Evolving Markets and Target Platforms

[fog]

It's cool that you can learn something from such a seemingly basic game

Very true.

The reasons you give are very valid, but there are seem to be hundreds of other games which to me are equally well made but don't have nearly the same level of success.

I'm looking more at the psychology of people and how the game gained momentumn and became part of mainstream culture.

Pretty much like Minecraft.  Which again i didn't think was very special.

And it just snowballed from there.

yeah there's certainly that extra factor that leads to one game being a huge success and similar games barely registering.  Luck still plays a big factor although your can improve your "luck" by making the game as accessible as possible.

I still think a huge factor in why Minecraft spread so quickly was that it ran in a browser so was playable by pretty much everyone with minimum inconvenience.  I'm sure we've all seen posts about games we fancy and still not bothered trying them because we can't be bothered to wait for the download or install.

Rovio, who wrote Angry Birds, released something like 40 games before they struck gold which might also tell us something.

[T_M_C]

Yeh, thats very interesting.

And as i said before, bandwidth is an issue for me as well.

Another barrier to overcome.

It will be interesting to see just how succesful Notch's next game will be.

I wonder if it will get the same level of success Minecraft has had.

Rovio, who wrote Angry Birds, released something like 40 games before they struck gold which might also tell us something.

So, there's still hope for me yet.

TMC

[fog]

It will be interesting to see just how succesful Notch's next game will be.

I wonder if it will get the same level of success Minecraft has had.

They are now a team of coders so working on a few games from what I've read.

One of them certainly sounds more interesting than Minecraft IMO (I still don't get that one).  It's got some stupid name that I can't recall, but seems to be a space sim in the Elite mold with a few really cool additions.

IIRC the game is an MMO so continues even when you aren't around.  This includes your ship as well so you can set the on-board computer to carry out tasks while you aren't around.  Intriguingly the computer is a fully functioning one so you can actually write your own programs on it meaning it can carry out any task you are clever enough to write the code for.

[T_M_C]

IIRC the game is an MMO so continues even when you aren't around.  This includes your ship as well so you can set the on-board computer to carry out tasks while you aren't around.  Intriguingly the computer is a fully functioning one so you can actually write your own programs on it meaning it can carry out any task you are clever enough to write the code for.

I've heard that as well.

I've also read that it was an April fools joke.

I think i saw a web page for the space sim but don't know how much of it was genuine.

Sounds like a cool idea though.

TMC

[fog]

This is something slightly different, although still a new way of exploiting the market so I guess it fits in this topic.  It's also something I couldn't have been more wrong about as I thought it was a terrible idea when it launched

For anyone that doesn't know, the Skylanders game requires you to buy plastic toys of any characters you want to unlock and play as in the video game. ( you place them on a little USB device sold with the game which scans them)

 Well it turns out they've been quite popular!

With 30 million toys sold and $100 million in revenue across toys and games in the quarter, said Hirshberg, Skylanders made more money than the entire business of Rovio’s Angry Birds franchise.

http://venturebeat.com/2012/05/09/skylanders-is-bigger-than-angry-birds-says-activision-blizzard/

Pretty incredible figures and, unfortunately, something that wont be ignored by other game publishers.  Expect a load of other games to copy the basic idea meaning you have to buy something extra to unlock in game content.  Think of it like DLC, but twice as expensive. 

[fog]

I'm sooooo looking forward to releasing on Android and dealing with any technical support

A couple weeks ago I ran this post showing how one Hong Kong developer, Animoca, tests its Android games. The company, which has had more than 70 million downloads, tests every one of their apps on about 400 different devices. The photo above is from their headquarters and is just a taste of all the Android phones and tablets they use.

http://techcrunch.com/2012/06/02/android-qa-testing-quality-assurance/

[T_M_C]

 

TMC

[fog]

I've no idea whether this would be repeated in other countries as I don't know how Korean game buying & IAP trends compare with elsewhere, but when a big company like EA tries Free To Play and announces these sorts of figures then you have to take notice.

Quadrupled income by going FTP. 

EA Sports president Andrew Wilson has valued the company's free-to-play FIFA business at $100 million a year.

In an interview with VentureBeat, Wilson explained that the free-to-play version of its evergreen football franchise has quadrupled its revenue in Korea.

"I think when we had a packaged-goods FIFA based in Korea, I think we were at about a 25 million dollar business down there," he said. "I think what we've talked about publicly is that these days, that's nearly a 100 million dollar business. That's a free-to-play experience."

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-06-11-fifa-free-to-play-worth-USD100m-a-year-in-korea

[Prime_8]

wow , think of all teh computing power on that table , even if they are all varyants of arm cpu's

[T_M_C]

I've no idea whether this would be repeated in other countries as I don't know how Korean game buying & IAP trends compare with elsewhere, but when a big company like EA tries Free To Play and announces these sorts of figures then you have to take notice.

Quadrupled income by going FTP.

 

I'm seeing an industry trend here.

I wonder if we'll ever see Free Hardware ?

TMC

[fog]

I'm seeing an industry trend here.

Yup.  Most of the high earners on the App Store are still FTP with IAP.

I wonder if we'll ever see Free Hardware ?

However unlikely it sounds I wouldn't dismiss it entirely if revenue can be generated through software or other services.

Onlive were giving out free consoles and controllers when you signed up with them and there have been rumours of a cheap XBox360 subsidised by XBox Live fees.

[fog]

Just looking at the recent game review scores as shown on Metacritic and it's a bit of an eye-opener ...

92 Tiny Wings HD Platform: iOS
   
91 Magic 2013 Platform: iOS
   
90 Little Things Forever Platform: iOS
 
89 SQUIDS Wild West Platform: iOS

88 Great Big War Game Platform: iOS

88 Diablo III Platform: PC

88 Pinball FX 2: Marvel Pinball Platform: X360

88 Nihilumbra Platform: iOS

88 Fieldrunners 2 Platform: iOS

87 Outwitters Platform: iOS

http://www.metacritic.com/game

[fog]

Media Molecule have just announce the 7 millionth user generated level has been created.   

Sure most of then will be crap, but even if just 1% are good that's still 70,000 levels worth playing! Think of the development costs saved there 


http://www.flickr.com/photos/mediamolecule/7724807018/#sizes/o/in/photostream/

[T_M_C]

Wow, thats incredible.   

I'm guessing 99% of them never get played though.

TMC

[fog]

Wow, thats incredible.   

I'm guessing 99% of them never get played though.

Well yeah, I'd say quite a lot don't get played much, but they have a few way of sorting the levels and a really good rating system so most of the good ones will get discovered eventually.

I wonder when we'll see user generated content in other genres?  It would be relatively easy to incorporate in something like GTA (Infamous 2 proved that) and track creation tools should really be commonplace in driving games.