Put in the Stocks: When Shares and Shareholders Affect Game Development

In early August a series of broad stock market trends, including a weak Japanese yen, and doubt in the future of AI investment, meant that many gaming companies saw their stock yo-yo - plummeting one day and rising after. The tumultuous market forces in play - the weak Yen, chip makers unable to deliver product, and crypto’s ever unstable state - caused those in the finance and gaming space to speculate on the health of the market, and even dare to say the big financial c-word: “Crash.”

Luckily, the big crash didn’t come (at least not in August). Instead, companies scrambled to assure shareholders and consumers alike that their products and investments were sound. 

But how do markets really affect gaming? How does a share price affect how well your game performs, and vice versa. Can the opinions of shareholders, and the need for dividends for those shareholders lead to issues in production? Or are shareholders just along for the ride in a creative process?