Very, very true. I've always wondered why more developers don't release games over the summer, and I do believe Sony was able to pull off something extraordinary by releasing TLOU2 and GoT so close together AND in the summer. I don't remember another time Sony's ever done this with any of their first party games...
I've always had this theory, for decades now, that publishers are absolutely convinced of two things: 1) That people don't buy video games during the summer, and 2), The vast number of people playing video games are young, and therefore only expect to get games during holiday season, so they plan releases around holiday bumps, and not as a year round industry where the vast majority of gamers are over 18 adults that, yes, even during the summer, have money to burn on video games. It's this "summer vacation" mentality. That obviously, since it's summer, people aren't spending time indoors playing video games. As a child of the 80's, there was a time where, yeah, that was true. Gaming wasn't nearly as gigantic of an industry as it was then, and the vast majority of my peers were waiting for birthdays and holidays to get the vast majority of the games released back then. But as that generation got older (I'm 41 now), and started to have their own autonomy and disposable income, we were able to buy games at our "leisure" so to speak. Unfortunately, we're stuck with a release model that shoehorns the vast majority of game releases to the first 3 months, and the last 3 months of the year, leaving 6 months of untapped potential, and, well, if there are no games to buy during those 6 months of drought, I'm just gonna spend my money on other shit, then the industry takes that as some kind of indictor that the 6 months in between the game blitz of 1st and 4th quarter aren't viable windows to release titles. It's like some weird gaming self-fulfilling prophecy.
Generally, I end up skipping sooooo many games during the fall and holiday season, because there are so many games that I'm excited for, I can't afford to get all of the ones I'd love to get, because they all come out around the same time frame. So, unfortunately, it becomes a game of, "well, which one do I
really want to play right
now," instead of being able to support the games I want to support with my money, because there are 10 games at $60 a pop releasing at the same damn time. Then publishers scratch their heads when their epic, high profile title, doesn't meet sales projections. :/
The driest period for me, and usually the period in which I have the most money to blow on games, is from April - August. I know I'd buy more games on release day if they released during those months. By the time November/December rolls around, I'm not really buying things for myself, but instead buying gifts for family, friends, etc. And no, most of those gifts aren't video games.
I think this narrow view of the buying habits of gamers isn't doing the industry any favors. What I tend to find myself doing, is supporting the games that I'm excited about that maybe don't do the gangbuster numbers that, say, an Uncharted, or Assassin's Creed do. Like, I bought Yakuza 6 when it released, because I know, historically, the Yakuza series in the west isn't exactly blowing up sales charts (but still does well). I didn't get Assassin's Creed Origins and Odyssey until quite a while after their release, because, honestly, those games sell gangbusters, whereas a series like Yakuza underperforming is taken as an indicator of a lack of interest in those series.
