I've been surprised today by how many news sources have missed out on the real question following England's failure to qualify for Euro 2008: how will it affect the videogame industry? Sure, the whole UK economy is set to be down by one billion pounds this summer as pot-bellied lager louts don't take over every pub, chanting xenophobic bile at foreign teams more committed, skilful and better organised than our own. But that's all beside the point. At least on this blog.
Luckily, business news specialist, InStock, has considered the situation from a gaming perspective. Naturally, the site points out that there will be no England-branded tie-in games - a relief, actually, as they're usually horrible (and therefore highly realistic). It's also likely that FIFA and PES won't sell quite as well because few people in Britain will be buying the games to create their own virtual tournaments in order to captain England (or Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland) to victory. Will EA even bother releasing its inevitable officially licensed UEFA Euro 2008 title in the UK?
On the other hand, the InStock piece makes the not outlandish argument that England's miserable failure may help the games industry. There will be a lot of young men and women with time on their hands, money in their pockets and no desire at all to watch the exploits of Croatia, Russia and the other finalists as they dominate the TV schedules. Might these disappointed footie fans be driven to non-sporting games as a refuge?
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