The industry's being turned "inside out" - Hawkins

EA and Digital Chocolate founder Trip Hawkins has claimed that the rate that gaming habits are changing today is turning the videogames business "inside out," with big changes in behaviour from both new customers and core gamers alike.

And that's a sentiment that's been echoed by other industry luminaries, including Lorne Lanning and Will Wright, speaking in the first episode of Game Theory with Scott Steinberg, available on GamesIndustry.biz now.

"I've never seen a period like this, there's so much disruption going on - the industry is really being turned inside out," said Hawkins. "Not only are there a lot of new customers showing up and and becoming gamers for the first time, but we're seeing really big behaviour changes by traditional gamers.

"They used to camp on one platform, like the PlayStation, and now they're using a diversity of media. And they're engaging with friends, so they're doing a lot of things that are quite a bit more casual."

And Oddword creator Lanning believes that the big players in the industry are nervous about exactly what the future holds - and how they can adapt.

"A lot of the established players are very worried - the traditionally established players, whether it's the retailers or the big publishers," he said. "And they have good reason to be worried.

"People are finding experiences and product elsewhere, and different business models are emerging that these big infrastructure companies aren't used to adapting to. A lot of them won't be able to adapt to."

But The Sims creator Will Wright does think that, while the disruption is "disorienting," things will settle down again into a rhythm.

"Everything is shifting all at once - and that's what makes this so disorienting," he explained. "The demographics are shifting, the platforms are shifting, the business models are shifting - and the culture is shifting.

"We're probably on the steep part of the S-curve right now - I think about five years from now things will start settling down a little bit, and we'll start feeling like it's a bit more predictable, like it was. But this is probably the most exciting point in that curve."

For more industry opinion on the subject of business change, including insight from Cliff Bleszinski, Peter Molyneux, Chris Taylor, Clint Hocking and more, check out Game Theory episode one now.