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Hey Ivan,
Can you pm me your email address? I have this interview to go out to you for the Education thingy, so if you could it would be great.
Cheers
Jamie
Well that’s the reality of games, they sell for maybe 6 weeks, and after that generally the only other chance they get to make additional sales is through two means: controversy (ie manhunt’s recent re-entry to the charts), or through platinum sales status, Xbox Classics, Platinum range on PS2 etc.
Jamie
It is the duty of all companies but especially those the size of EA (for example) to balance the priority placed on short-term profits versus the medium to long-term development & value of their brand. This in my view is where many big companies that should know better continually fall over. The simple fact is that bad games lose money, if not in the short-term then certainly in the long-term. Bad games are bad for business; it’s not simply a creative or critical sensitivity![/quote:fa3ff8d8e0]
There is another angle to take at this, companies like EA and Atari have to look at the short term, because simply most games are sold within a few weeks of launch, so they need a very focused campaign to get the games out into people’s consoles. I do agree with what you are saying, but the simple matter of economics means that they have to ship a game as soon as the thing is ready, and now any delays can cause detrimental effects to sales, either through people giving up (Driver 3) because they released a shoddy buggy game that is hilarious it even got released, or Doom 3 which despite all the delays, and due to them seemingly making very strange decisions to get the game out has still been hit by pirates, and that’s a full week before the game hits retail here in Ireland.
Very few companies are in the position where they can release a game and have it sit as a sleeper hit (ie quality games like Ico, aimed at a certain demographic of gamers.) Sure, it might not be a commercial success in the way some of the more mainstream games can be, but at the end of the day, EA’s main customer, and the reason that they are the size they are today is because they catered for the mass market, using mass market brands. Fifa, NFL, Harry Potter, James Bond.
They are a publishing giant who can afford to do what they want because they have the massive sales that these mass market, and not necessarily the best type of game by my own standards, but from my reviewing days, the type of gamer that I am is outnumbered by about 20 to 1 by normal gamers, young families who want kid friendly games, children and casual gamers who get a game every so often. That’s where the money is, and as soon as developers realise that making games specifically for the type of gamer you hope will play it, then you can start seeing the bigger picture (where the money is), because there are only a few big games that can hit the hardcore market and be a success. Yes, Doom. Yes Half Life. Yes, Pro Evolution Soccer. But remember that for every game that makes millions of quid, there have been dozens, if not hundreds of games that were released that didn’t even make anything close to their development costs back.
Jamie
I’m currently in the process of destroying everything Aphra’s built up at the moment, don’t worry :D
Right,
Can I get a time/date/place for this shindig and associated LAN night, so I can stick it into the calendar?
Jamie
It’s going to start all over again now with this in the tabloids…
Jamie
but wouldn’t a little publicity do IGD.IE good[/quote:1254b3af8f]
It wouldn’t necessarily be the right kind of publicity, and with the wide range of general gaming forums available, I really believe that here should do what it says on the banner, be for developers and related people.
It can be hell moding a general games forum – trust me on that one.[/quote:1254b3af8f]
Finally something we can agree on Cian :D
Jamie
I had a look at the site, and I met Jazz at the Microsoft Games Challenge, and he seems to have his head on his shoulders and looking at the names signed up as sponsors he seems to be doing nicely for himself anyway. It’s more of a case that you don’t want 13 and 14 year old fanboys flooding the site with crap, it would put me off using the forums anyway.
So can we have a date/time/place so we can get a shindig notice up on the front page, and so I can stick it in my diary?
Cheers
Jamie
Wouldn’t it be great to see an event like GameCon with ‘GameDevelopers.ie’ associated to it? How would one go about that sort of ‘sponsorship’, perhaps with a commercial backer to absorb cost?[/quote:e55c8c1252]
No, the last thing you want for a community site like this is to be flooded by people who it isn’t aimed at, I’ve seen it happen before when communities can be taken over when the name was attached to an event. A retailer sponsoring the event is fine, but I personally think that GD.ie should stick to it’s roots for the time being.
Jamie
…and it wouldn’t have been the first Aphra-less shindig either – there was one before[/quote:54be8e25fb]
Yes Tony,
*The incident* :rolleyes:
Jamie who should also be around on the 14th. Venue?
