Slashdot Mirror
Majesco Goes To Bargain Bin For Videogame Profits
Thanks to Fortune.com for its article exploring the apparent success of often 'budget' publisher Majesco, which allegedly "scores extra points (and stays alive) by going where other publishers won't: the discount bin." The article explains: "Because the average value game costs a mere $250,000 to produce, Majesco needs to sell only 15,000 to 50,000 copies to break even, vs. anywhere from 200,000 to one million for more expensive titles." It also points to other, bigger-budget Majesco titles such as Bloodrayne and the forthcoming Advent Rising, noting: "While big publishers have the deep pockets to ride out a flop, virtually every one of Majesco's major titles - which can cost $5 million to $10 million each - had to hit big", though these larger development costs are somewhat offset by the value titles, of which it's suggested: "Those cheap games may not have flashy, big-budget effects, but parents are often more than willing to snatch one up for their kids on an impulse."
after a certain point(maybe even that 250 000$ point) throwing money at the project doesn't really guarantee any quality increase in the product at all. at worst it'll just splinter the product and put more focus into what the player model looks like than on the actual controls. like buying a hollywood name to use as the 'face' and then skip on testing if there's even 1 player on earth who likes the controls enough to play it(or using so much money on pre-marketing that you just possibly can't delay the game for a week to sort out the problem of invisible walls or whatever).
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
On the other hand, I just picked up ESPN NFL2K5. Great game, and it LAUNCHED at $19.95. Pretty incredible that a company like Sega would put out a high quality game for so little. Maybe they are finally taking into consideration that each year is just a tweak of last years game, and pricing it accordingly.
Actually, they're taking into consideration that they have no market share against the EA juggernaut. If they didn't have to worry about Madden, they'd price the ESPN game normally. Same thing with the other sports games.
Rob
Is it possible that the thing that changed isn't the gaming industry... but you?
I know I used to spend hours and hours hunting down perfect completion scores and those hidden power-ups on my Commodore 64 games, but that wasn't because the games were necessarily any better than today's-- in fact I would wager the majority were worse on average-- it's because I was younger and had tons of free time and games were still new and exciting.
Now I'm older, I have a full-time job, and the gaming industry is matured enough where I know that if I miss the next latest-and-greatest dungeon digger I can just wait a few months for a new one. The gaming industry hasn't changed, I have. And I think you have, too.
Comment of the year
the $10k might be a small part of the total cost to sell the game, but you have to realize that it's also the ONLY money the publisher will ever give to the developer.
no budget publisher actually gives out royalties, simply because those 'extra costs' that you mention are PAID FOR BY THE DEVELOPER - just like the music industry, when the big stars go around in limo's & private jets - all paid for by their record company - the stars themselves are, in the end, paying for every single penny.
publishers advance you $10k, and then when you ask for any royalties, they say - oh, but we advanced you $10k, so that's off the top, and oh, we spent $20 grand bribing (i mean advertising) on gamespy for a good review (and this is a SMALL bribe, i mean advertising campaign)...
so by the time your game is released, the indie developer is probably $50 - $100 K in the hole...so you wonder why the publishers stay in business and the developers go out of business?
Gekido's Lair