Study: Just 20% of released games making a profit

We've got to be honest, we've tricked you a little bit. We put the most surprising fact from this Forbes story up there in the headline, just so you would read the story. Sure, that 96 percent of games lose money is a shocker, but game publishers are making money off of something, so we probably shouldn't worry ourselves too much.

So why all the mendacity and subterfuge? We just really want you to read the whole thing, because it's fascinating stuff. If you want to know why some decisions are made in the industry, why some features make the cut while others are left out, it's required reading.

[Update: See, we knew the figure wasn't as bad as it sounded. EEDAR just emailed us to clarify that, contrary to the Forbes piece, only 4 percent of games that go into production will turn a profit. Twenty percent of released games make money, which is still surprisingly low.]

[Via CVG]