

You obviously never heard of DeNA or Glee from Japan....

Please don't insult other members ~squirrelbo1

[squirrelbo1]

This is without a doubt the most ridiculous anti Japanese bashing I have ever heard. Honestly do you ever say anything good about Japan? You obviously live in your own little world, and I'am sure I am not going to change your view on Japan. The original article was about British Developers, so how is british gamer buying Halo, CoD helping them again? and since when did halo and Cod British?

As a gamer I am disgusting that you said suck horrible thing about Japanese developers, I am disgusted that you have such raw hatred for Japanese developers. Japan have 128 million people right now, do you think they need that many people to develop a next the next Monster Hunter 4?

You obviously never heard of DeNA or Glee from Japan....

he didn't say biying cod or halo was helping. he was pointing out how the market is shifting.

he didnt say anything horrible. he mearley pointed out that there were a lot of issues involved. raw hatred ??? really you saw raw hatred ? please enliten us as to where this "raw hatred" is.

id imagin that he has heard about DeNA and Glee, he is a very knowledgable member, (especially about the japanes market)

[Xelios]

What the hell squirrel. I was going to point out the flag isn't on his avatar. Now you removed it from the text.

Nice job

[squirrelbo1]

sorry mate.

[Xelios]

its ok o great one. i completely understand your decision. I bow down to your mastery.

[squirrelbo1]

that authority enough ?

[Xelios]

Well played sir. Well played...however no one would believe I wrote that

[BoyBettaKnow]

its ok o great one. i completely understand your decision. I bow down to your mastery.

that authority enough ?

Take a bow son, take a bow

[Captainnippon]

he didn't say biying cod or halo was helping. he was pointing out how the market is shifting.

he didnt say anything horrible. he mearley pointed out that there were a lot of issues involved. raw hatred ??? really you saw raw hatred ? please enliten us as to where this "raw hatred" is.

id imagin that he has heard about DeNA and Glee, he is a very knowledgable member, (especially about the japanes market)

I insulted him because I found his attack on the Japanese development community bias and opinionated. This is not the first time, almost everyone on his post is full anti-Japanese sentient. The TRUE fact is that the UK industry is dying. Why did you think that all those companies are going out of business? You think Square brought Eidos because Eidos was realigning their business? NO Eidos went out of business because they SUCKS and STUPID. They were unable to understand the industry and had falled behind, they no longer understand or know how to make games. Lara Craft sucks and all the craps that comes out of the UK.

The fact that this idiot was making excuse for a dying market was laughable and idiotic. Is there a social network or Mobile game company in the UK that is Bigger the DeNA, Glee, Mixi, Rukuten and Yahoo Japan? NO there isn't. When it come to mobile games Japan is probably 10 years ahead of UK.

RAW Hatred is giving to person whom only objective to spread hate and malice.

[Nakatomi Uk]

British devs knew the government would turn its back on tax breaks for the gaming industry they need something to come in to go back out and pay some other countrys debt.....

[Jo-san]

This is without a doubt the most ridiculous anti Japanese bashing I have ever heard. Honestly do you ever say anything good about Japan? You obviously live in your own little world, and I'am sure I am not going to change your view on Japan. The original article was about British Developers, so how is british gamer buying Halo, CoD helping them again? and since when did halo and Cod British?

As a gamer I am disgusting that you said suck horrible thing about Japanese developers, I am disgusted that you have such raw hatred for Japanese developers. Japan have 128 million people right now, do you think they need that many people to develop a next the next Monster Hunter 4?

You obviously never heard of DeNA or Glee from Japan....

Please don't insult other members ~squirrelbo1

You vile insular person. I don't have a raw hatred for Japanese developers - merely stating the obvious facts that they have clearly fallen behind the competition. The situation isn't all negative as I pointed out in my previous post, but the wider picture is of long-term decline.

You also appear to be clueless about demographcs; the problem isn't the size of the population but the composition. As the general population declines, people live longer, fewer people are born and xenophobia remains prevailant - the actual 'youth' population is on a negative trajectory. In essence the actual domestic Japanese talent pool and market available to developers is contracting; you shouldn't be 'disgusted' by the problem.

I got out. Glad I did.

[darky89]

I insulted him because I found his attack on the Japanese development community bias and opinionated. This is not the first time, almost everyone on his post is full anti-Japanese sentient. The TRUE fact is that the UK industry is dying. Why did you think that all those companies are going out of business? You think Square brought Eidos because Eidos was realigning their business? NO Eidos went out of business because they SUCKS and STUPID. They were unable to understand the industry and had falled behind, they no longer understand or know how to make games. Lara Craft sucks and all the craps that comes out of the UK.

