Recession casts shadow over video game conference

The video game industry is holding up, but the gloom of the recession will be on the minds of thousands of people at this week’s Game Developers Conference in San Francisco, a key event for video game insiders looking to learn new skills, showcase innovations and if they’re lucky enough, find work.

Bolstered by an ever-expanding audience that is turning to games for cheaper entertainment, video games are benefiting in some ways from the economic turmoil. Yet the industry is not completely immune, with layoffs and closings of studios that produce games. Electronic Arts Inc., the game publisher behind the “Madden” football series, is cutting 1,000 jobs, most by the end of this month.

The Game Developers Conference’s event director, Meggan Scavio, expects attendance to be slightly down this year from last year’s 18,000 people. When game studios cut back, she noted, travel and training budgets are among the first to go. She also expects fewer, more informal parties.

“It’s kind of like let’s celebrate, but do it quietly,” she said.

NEW YORK (AP)