Mentor alot of the companies you've listed are now bought out or changed thier name and are doing quite well.
Companies like Activision, Electronic Arts and EIDOS Interactive (US Gold) are not going to go away.
There is just too much business for them worldwide... this said,
EA have and always will be 'drop a feature to meet a deadline' for most of thier games. They're roots are from Software not Games, remember they only actually got into the game market until just over a decade ago... The EA Sport series have always done alright, but it is Maxis and Westwood that gave them the financial backing to actually grow like a virus.
As such those companies are left to thier own devices, as they release 'sure-fire' hits. Probably because they're not geared towards a single male general target audience (thats Activisions areas of expertise
)
However this said...
EIDOS have been making losses, infact only a year ago they were in REAL trouble. Although you can say 'yay! this is all just good news to Indi developers and bedroom gamers.' fact is it isn't.
Well it isn't in the fact that honestly speaking i've not seen an independant or bedroom developed game worth squat in the past decade.
Seriously, even Counter-Strike and Day of Defeat. Don't get me wrong their nice games, but they're really they're nothing innovate.
One is a standard online team-vs-team which allows you to get a different weapon if your team (or you) are doing well... the other is a standard Class based system.
At the end of the day both use a very simplistic Capture-the-Flag system and are about as innovate as Kellogs releasing the K-Lock boxes. Sure it's a nice touch, but hardly something which makes you step back and thing 'Sweeet!'
Innovation lies really with guys like us, PureBasic and BlitzBasic users. Even further down the line I would say that this actually stands for only 10-15% of the community who don't want to make the next Final Fantasy or Doom 3.
Titles like Monkey Bowling, are innovative takes. That is a single game out of so many... and what is even worse is that games are very rarely finished because people are taking on too much for thier own good.
Rather than like back in the Speccy days where you'd slog away and make a simple platformer, now that platformer has to look awesome with shader graphics, play just like the latest version of Mario and have levels larger than the city of Los Angelos.
Back in the day, developers were restricted by the systems... this ment far far better quality games which everyone could enjoy and you would seen finished.
Now what restrictions are there?
Markets have evolved too far for developers like us to hope to keep up with, without working together as teams.
Unfortunately this is another aspect that is very sorely lacked in the term 'bedroom developer'... it should really be called 'Lone Wolf Developers'
That entire sodding term is actually ironic, because you know what happens to lone wolves in the wild?
The professional industry is in shambles as is the hobbiest insdustry... it is as simple as that.
Games require far more time, effort and skill now. Something which is apparently lacking currently.
Forget about the damn innovation unless you work for Ubisoft or are a hobbiest; even then some of the most Unique games in the world are just totally overlooked no matter how big a developer you are.
Startopia - Sort but truely awesome
Oni - Bungie's best work to date, and also most under-rated
Beyond Good & Evil - A very nice evolution of the Platform Genre
Oddworld - Showing you don't need 3D Graphics to make a good innovate game
Rather than embracing titles like this the industry shoves them under the carpet hoping not to worry.
What's worse for the industry is that genre's keep getting killed off too.
Adventure Games, Platformers, Real-Time Strategy, Etc...
These are now specialist genre's because the Mass Market is in FPS and RPG aparently.
You wanna know why?
Because the console market owns the direction of our games.
As you have to upgrade PCs just to play games now, Consoles have become the machines which dictact the genres we play from day to day...
Ever tried an RTS on the console? yeah... exactly.
What is even worse is because of this the PC markets genre's are drying up but even more over is the fact that we STILL don't get half the game types that the consoles do.
Last Final Fantasy on the PC was FF8. You want to play something like Dance Dance Revolution... pfft! not on your PC you won't.
The PC Platform quite frankly has become FPS heaven, with almost no sodding enhancements other than snazzy new graphics.
20years ago Nibblers was one of the best PC games, so simple and addictive. You think gamers care about graphics?
How many mates do you know who have a nokia and sit there addicted to snake even after mobiles being commonplace for almost a decade?
People want games they can have fun with... and that is exactly why the industry is dieing.
No innovation, No fun!
Graphics don't make the game, developers do.