The fact that this idiot was making excuse for a dying market was laughable and idiotic. Is there a social network or Mobile game company in the UK that is Bigger the DeNA, Glee, Mixi, Rukuten and Yahoo Japan? NO there isn't. When it come to mobile games Japan is probably 10 years ahead of UK.

RAW Hatred is giving to person whom only objective to spread hate and malice.

Ha ha. I hope you see irony here.

[Vanquish23]

Ha ha. I hope you see irony here.

ooo! I seeeeeee the irony!

[Captainnippon]

You vile insular person. I don't have a raw hatred for Japanese developers - merely stating the obvious facts that they have clearly fallen behind the competition. The situation isn't all negative as I pointed out in my previous post, but the wider picture is of long-term decline.

You also appear to be clueless about demographcs; the problem isn't the size of the population but the composition. As the general population declines, people live longer, fewer people are born and xenophobia remains prevailant - the actual 'youth' population is on a negative trajectory. In essence the actual domestic Japanese talent pool and market available to developers is contracting; you shouldn't be 'disgusted' by the problem.

I got out. Glad I did.

This is one debate I know I won't win because your mindset is fixed on destroying the Japanese society and everthing that is Japan. This is like all of your post are full of Anti Japanese sentient and it's disgusting to read them as you clearly don't know between fact and MADE UP LIES. Go back and read the original article more importantly read the TITLE OF THE ARTICLE.

I don't know much of the British game industry but when one of the biggest developer in UK (maybe the biggest) Eidos goes out of business and were brought by the Japanese, then a series of smaller developers goes under and studios get shut down because of poor development. If that is not a sign of collapsing then what is?

Oh I forgot developer in the UK is realigning their businesses for social website/phone/tablet titles? CAN YOU PROVE THIS? with fact and result... And since when do you have to out of business first before realigning your businesses?

You are obviously mindless and clueless what you're saying. It's true that Japanese birth rate is declining but by how much? 10 million a year? or 10 000 a year? I actually don't have all the number, but I can tell that there are more people living in Japan in 2010 then there were in 2000.

2000 = 126,925,843

2010 = 128,056,026

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Japan

In fact there are more people in Japan NOW then there EVER were in the history of Japan? PROVE ME WRONG? with fact please and not LIES. You making every excuse you can to degrade and disrespect the Japanese developers, when in fact they are the true pioneer of the industry. The Japanese SAVED the INDUSTRY when the American destroyed it int he early 80's... You can look for the UNSOLD 500 000 copies of ET at graveyard somewhere....

the actual 'youth' population is on a negative trajectory. In essence the actual domestic Japanese talent pool and market available to developers is contracting; you shouldn't be 'disgusted' by the problem.

PROVE THIS? with FACT and NUMBER.... I am digusted by your lies though. I can say the same thing about the UK industry and American industry. American developer don't have a clue on Japanese market, pretty much every single western games failed in Japan. The American market is really a big recycle bin, new and original idea are long dead in America. I found it strange that the #1 game are alway FPS.

Let me guess you're a super genise so you know where the Japanese industry will be in 20 years from now but you're writing Anti Japanese sentient today because? Anyone that study statistic and demographic will tell you that it will take 10-15 year before negative decline will actually affect the industry.

Second, the decline of birth rate from this year or last year or 5 years ago will NOT AFFECT the market and industry today because those babies will only be 5 year old today. The people that are working in the Japanese industry 5-10 years ago are still around, Hideo Kojima will be around for another 20 years as he is only 47 years old. In the last five years there have been a new breed of youngster coming into the industry, but it'll be another 5-7 years before they're giving any real responsibility.

More importantly birth rate in Japan for 2010 was 7.41 for everyone 1000 person... so that's around 1 000 000 new babies in 2010. So tell me how many of those 1 year old babies affect the 2011 market? NONE. It would have to be another 15 years before these new born babies have an effect on the market, and it would be another 22-25 years before these new born enter the Japanese game industry. Now here's a better question how many of these new born from 2010 will actually enter the video game market in 22 years? How the hell would anyone knows that question, 1000, 5000 maybe 10 000? How many enter the market in 2010 that was born in 1985?

Now do you see why it's absurd and idiotic for you to point out that Low rate and population decline has anything to do with today market. The strong Yen has a lot more negative impact the market then 2010 low birth rate.


