| shio said: You're the one who doesn't have any business sense. Only Mass-appealing games can support significant marketing. Didn't you know that game companies only usually spend 10% of the expected revenue of the game for marketing? No one is idiot enough to spend dozens of millions on ads for a game because it will eat away on the game's profits. The good thing about Digital Distribution is that it possesses an efficient marketing system that allows the ads to reach the intended audience with an 100% success rate. You still keep talking about retail this, retail that, but the truth is most PC gamers are past that and will keep using DD more and more until DD compltely takes over the traditional boxed games. |
Might as well focus on this, because it sums up things. Guess which games cause growth in the industry, and get AAA production budgets? The game better end up having mass-appeal or it gets relegated to the area of indie and low budget arena, which don't get in the minds of the audience and don't lead to growth. Exception here is massive-multiplayer games that can support ad review, or something like Runescape. This doesn't mean such games should be ignored or not looked at. Games like Puzzle Quest deserve attention. However, they won't drive the industry to large sales. One may get a Portal type Orange Box experience (like what also saw with Geometry Wars in Project Gotham).
The industry does have issues here. It is trapped in a non-profitable growth cycle. It is growing, but companies are losing money. Production costs are way too high at this point. Digital distribution does a GREAT job fitting niches. XBox Live Marketplace, along with community games, fits into this mold. And there is the Indie/Garage Games that also fit in here. However, these won't produce multi-million sellers and generate a ton of interest and revenues to get people to care.
And, unless someone can come up with better ways to advertise and market, and new ways, don't expect to see them having a cultural impact and buzz the way the Wii, Halo and others fit in. It is these titles, which will end up being exclusively if PC gaming goes 100% digital distribution, which drive industry growth and help fund the Indie projects.
The industry is becoming more and more like the movie industry, with big budget titles that generate revenues (hit driven) that are mass appeal, and other niche titles being like direct to DVD or Indie film production. This is the reality we face. Anyhow, carry on thinking that an industry that is 100% driven by digital distribution will match the size of one that is in retail environments.
