Uh…recession-proof? Really?

Given Nintendo, Mario’s parent company, just had another stellar month of sales in January, it’s perhaps a little strange to use the above imagery as an illustration of the gaming industry’s current slump, but Mario has been the de facto ambassador for gaming as a whole, not just Nintendo, for years now.

And let’s not kid ourselves. A few months back, developers and publishers were boasting that video games were recession-proof (perhaps taking their cue from the Canadian government), but the latest round of lay-offs and cutbacks has affected just about everybody, electronic entertainment giants among them.

Three weeks ago, Microsoft announced the closure of its Aces Games Studio, which has provided PC owners with the classic Flight Simulator series for most of the latter’s 27-year run, and the eventual lay-off of 5,000 employees. The news followed a similar studio-closing announcement by the house that Bill Gates built in September. Electronic Arts, another software giant, is laying off about 1,000 employees of its own this year, although it is hoping to minimize impact on software development by cutting across all sectors of the company, rather than simply studio staff.

So what does it all mean to us, the gamers? Well, that’s difficult to say, but it is possible to make a few educated guesses.

First of all, though I wrote a column last year rejoicing at the increased push toward development of original intellectual property, I think that might be out the window again for the next little while, at least when it comes to the big studios. Oh sure, we’ll still see some of that in 2009. Off the top of my head, I’m looking at The Conduit and MadWorld on Wii, and Infamous and Rain on Playstation 3, but don’t forget the long development cycles that video games go through.

These projects started off long before anyone saw the recession coming our way. Now that we’re suddenly knee-deep in the middle of it, I don’t expect major studios to push for original intellectual property anytime soon. We’ll probably see an increase in sequels or spin-offs to well-established franchises or yet even more games based on licenses.

However, the recession might leave room for smaller studios to thrive with more creative, budget-friendly projects as well. The big three consoles have provided great platforms for small projects with their respective game download services for the last two years, and I expect this will continue, at least until the end of the lifecycle for the X-Box 360, the Playstation 3, and the Wii.

What’s more difficult to foretell is what, if anything, the recession means for the next crop of consoles. Might Sony and Microsoft look at the Wii’s success and decide that smaller, less powerful but cheaper is the way to go? Perhaps it’s a little presumptuous to suggest the two giants will abandon the race for the biggest and most powerful system so quickly, but surely some of their analysts are examining the layoffs and Nintendo’s January numbers and thinking about it.

After all, according to NPD (a U.S.-based retail and consumer research organization), Nintendo moved 679, 200 Wiis in January alone. In the same month, the PS3 (203, 200), the XBOX-360 (309, 000) and the Playstation Portable (172, 300) barely surpassed the little white machine that could with total sales combined.

Software sales suggest a similar trend. Wii Fit, Mario Kart Wii and Wii Play, all more on the new-user-friendly and casual end of the spectrum, were the top three selling titles, leaping ahead of the likes of the more traditional Left 4 Dead and Call of Duty:World at War.

In other words, 2012 might bring about the announcement of the extremely family friendly console wars.

It also might not matter at all, since by then, instead of controlling Mario exploring the fields of the Mushroom Kingdom, we will all be living in fields ourselves. And I haven’t noticed any magical floating blocks just waiting to shower headstrong passersby with golden coins in Montreal lately. In fact, this city being what it is, I wouldn’t be surprised if they accidentally froze over and collapsed, even if they did truly exist.