Peter Molyneux Doubts Games' Value

Peter Molyneux, head of Microsoft's Lionhead Studios, isn't convinced that games are good value when it comes to home entertainment.

Looking ahead at 2009 in the games industry (and responding to ELSPA's declaration that 2008 was a record year) Molyneux told the BBC, "Everyone says games are good value for home entertainment, despite the relatively high price. I'm not so sure.

"I think we're going to see a lot of price pressure put on games", he is almost certainly eyeing up the belt-tightening going on in many homes in the face of the credit crunch.

Molyneux also suggested that 2009 looks a bit barren for gamers, saying "While there is stuff in 2010 we can look forward to, off the top of my head, I cannot think of anything this year that really excites me."

His comments mirror those he made to the Beeb last year.

Back to the value of games - while there are various encouraging figures that suggest people are still seeing games as a good value proposition and shelling out cash for them, it remains to be seen whether they will still think so as that tricky credit crunches further and the belts tighten.

While there's a nebulous perception that games are recession-proof (and there have been some encouraging figures trotted out) cracks have been starting to show in the industry's shiny façade. Just look at the staff cuts at Electronic Arts, Midway, and of course the Free Radical saga.

Do games represent good value to you? Will you be spending less on them in 2009 than you did in 2008? Let us know in the forum.

^{Source: BBC}