Dave 'Fargo' Kosak: In general, you're going to see the whole world wide web (at least the commercial part of it) start to run more like 'normal' businesses. A few years ago a website could raise a ton of money without a real product and without a way to make money. In the coming years, investors are going to be more practical.
What does it mean for gaming websites? Well, one way that things could go is on a subscription basis -- pay to read. Some companies are trying that but I don't think that's a very strong model -- gaming is expensive enough already! Instead what you'll probably see is advertising and sponsorships more integrated in with website content. It'll start to feel a little more like television -- you don't have to pay to watch television, but you expect to see commercials, right?
On the plus side? Broadband is getting more prevalent -- So websites are going to be able to offer richer content (more sound, video, movies, demos, etc.) It'll be fun to watch sites evolve over the next few years.
Frans P. de Vries: Better analysts than me don't know, and I seem to have misplaced my crystal ball
. A lot of sites and networks, big and small, didn't survive the shake-out which is still in progress and also affecting the sites that seem to be going strong now (even Blue's News and 3D Gamers, let there be no mistake about that). I am cautiously hopeful that working business models will eventually emerge that allow sites to remain financially healthy though.
Adam 'Barak' Perfect: Well, I can't see it changing much other than sponsorship. Gaming competitions are being more and more heavily sponsored and in the near future we'll be seng more 'pro' competitions and therefore gaming sites to follow them. Hopefully the sites will still provide the same good service though.
Anthony 'Rayn' Maio: Unless advertising revenue picks up, the small sites out there are going to start dropping off or being gobbled up, so you'll see the position of the bigger sites get even larger I believe. When the net craze was big, it was very easy to find a host and get some banner revenue to keep a site afloat .. now funding a web site is much more complicated and involves marketing plans and sponsor hunts. Of course, as the web audience increases, all web sites will enjoy some growth. I don't know what the future holds for gaming sites, but I don't think it looks all that promising.
Brian Clair: In the near future I believe we'll see many sites close down, however those that survive will be infinitely stronger for the experience. I believe we're going to see a fundamental shift in how large gaming sites operate due to the downfall of online advertising as a revenue stream. Readers should be prepared to start paying for access to their favorite sites in the next year and longer. In five years time, it's hard to determine where we'll be as there's a lot of problems that need to be hashed out within the industry. We'll be better off and stronger than we are now, though.
John 'Rizzuh' Jensen: Probably a paradigm shift to content based sites like GameSpy.com and FiringSquad. News is news is news.
Louis Wu: I'm really not the right person to be asking that question... I don't know where it is today. We do this because we love the company, and we love the feedback we get from the fans. We can't really call it a 'business', since we make no money at it (and in fact don't TRY to make money).
What I HOPE, though, is that the small, fan-run websites continue to flourish, because that's where the true enthusiasm comes from - it's not just a paycheck, t's a genuine love of the game. (Whatever game.)
Rob 'Keltic' Shea: Five years is really not that far off, we’ll see lots of consolidation among sites, lots of sites will close and lots of new sites will start up. It just depends on what their goals are, how well they support the gaming community and how dedicated they are.
The days of making lots of money running gaming websites are gone, if they were ever even here to begin with, so those that do it for the love gaming won’t be tied to their bottom line. Those who can provide a successful pay service to frugal gamers have something very special.
Tyler 'TySoft' Lott: I believe some of the gaming websites will have to have special/adapted versions of their pages for the upcoming console gaming systems (although I hate them and I will never buy a console.) I expect the industry to grow very fast with the first internet integrated consoles. (Did I mention I hated consoles?)
Joscha 'fraGGle' Dzielak: hmm ... I hope that the "pro-gaming" business (playing for money) is going away and I hope that the world realises that we are not just 15 years old killing, blood drinking kids, who have no friends and hate the sun. I think the best thing would be to support hard working people for doing their jobs and maybe give them some money but I hope that the "money-aspect" is not the dominating aspect!
Matt 'Acrappa' Martinez: I expect to see some more bad boys go down for the count, but the fansites will still be around. It's impossible for me to predict five years from now though.
Ben 'Hypn0tik' Tamler: I think the gaming industry will grow about 200% in the next few years. So much technology coming about, and we are learning so much from it.
Manveer 'Eidolon' Heir: Yeah, that's like asking me who's wang is larger, Micky Mantle's or Yogi Berra's (The answer, of course, is the great Yogi. If you want to know how I know, watch the movie 'Inside the Yank's Locker Room'.
Final Thoughts:
n/a
Related Links:
