Businesses from a wide variety of domains are collapsing, filing for bankruptcy, letting go of employees, pulling back products and canceling new releases. Naturally, businesses that dealt with products which are not vital to one’s existence have fallen to the bottom of the priority ladder. The same fate is shared by the luxury distribution industries, such as the auto industry. The video game industry is also in peril, even though the holiday season is a true Godsend for all game developers and publishers.

This year however, the gaming industry has several unpleasant surprises. The first and most advertised is a blow to fans of racing games. Pop-cult game “Need For Speed”, which has been around since as early as 1994, is being cancelled by Electronic Arts. It seems that “Need For Speed: Undercover”, released in 2008, is the last installment of the game that will be released.

However, some of the effects of the financial crisis have brought a little Christmas cheer to some gaming enthusiasts, as Myst Online has announced it’s going open source! Although good news for customers, open source won’t become a regular thing unless Myst’s initiative results in a successful marketing strategy. The move made by Myst is clearly a sign of desperation, as Gametap, its former owner, shut down Myst.

The general hope regarding open source is that the game will be taken over by a generous community that will continue to develop it, turn it into a hit game and bring in revenue. However, that would require enthused gamers to turn into programmers overnight. The fate of gaming and video games is uncertain at this point – Myst’s strategy can either succeed or fail. Thankfully, the faith of gaming does not rest on this single strategy.