BasilZero said:
Edit: I wonder which is bigger AC or AB franchise wise? Make a thread or one of the other sales obsessed people in this site! |
One of the reasons Angry Birds does as well as it does is merchandising, which both adds to the revenue and advertises the game. For example, my local game store has stuffed birds and pigs (which has led to an interesting incident or two on slow days). Nintendo does merchandising, yes, but not really for Animal Crossing. Furthermore, many "copies" of Angry Birds games are included for free with phones and whatnot. $150 million sounds like a lot, but considering how the game's supposedly been downloaded well over a billion times, I'm not impressed. ESPECIALLY when a lot of that money is coming from the upcoming movie rights with Sony AND, for that matter, a $30 retail release!
And yes, Angry Birds probably cost less to make than Animal Crossing. At first. But today, Rovio has over 600 employees, pumping out a couple of these games a year in order to keep sales up. In comparison, Nintendo EAD alone has as about many employees, and in addition to making Animal Crossing, they also make 2D Mario, 3D Mario, Nintendogs, Mario Kart, Zelda, Mii games, Pikmin, Wii Fit titles, and actual gameplay innovations like the Super Guide.
Here's my (possibly) final say on the matter. $150 million for a 600 person company is a value of a quarter million dollars per employee. Nintendo made over $6 billion in revenue in the 2012 Financial Year from 5,000 employees. That's $1.2 million an employee, or nearly five times greater than Rovio's employee value. And 2012 was a bad year for Nintendo consoles! And you expect me to believe that Rovio's way is that of success?
