tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959857904862764847.post2316480825976110318..comments2023-09-23T10:46:14.707+01:00Comments on The Boss Monster: Anatomy of a Video Game Industry HitSean Duganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12929101541707990779noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1959857904862764847.post-84622009006180782262010-06-11T20:59:35.108+01:002010-06-11T20:59:35.108+01:00I wonder if online sales are giving any sort of us...I wonder if online sales are giving any sort of useful "tail" to game sales. Back when all game sales were boxed copies in stores, if you didn't make a profit within a few weeks, you simply couldn't, because the game would be off the shelves. (Mega-hits would stick around longer, but they'd already made their profit, thus increasing the disparity between successful and unsuccessful games.) I personally find myself buying a lot of older games off of Steam and even Amazon. Granted, they're incredibly cheap and thus the developer isn't making much money, but it's still an improvement over not making *any* money. I'm curious if it's enough to have any sort of impact, though.<br /><br />It seems that more and more game companies have stopped being game companies and are now "cross-media" producers as a reaction to all this. I was just reading that THQ has jumped on that bandwagon with a "Red Faction" movie (and possible t.v. series). I wonder how much going cross-media helps though, as it ties in all these other media to the short life-span of video games. A (decent) movie will outlast the source game, but I can't imagine the books, comics or action-figures will. (Ironically I noticed there was a Hellgate novel that came out after Flagship was shut down, thus outlasting the *existence* of the game, but I can't imagine much of anyone bought it.) I suppose all the derivative works allow hit games a better chance of making a profit, but this would also end up multiplying the disparities between hits and flops.<br /><br />Something I've wondered about lately is if games like Starcraft 2 or Diablo 3 can even *be* successful. Sure, neither are mega-productions on the same scale as GTA or Red Dead, but they've been in development, more or less continuously, for 10 or so years. The development costs must have stacked up during that time. They're PC-only games, so no console sales, no monthly subscriptions, nothing really beyond the original sales, expansions and action figures to supplement sales. Perhaps merchandizing can put them over the top?bob_dhttp://www.lies-all-lies.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com