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Forums - Sales - Sega talks about their actual state. Core games at risk

Khuutra on 24 March 2009
Gamerace said:
Khuutra said:
theRepublic said:

What is your solution?

The obvious answer to me is to take the graphics down a notch.  The industry has come too far, too fast and the business model is not there to back it up.

However, I'm not sure that would be acceptable to those gamers spoiled by the beatiful, but mostly money losing games on the 360 and PS3 right now.

That is exactly my conclusion. Something has to give, and graphics are the least cost effective part of that equation. Presentation has to give out first, because if you cut costs in other areas then a game begins to be fundamentally broken.

Frnakly, the fact that it wouldn't be acceptable to some gamers is irrelevant. That business model simply is not making enough money to justify catering to that demograhic.

Or you make the games more appealing to women and double your audience.  Hey, hollywood does it.  Action movies usually have some romance subplot to make it more paletable to the ladies.   Games will have to follow suit if they want to continue to cost the same as movies.

So less gore and more plot/romance.

Can't they do both?



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jammy2211 on 24 March 2009

Yeah, if every company put a great focus on casual games, there'd be more profit for everyone.

And they wouldn't cancel out and require more marketing to buy more marketshare to once again get this gaussian distribution of sales that core titles have :/.

Tbh I think every developer has their toes well and truly into the casual thing now, and those that don't seem to be doing alright anyway. With core games most publishers have said it but the focus needs to be on less games with better quality - adjust to the times, software doesn't sell like it did on the PS2 anymore.



Khuutra on 24 March 2009
jammy2211 said:
Yeah, if every company put a great focus on casual games, there'd be more profit for everyone.

And they wouldn't cancel out and require more marketing to buy more marketshare to once again get this gaussian distribution of sales that core titles have :/.

Tbh I think every developer has their toes well and truly into the casual thing now, and those that don't seem to be doing alright anyway. With core games most publishers have said it but the focus needs to be on less games with better quality - adjust to the times, software doesn't sell like it did on the PS2 anymore.

If "less games with better quality" translates into "fewer but more expensive and therefore more high-risk games" then I don't think this would be particularly tenable either.



theRepublic on 24 March 2009
Khuutra said:
theRepublic said:
Khuutra said:
badgenome said:
I'm guessing Valkyria Chronicles didn't make a profit, then.

I'm guessing you're probably right.

The worst part here is that there are methods by which one can make core gameplay values fit around a much cheaper development philosophy.

What is your solution?

The obvious answer to me is to take the graphics down a notch.  The industry has come too far, too fast and the business model is not there to back it up.

However, I'm not sure that would be acceptable to those gamers spoiled by the beautiful, but mostly money losing games on the 360 and PS3 right now.

That is exactly my conclusion. Something has to give, and graphics are the least cost effective part of that equation. Presentation has to give out first, because if you cut costs in other areas then a game begins to be fundamentally broken.

Frnakly, the fact that it wouldn't be acceptable to some gamers is irrelevant. That business model simply is not making enough money to justify catering to that demograhic.

Let me phrase that last sentence another way.  Will gamers spoiled by the beautiful games currently on the 360 and PS3 buy games that are not as good looking?  To my knowledge, we've never seen a backtracking on graphics in this industry before.  I'm not sure how consumers would react to that.  If they stop buying games, we still have this same profitablity problem.

Another question is how do you stop the graphical arms race?  Let's say some developers scale back the graphics.  Judging from the current climate, those developers who don't will have games that stand out critically and comercially, starting the race all over again.  Aside from some sort of crash, I think developers are going to try and continue to one up each other, consequences be damned.



Switch Code: SW-7377-9189-3397 -- Nintendo Network ID: theRepublic -- Steam ID: theRepublic

Now Playing
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Khuutra on 24 March 2009

I don't have a solution for how to get people to keep buying games. I mean, lots of people use the Wii. I don't think it would be that big a problem.

As to the developers keeping up the arms race anyway?

Then they're damned, and Heaven help them.



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Zomb1337 on 24 March 2009

It just means companies will be working on casual titles to fund the more expensive projects.



PREDICTIONS:
(Predicted on 5/31/11) END of 2011 Sales - Xbox 360 = 62M;  PS3 = 59M;  Wii = 97M

theRepublic on 24 March 2009
Gamerace said:
Khuutra said:
theRepublic said:
Khuutra said:
badgenome said:
I'm guessing Valkyria Chronicles didn't make a profit, then.

I'm guessing you're probably right.

The worst part here is that there are methods by which one can make core gameplay values fit around a much cheaper development philosophy.

What is your solution?

The obvious answer to me is to take the graphics down a notch.  The industry has come too far, too fast and the business model is not there to back it up.

However, I'm not sure that would be acceptable to those gamers spoiled by the beatiful, but mostly money losing games on the 360 and PS3 right now.

That is exactly my conclusion. Something has to give, and graphics are the least cost effective part of that equation. Presentation has to give out first, because if you cut costs in other areas then a game begins to be fundamentally broken.

Frnakly, the fact that it wouldn't be acceptable to some gamers is irrelevant. That business model simply is not making enough money to justify catering to that demograhic.

Or you make the games more appealing to women and double your audience.  Hey, hollywood does it.  Action movies usually have some romance subplot to make it more paletable to the ladies.   Games will have to follow suit if they want to continue to cost the same as movies.

So less gore and more plot/romance.

Good point.  It seems that very few developers are actively courting the female audience.  Where is the gaming equivalent of the soap opera, or romance?



Switch Code: SW-7377-9189-3397 -- Nintendo Network ID: theRepublic -- Steam ID: theRepublic

Now Playing
Switch - Super Mario Maker 2 (2019)
3DS - Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (Trilogy) (2005/2014)
Mobile - Yugioh Duel Links (2017)
Mobile - Super Mario Run (2017)
PC - Borderlands 2 (2012)
PC - Deep Rock Galactic (2020)

Khuutra on 24 March 2009
Zomb1337 said:
It just means companies will be working on casual titles to fund the more expensive projects.

They will not continue to fund projects that do not make money. Corporations do not like burning money.



Khuutra on 24 March 2009
Soriku said:
Khuutra said:
Zomb1337 said:
It just means companies will be working on casual titles to fund the more expensive projects.

They will not continue to fund projects that do not make money. Corporations do not like burning money.

...And make more Wii games (some Western devs are ignorant though, Japanese devs don't seem to be as hard headed)

Japanese developers are choking to death on this just as much as Western ones. The only major publisher who really is taking advantage of the Wii is probably Activision.



psrock on 24 March 2009

i expect the Iphone to get most of the support, they are the cheapest to develop for. Monkey ball sold 600k, amazing.



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