Video game industry feels Earthquake's effect

Last week's catastrophic Tohoku earthquake resulted in the suspension of online game servers, game delays, and even an outright cancellation.

8

As the accounting of the terrible impact of last week's massive earthquake off the coast of Japan and subsequent tsunami and aftershocks continues, we're starting to learn the impact on the video game business. Online servers have been temporarily suspended to conserve electricity (this includes the Final Fantasy servers as we reported this morning), games have been delayed due to disruption of distribution channels, and others delayed or even canceled most likely out of sensitivity for the scale of the personal tragedy caused by this national disaster.

Japanese gaming site andriasang has been following the situation and reports the following developments in a series of stories on the site:

From The Chatty
  • reply
    March 14, 2011 5:15 PM

    Comment on Video game industry feels Earthquake's effect, by Garnett Lee.

    • reply
      March 14, 2011 5:41 PM

      Brief recap of the industry impact of the Tohoku earthquake compiled from a number of stories on adriansang.com

    • reply
      March 14, 2011 6:04 PM

      I have worried about this since I played Dark Sun Online way back when. I wish businesses considered such things when placing their companies and servers. Most seem to be right in earthquake land of California.

      More geological placement of online companies should be a consideration when creating one, or even moving server centers.

      • reply
        March 14, 2011 7:54 PM

        If you are afraid of earthquakes, you must live in the midwest. I think you are foolish for living there despite knowing full well that there could be a tornado or flood. :)

        • reply
          March 14, 2011 8:07 PM

          Take it from me, there is no safe zone.

          I was in the 89 California earthquake, in Orlando for 92's hurricane Andrew, in 93 I lived on the Mississipi river in southern Missouri, and in 1998 a series of tornadoes hit downtown Nashville at which time I was of course living.

          • reply
            March 14, 2011 8:28 PM

            Never move to my area.

          • reply
            March 15, 2011 9:04 AM

            Actually, that sounds like a series of bad places in which to live, disaster-wise. Cities like Boston or Chicago are relatively immune to any serious trouble.

        • reply
          March 15, 2011 5:49 AM

          Michigan ftw. Very few poisonous things, very few tornadoes, no earthquakes of consequence...worst you have to deal with here is people who don't know how to drive in snow.

          Floods are easy to avoid by not living right next to rivers. Harder to do if you're a farmer, but otherwise it's pretty easy. Hurricanes are easy to avoid as well. Yep...if you're worried about it at all, there are plenty of weather and geologically "safe" areas.

          I agree...I don't think it'd be that hard to put servers and that type of infrastructure in less disaster-prone areas. The worst part is, they'll rebuild everything in the same places and make some contingency plans, but the next disaster will be different and none of it will matter.

      • reply
        March 14, 2011 11:11 PM

        Costs of a once in a lifetime natural disaster vs constant savings on labor, land, energy, etc over decades in certain places.

    • reply
      March 15, 2011 6:42 AM

      I think a lot of businesses in Japan are shutting down anything that needs a lot of electricity, regardless of where in Japan the reside. If their electric grid if largely interconnected, they the draw is nationwide, not just local or regional. That would explain many data centers (clients really) shutting down even if they were not in the earthquake or tsunami hit areas.

    • reply
      March 15, 2011 6:53 AM

      [deleted]

      • reply
        March 15, 2011 8:31 AM

        I'll dispatch my Japanese correspondent straight away. ;)

      • reply
        March 15, 2011 9:05 AM

        There is a little site called DrudgeReport and regardless if you like it or not, all it is a cut and paste job and it is one of the most visited sites on the net. I am glad Garnett decided to put the stories in one place for easy reference. If you want a video game cover reporter to go knock on the doors of these studios go for it Lightzout and bring your radiation suit.

        • reply
          March 15, 2011 10:45 AM

          yeah but that guy is a fucking right wing shill and complete loser so lets just leave it at that

    • reply
      March 15, 2011 7:25 AM

      life is more important than data. we can wait. prayers and hopes to all.

    • reply
      March 15, 2011 8:36 AM

      Sort of a bummer that disaster report/zettai zetsumei toshi was canceled. It's actually a cool series.

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6xa2nVpERI

Hello, Meet Lola