Rage go bust.

Rage Software, creators of the recent Rocky game and the upcoming Lamborghini racing title, have gone into receivership.

Not really a surprise, I have to say. They spent millions getting licenses such as David Beckham and Rocky, only for the games to underperform commercially.

But it does provide a springboard for a discussion about the changing face of the games industry, and the increasing number of small developers falling in battle.

If anybody is interested?

They started out as a developer, producing games for companies like Infogrames. Then they went solo, and set themselves up as a self-publisher. I went for an interview there a few years back, and they'd literally just signed the Beckham and Rocky deals.

Now you'd think David Beckham would be a license to print money, given his godlike popularity in the UK and other soccer-lovin' nations. But the game they eventually produced was basically the same game they'd released in 1997 called Striker. Despite major tabloid press coverage and a huge marketing campaign, it pretty much sunk without a trace. In a way, that's good - because it shows that the public can't always be duped with a flashy licence.

Anyway, once that bombed, they only had Rocky to fall back on - and no matter how good that game was, boxing games have a pretty finite appeal. They were millions in the hole, and even if they'd sold every copy of Rocky, I doubt they could've climbed out.

It's a shame. We seem to be losing so many UK studios at the moment, and there's a ton of talent on these shores going to waste.

I just find myself wondering if the industry has changed so much that the days of the small developer are over? Does every game need a massive team and years of development?

I know I sound like a real old bastard when I say this, but I miss the days when someone with an idea could create a successful game in their bedroom. We still get invention in our games, but it's become sanitised - it seems technical innovation has replaced fresh ideas, at least in the West.

I hope someone can prove me wrong.

I seriously hope it works out. I think the creative buzz you get from working with a small, manageable team makes it easier for ideas to flourish. Are you working on anything I might have heard of? Or is it top secret?

Well if you need any help building the buzz, let me know. I edit a PS2 mag, and we've got a few PC mags here as well.

I think the next five to ten years will be very interesting for the games industry. The power available now in modern computers and consoles is phenomenal - especially considering that their equivalents twenty years ago wouldn't have had enough memory to store the text in this thread. It's like the movie industry going from Melies to Industrial Light & Magic in one-fifth of the time. Imagine where we'll be in 2013.

So...how will the games industry make use of this astonishing technology?

Will it be used to push videogames into the same sphere as movies and music, to revolutionise the way we interact with games, and to create innovate new ways of immersing gamers in an ever-evolving, emotionally compelling narrative?

Or will it be used to great nicer looking versions of the same games we played in 1983?