Just look at the Innovation at Nintendo and Sony. The 3DS was a technological marvelous, and Vita will probably be the most powerful handheld gaming device for another 5 years are so. And what about the Nintendo Wii U, beside the stupid name it's still an NEW INNOVATION and NEW IDEA. Why didn't Microsoft, an American company came up with these new and innovated idea? Kinnect don't count because MS stole that from Sony EyeToys.

And then there's Monster Hunter 3 , which sold over 5 million copies on the PSP in Japan alone, that's not a sign of fallen behind, it's a sign of progress and new idea being born the the Japanese market. This prove my point that a low birth rate has nothing to do with making good games and successful game. Capcom employ around 2000 people worldwide, more then half are in Japan. A team of 40-50 people probably worked on MH3.

Explain to me again how low birth rate effect TODAY market again as the people who are newly graduated and entering the industry were born 22-25 years ago...

Now do you know why you're full and Anti-Japanese Sentient and hate for Japanese developers.

I got out. Glad I did.

I am sure they were too...
Afterall, you were just another worthless English teacher that really can't find a job in your country. Bet you were glad when they gave you your first PAYCHECK FULL OF YEN.

[REEEPR]

So, a British dude stole your mom from your dad did he? Something has to explain this racist like hate for other countries you keep running on with. Maybe you should get out into the real world and leave games alone for a little bit. No Japanese people need you as their spokesperson, they were already awsome before you came along. 99% of statistics are wrong by the way, for instance, In order for the population of a country to go up, Couples need to average around 3 children. Acounting for people who don't have children, you still need one child to replace the father, and one to replace the mother, then you apply the number of old people dying plus the numer of children dying for whatever reason and whoa. People better start having lot's of kids or the population starts declining, which it really has. Now reduction in population means Man made global warming should be reducing right? Alot of money on the line means that any numbers you look up on population are skewered. Don't hate, it's ugly man.

[Super_Lilith]

LOL, A thread basically saying "It's not only Japan's devs that are in the shit", has turned into a Top trumps of country stats including birthrates.

[Bligmerk]

Here is another perspective from a Brit. To say video game companies have to fold because the government is not subsidizing them with a tax break is a welfare state view. But video game companies do need financing during development and the mechanism for that is VC (venture capital). The accepted view is that there is no British VC. But this author points out that view is not correct. There is British VC for videogames, just not for British videogames. However, he also presents the view that the videogame industry in England needs to shift to social gaming to grow. Whatever the view, it indicates recognition of a growing crisis.

If British games companies want VC, they need to ditch the consoles and get social
June 2, 2011

This is a guest post by Nicholas Lovell, director of GAMESbrief, a blog on the business of games, and a consultant who helps companies make money from games. Together with Nic Brisbourne of DFJ Esprit, he is writing a book on 50 questions you should ask when raising venture capital. Every answer is published on either The Equity Kicker or GAMESbrief, and they are up to question 23.

Recently, the UK innovation quango NESTA hosted an event aimed at encouraging investment in games companies.

Ian Livingstone, life president of Square Enix Europe and creator of the Fighting Fantasy game books, argued that the problem lay both with investors, who "have not made an effort to understand what we do as an industry", and "innovators – who don’t understand how to access finance".

Ian is just plain wrong. The problem doesn’t lie with investors.

Here is a list of London-based investors who have invested in games companies since the start of 2010:

Accel Partners: $12m in Finish browser game company Supercell
Atomico/Accel: $42m in Finnish mobile developer Rovio
Doughty Hanson: multi-millon euro funding in German social games publisher MegaZebra
Fidelity Ventures: An unknown amount (double digit millions?) in German browser games company Innogames
Highland Capital: $24 million in German social games publisher wooga
Index: $2.6m in Finnish iPhone developer Grey Area
TA Associates/Summit Partners: $350 million secondary investment in Germany’s Bigpoint
Before that, there was not including Index/Stardoll (Sweden), Balderton/wooga (Germany), Accel/Gameforge (Germany), GMT/Peacock/Bigpoint (Germany), Wellington/Gameduell (Germany). The list goes on.

The only British investments I can think of are Index/Mind Candy and Balderton/Codemasters.

I’m not claiming this list is exhaustive, but I am saying that anyone who says that British investors are not backing games companies is missing the point.

The point is, they are not backing British ones.

It’s not them, it’s you.

Several factors play in to this. Every one of these businesses (with the notable exception of Codemasters) is a service-based business. They are entirely focused on building long-term great relationships with their gamers, leading to recurring revenue streams, great data and opportunities to mitigate hit-driven product risk by extending the longevity of a game.

