EIF 08: Deering issues warning

EDINBURGH--Chris Deering used his opening keynote at today's Edinburgh Interactive Festival to issue a warning to the games industry while discussing the opportunities presented by new platforms and technologies. Deering led Sony Computer Entertainment Europe's charge during the PlayStation and PS2 years, and is now chairman of Codemasters as well as the EIF.

Pointing toward the future of the industry, Deering suggested that there would be 2.5 billion game players by 2011 across traditional, handheld, and mobile platforms. He cited the advances in high-speed mobile-phone networks and the potential of nontraditional gaming platforms as the most promising but challenging new technologies, highlighting Apple's iPod family of products, Facebook, and GPS-enabled phones as the key growth areas for interactive entertainment.

The talk was also tempered with some warnings for the industry. Despite the projected growth, Deering claimed that global retail software sales will be lower in 2011 than they are in 2008. He warned about the dangers of publishing on traditional games platforms, making the point that less than 3 out of 10 games recover their development and marketing costs.

Deering was speaking at the Edinburgh Interactive Festival, which since 2001 has formed part of the city's cultural fringe festival to celebrate games and other forms of electronic entertainment.

Game screenings are open to members of the public and supported by publishers such as Codemasters, Ubisoft, and Frontier Developments. The industry-facing conference programme is much more eclectic. Established game makers rub shoulders with lesser-known creators. For example, Codemasters managing director Rod Cousens and Dan Hon from alternate-reality games startup SixToStart are set to talk about the future of their respective industries.

Stay tuned to GameSpot UK over the coming days for the latest on both sides of the event.