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Peter Molyneux Asks For Gov't Help For Small Shops
spot35 writes "Maybe the gaming industry isn't as healthy as I thought. Peter Moluneux has gone on record stating that creating a successful video game is too expensive for the smaller developers. According to this BBC article he suggests that the government helps the smaller developers to keep them afloat.
This other article gives a very brief profile of the man."
In fact, Peter Molyneux actually has initiatives to keep the bedroom coder alive. Admittedly he's supporting Jeff Minter which is a pretty safe bet (check out the the "unity" mention on the lionhead site)
More of the same, that's what I say!
I don't buy his arguments. There are small game shops thriving in the marketplace. The best example i can give is the guys at
www.battlefront.com
They've produced two games, Combat Mission and Combat Mission 2 that are considered by most afficianados as the best strategic war games ever made. They sell only over the internet, develop for Apple and PC simultaneously, and managed to sell out their first printing of the recent Combat Mission 2. There is still a place for the small guy. Great game by the way, I highly recommend it for those disatisfied with the standard RTS fare.
"the best safety of the frontier...will be secured by total annihilation of the few remaining indians" L Frank Baum 1890
I think there's still ample room for another low-budget breakthrough like a Tetris or whatnot. I think if a game is good enough, it can get away with less eye candy.
Even in the film world it happens. Look at the first Blair Witch Project. It cost them like a few thousand to make, and grossed tens of millions.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
I disagree. It is not small businesses per se; it is innovative small businesses! Industries that have a few large players are perfect opporunities for startups to come in and upset the market with better wares at cheaper prices.
Don't keep small businesses alive that are failing to play the same game as the large players. Incentivise the small businesses that will change the game itself.
Luckily, the capital it takes to start a game company and do a demo is relatively minor, even today, which is why you see so many new companies and dev. shops set up, even as others are closing down. It's brutal, but I don't think government subsidies will do anything but prolong the inevitable.
To run a successful videogame company, you have to know how to successfully run a company -- that's actually more important than anything else today. I know for a fact my company would not be around today, ten years after it started, if we didn't have a president who was a hardcore business guy (who luckily trusts the rest of us to know what we're doing on the game side).
Dude, I think I can see my house from here.
Not to mention that DMA Design (whom have since been bought by Rockstar and renamed Rockstar North), the developer of the GTA games (1, 2, and 3) was an established development studio before GTA1. They were the people behind Lemmings and other great games of the Amiga era.
Are you an idiot? Look at what the US government has done to farming and ranching? Oftentimes farmers are paid to _not_ grow anything. Government in business never works long term...
A better example is Canada's health care system. Everyone is covered, thanks to government mandate, but everyone gets the same mediocre service. Even in the states, where there is at least incentive to innovate in healthcare, the government has meddled and driven up costs for everyone.