In contrast, most British game developers are from a console development background. They think that browser games suck because their graphics are poor. They think that social games are not real games. They want to be allowed to forget about the business model, and customer engagement, and on-going relationships with their players so they can just put their heads down and just make great games.

They make pitches like: "It will be just like Farmville. But in 3D. And with guns!".

I believe the problem goes deeper than this. The console problem means developers view games as projects. They need to find a funder to cashflow their project. In the past this used to be publishers. Now they are turning, without changing their pitching styles or presentation decks, to venture capitalists.

This doesn’t work.

How do we fix this?

We need to educate British games companies, not bleat about how hard it is for them to get funding. Games developers need to understand why investors won’t invest in games companies, despite ample evidence that they do. They need to stop building products and start building companies.

They need to get out to conferences, and meetings, and networking events. I was recently at the Virtual Goods Summit in Berlin, and the room was jampacked with entrepreneurs, both funded and unfunded, learning from each other about how to make a great company. But I’m one of the only Brits – why is this?

Above all, they need to forget about getting funding to make a game, and just go ahead and make it anyway. Somehow, anyhow.

That’s how all the best entrepreneurial businesses get started.

http://eu.techcrunch.com/2011/06/02/...nd-get-social/

[Captainnippon]

So, a British dude stole your mom from your dad did he? Something has to explain this racist like hate for other countries you keep running on with. Maybe you should get out into the real world and leave games alone for a little bit. No Japanese people need you as their spokesperson, they were already awsome before you came along. 99% of statistics are wrong by the way, for instance, In order for the population of a country to go up, Couples need to average around 3 children. Acounting for people who don't have children, you still need one child to replace the father, and one to replace the mother, then you apply the number of old people dying plus the numer of children dying for whatever reason and whoa. People better start having lot's of kids or the population starts declining, which it really has. Now reduction in population means Man made global warming should be reducing right? Alot of money on the line means that any numbers you look up on population are skewered. Don't hate, it's ugly man.

Maybe a british dude did steal my mom away from my dad, or maybe MY MOM STOLE a british dude away from this FAT WIFE, or maybe that British dude got yellow fever and was tired of his fat British wife, who knows...

99% of statistics are wrong by the way,

PROVE ME WRONG WITH FACT and NUMBER?
Japan have around 128 000 000 people in 2010 and 126,925,843 in 2000, is this WRONG? AGAIN there is more people living in Japan today then any period of the country history. If this is wrong PROVE IT... BRING ME THE FACT and NUMBER... You say that I am wrong but you didn't prove it with any number.

It's true the birth rate in Japan is declining, but there is roughly a 1 000 000 new born in 2010... AGAIN PROVE IT TO ME that I am wrong? What is the birth rate in Japan for 2010? If the birth rate decline for the next 30 years Japan will have a massive population decrease drop in overall population, but that's 30 years from now.

So tell me how is low birth rate today (2011 or 2010) affect the Japanese game industry? How is the newly 1 000 000 babies affect the game industry in 2010? or how is the 1 000 000 new born babies in 2006 affected the game industry today? TELL ME this, I am really interested to know ?

I don't hate, but hating do keep me from being FAT and OVERWEIGHT.

[Captainnippon]

Here is another perspective from a Brit. To say video game companies have to fold because the government is not subsidizing them with a tax break is a welfare state view. But video game companies do need financing during development and the mechanism for that is VC (venture capital). The accepted view is that there is no British VC. But this author points out that view is not correct. There is British VC for videogames, just not for British videogames. However, he also presents the view that the videogame industry in England needs to shift to social gaming to grow. Whatever the view, it indicates recognition of a growing crisis.

Again I am not an expert on the british game industry, but when Eidos, a major player in UK goes out of business and then a series of smaller developers closed down, you gotta think the British industry is trouble. How is trouble like NO MORE GAMES from the UK? NO it's just mean in the next 4-5 years there will be less investment and less development because of NO MONEY. Of course the shifting to mobile and tablet is a no brainer, but what about the CORE (PS3, 360, Wii and PC) development? To say that the industry is shifting away to mobile and tablet and that's why studios and developers are getting closed was absurd and idiotic.

[mynd]

There are some people here that keep harping on the decline of the Japanese video game industry but it appears the British video game industry is completely collapsing.

No one is harping on about the decline in Japanase video game industry. They are complaining about the decline in Japanese game quailty.
The quality of the British game industry is still top notch, just fewer.