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Casual Games Now Have Serious Budgets
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."
For one game company I worked at, $700,000 wouldn't cover the CEO's salary and his NYC penthouse apartment for a year.
I'm quite fond of the Burger King games... the value meal I had to buy to get them was the first time I set foot in a Burger King in a LONG time but it was worth it for the cheap entertainment those games have provided. Sneak King is entertaining on concept alone, but Pocketbike Racer is entertaining for it's multiplayer capabilities (both online and off).
I'm curious how much those games actually cost to make, and if the development costs were just seen as an advertising budget to get people to buy more burgers or if they're actually turning a profit on these games and the advertising/burgers is just a happy side effect.
Collector's Edition
I think you nailed the point of the article. There are two markets:
One for the regular gamer, who demands any or all of the following:
- a storyline
- 30 or 40 hours of solo gameplay
- online capablity (so the game doesn't "lose" value when s/he finishes the solo gameplay)
These people will pay $30 to $50 per game with the above attributes and feel that they got their money's worth, and that their intelligence wasn't insulted by pushing something like Pac-Man for $50.
The second market is for casual gamers, who demand any or all of the following:
- Doesn't take long to master
- Doesn't get old or boring quickly
- Can be played in short bursts (no complicated storylines here)
- Has unlimited replay value.
These people will pay $20 or $30 per game with the above attributes and also feel that they got their money's worth. They don't feel ripped off because they are getting exactly what they wanted.
I fall into the latter category. I picked up a DS Lite about a month ago with three games, and played nothing but Tetris for the first three weeks (maybe a an hour was spent on the two other games). $150 to play a single game might look retarded from the average gamer's point of view, but I couldn't be happier with my purchase. By the look of this news item, I'm not the only one willing to spend a high amount on a single game.
[For the record, I've started playing the two other games and now I'm addicted to Advance Wars: Dual Strike.]
It is funny that Big Fish Games can spend over $300,000 on a game but in another turn laying off a people to "streamline" the company (aka people who couldn't play the politics, so we got rid of them).
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You can read it here at Seattle Post Intelligencer site: http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/venture/archiv
The comments in this blog are fasinating.