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Indie Game Developers See Big Opportunity
An anonymous reader writes "BusinessWeek Online is running a story on the new opportunities indie game developers are finding in the casual games space. They also have a Q&A with one of Microsoft's gaming gurus." From the article: "Until recently, the market for electronic games was mainly young, male, and diehard. These days, a bigger, more age-diverse group that increasingly includes and women is joining in the fun, spending anywhere from a few minutes a day to long stretches on online poker or games such as Bejewelled, Tetris, and The Sims. As more people sign up for high-speed Internet access (almost 60% of the U.S. population now has access to broadband), the gaming experience -- both for games playable online, such as Bejewelled, and CD- or DVD-ROM titles with an online component, like The Sims -- has become more appealing. Casual gamers now make up about 1% of the $20.5 billion game-software market."
I am not convinced that games going mainstream is necessarily a good thing! As more and more average Americans start playing video games in their spare time, the lucrative market video game creators will target will also change. Pretty soon games like Halo will be on the back burner to "every day games" free of killing and other evils. Could this mean a world full of The Sims knockoffs?
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Boys are still the big buyers and mom sometimes likes Tertis-like games. Making more Tertis-like games may bring in more money, but I don't think it'll be as big as they think. (But I've been wrong before, and as an indie type my self, I'd love to be!)
I enjoy puzzle games like Tetris and specifically "Bejeweled" (or any of the 1000 other names it goes by depending on variation) but that's because they are "free". I can go to Yahoo Games and fire up a game of Gin, Literati, Bejeweled, etc, all for nothing. I don't need a game to sit on my HD taking up space, I don't need the latest and greatest system to run it, I don't need to pay an arm and a leg, and I don't get bored with the game after I "finish" it.
My problem with most modern games is that the long term playability just isn't there. Yeah, most FPS shooters with online play break that mold but there are plenty of others that don't. You need to invest too much in hardware, software, and time and then you're bored with it in a month/year.
I have a Ms. Pacman machine (currently in disrepair unfortunately). It's been out since 1982 and it's just as much fun today as it was then.
I'll take a puzzle game over some multi-million dollar interactive movie anyday.
Just think of the minutes burned as the "caller" explores some world/dungeon for hours.
Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do.
Casual downloadable games are a great market indeed. My latest title, Atlantis, is #1 in sales on big portals right now (Real Arcade and BigFish Games at the moment), and direct sales, in number of units, are way into the 4-digits range after three months out. We get to make the games we like and have direct contact with customers to help them out and gather suggestions, which is fantastic.
Best regards,
Emmanuel
--
Smash hit ball matching game for PC and Mac:
http://www.funpause.com/atlantis/
Currently #1 on RealArcade and BigFish !
I love GTA, etc, but I have a place in my heart for puzzle games. Gotta love 'em
1. Low system requirements. You can port it to a freakin' Atari 2600 depending on the game, or a cell phone.
2. Takes almost no time to learn.
3. Often many puzzle games have open-ended design to expand gameplay without making hit hideously complicated.
Every time I see one of those media players with a d-pad, I always wonder if it would be possible to port Tetris, Bejweled, etc on them. oh what fun it would be to port Bejeweled to as many portable systems as possible(cell phone(done), PSP, GBA, wonderswan, GP32, Tapwave Zodiac, Ipod(wow does it need more games), GP32X, digital cameras(mame was done) and anything else I haven't mentioned).
Bejeweled for everyone!
First, 1% of $20.5 billion is $205 million. But this only supports your point :) Second, revenues of $100,000 would earn major profit for you, for sure, but innovation funds only begin to get interested when there is "hockey stick growth" into the 7-digit or 8-digits numbers at the end of your 3-year business plan. Your measly 6-digit profit figures won't even get a sideways glance.
Music speeds up when you yawn, but does not change pitch.
I've recently entered into the casual games industry myself. There is definitely a market out there and I love working for myself and creating whatever I feel like creating. I have also found that the developer community is very helpful and willing to share their knowledge. If anyone wants to know more about just ask I'd love to share what i've learned.
My first casual game Funky Farm has been doing better than I could ever have imagined, and I'm close to finishing my 2nd casual game. If you want to check out my site.... www.sortasoft.com
Because 1% of $20.5 billion is still over $20 million. Given the low production and distribution costs of most of these small games, revenues of $100,000 would still earn major profit.
I find it interesting that people think getting 1% of a $20 billion pie is worth the effort to develop games, yet when it's pointed out that non-Windows operating systems make up, say, 6%-10% of the user base for home PCs, the response is "you can't spend that much development time/money on such a small piece of the market, it doesn't make sense."
I realize that we're comparing Mackintosh and Red Delicious here (hmm, didn't realize the irony in that statement until I typed it) -- that Small Garage Studio turning out a Bejeweled or Tetris-style puzzler isn't the same, technically or logistically, as porting Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War to the Mac -- but it makes me think that there might be more to the anti-Mac and anti-Linux gaming crowd's viewpoint than mere "market forces".
Jay (=
Puzzle games seems to be a bit of a misnomer in the casual arena. The puzzles are often at the stimulus/response level of Bejeweled and its kin.
I got it wrong and made Drippy which is more in the Tetris vein. If you look at most of the Casual game portals you won't find many games like this. There is too much decision making involved in where to put things.
With my other games Fitznik and Fitznik 2 I made really hard puzzles.
They also don't do so well on the casual portals. For Fitznik, by far the bigggest feedback I have received is that people haven't been able to complete the free demo levels.
I think there is a niche out there for my games, but it's a tough job getting the games in front of the people who will enjoy them.
-- That which does not kill us has made its last mistake.
Hi guys, this is Andy Schatz, the guy in the first sentence of the article. Just wanted to post here in the off chance that someone would be interested in my work or my perspective on indie games... The risk averse publishers in the big console-driven world are leaving many niches open for us indie types. Look at Wildlife Tycoon (www.wildlifetycoon.com). It's been a long time since someone came out with a compelling Tycoon game (unless you count Outpost Kaloki, which was great). I was able to design, engineer, and do the business for a game that will compete in a large market niche for minimal cost. The game was developed in 10 months (with 4 contract artists, 1 contract sound designer, and 1 contract writer, all part time) for 6000 dollars. This is partly because large corporations haven't upped the ante in this niche by innovating because they are scared to be spending big money on studios when they don't know the designs are going to be good. The DOWNLOADABLE tycoon market is almost entirely devoid of competition. My research has showed that the market buying retail Tycoon games is a very similar market to those buying casual downloadable games, but this area of the market hasn't been tapped yet. Oh, and the game is FREAKING COOL. Josiah Pisciotta, creater of Gish, has been hooked on it for the past 3 days, not getting his work done. That's my strategy, of course, to make games cool enough to make my competition stop working. Hey, it worked for World of Warcraft...