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Casual Games Now Have Serious Budgets

Posted by Zonk on from the hardcore-money dept.

eldavojohn writes "CNN is running a story on the increasingly-lucrative market for casual gaming. The article mentions that the latest PopCap game 'Bookworm Adventures' cost $700,000 to create. At $30 a pop for the title, PopCap is almost certain to make a profit." From the article: "Casual gamers play to relax -- the same reason people play solitaire, dominoes or mahjong. The games can be played for 5 minutes -- while the baby is sleeping or between office meetings -- or for hours at a stretch in a Zen-like trance. Big Fish Games Inc. released its most expensive title -- 'Travelogue 360: Paris' -- earlier this month. The Seattle-based company spent $300,000, hired seasoned illustrators and photographers, and bought the rights to images of historic landmarks like the Eiffel Tower. Players scour Paris for souvenirs as they are interviewed for an article in a travel magazine."

3 of 32 comments (clear)

  1. Wrong price! by LoudMusic · · Score: 2, Insightful

    At $30 a pop for the title, PopCap is almost certain to make a profit.

    $30? I wouldn't pay that for a package of 5 of their games. And furthermore, $30 isn't the correct price.

    Buy Bookworm Deluxe today! Get unlimited play when you register and unlock your Deluxe game! Only $19.95.

    Or a bunch of games at $5.29 / game.

    Get 17 games for only $89.95. Save over 70% with the PopCap Platinum Pack

    I'd like to where I got the information from but I used the one in the main post.

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    1. Re:Wrong price! by blueZhift · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Definitely too high. A $30 game is not going to move much with the casual crowd. Part of the reason for the success of the casual segment are the low, impulse buy range, prices of which $19.99 is usually the upper limit. Once you get out of that range, it's no longer a casual purchase. So I'd question the strategy of going to bigger budgets if it means the retail price of the games goes to more than $20.

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  2. Re:Burger King by badboy_tw2002 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I'm guessing the cost of the game was to offset the publisher manufacturing fee and the entire budget was probably written off, so they weren't expecting to make a dime. (Generally MS, Sony & Nintendo charge upwards of %25 of a title in fees). I doubt though that it mattered much considering the advertising budget for playing all those commercials dwarfed the cost of the actual game. And seeing as the post above got someone to walk into a Burger King who hadn't been there in years I'd say they did the job.