How videogame revenue is split on a typical $60 videogame →
From a $60 game, $9 – fifteen percent – goes to the developer. That’s less than both the publisher and console maker.
From a $60 game, $9 – fifteen percent – goes to the developer. That’s less than both the publisher and console maker.
Ars Technica’s Kyle Orland:
Not only does going through Microsoft Studios mean keeping your game exclusive to Xbox Live Arcade for a certain period of time after launch, but the outfit also takes an additional percentage of a game’s revenues on top of the standard cut taken for all Xbox Live Arcade titles, Carmel said. “That’s why we see savvy console developers like Supergiant [Bastion] and Klei [Shank] go through third-party publishers—those publishers get better terms from XBLA (directly) than a small developer could get from Microsoft Studios, and they can launch the game simultaneously on multiple platforms.”
Steam and iOS are clearly leading the pack here. Will the traditional consoles have a better solution for more open game distribution when the PS4/Xbox 720 are released next year? I hope so, but I have my doubts.
Author Rowan Kaiser, writing for Gameranx, breaks down the plot holes and inconsistencies of Blizzard’s flagship game. I agree; the dialog is often atrocious. That said, complaining about plot in Diablo 3 is pretty well beside the point; it’s still an extremely polished, addictive loot game.
(As an aside, if you’re into gaming news you should be following Rowan on Twitter. Good source.)
Joseph Lawrence, sound designer for Diablo 3, interviewed by Kill Screen Daily, talking about the recording process:
Yeah, just moving it [bowl of peanuts, yogurt, spaghetti] around, squishing it with your hands, hitting it with something else. You experiment until you find something that’s really interesting. Usually we’ll have two people in a room, because once your hands get completely covered in goo then you don’t want to be touching a recorder. So we have one guy running the recorder and the other one doing the goo-mangling. You’ve got to always be open to experimentation, because there’s really no book you can open that says: “How to manipulate yogurt to make interesting sounds.”
Having played Diablo 3 for a few weeks now and now reading this interview, I can see how smart sound design plays off. As Lawrence points out himself, given the repetitive hack-and-slash nature of the game, varied, distinctive sound design really enhances the experience.
Peter Suciu, Fortune contributer:
According to industry analyst NPD Group, sales of video-game hardware — a.k.a consoles — software and even accessories fell for a sixth consecutive month in May, tumbling 28% from a year earlier to $517 million. And with the release of Blizzard’s (ATVI) Diablo III, May also saw the first time since July 2010 that the top-selling game was a PC-only title. That boosted PC video games sales up year-over-year to 230% or $80 million.
A bit premature wishful thinking here. The “hard core” traditional PC gaming market will remain niche. It’s simple economics; to play the latest games requires graphic card upgrades, each of which can easily clear the cost of an entire console system.
However, games like Diablo 3, not to mention the many smaller indie games (many of which I’m playing now on my Mac) that can scale on older hardware is seeing quite a resurgence. Valve’s Steam network is leading the way, and so far as a Mac gaming newbie I’m impressed with its organization and growth.
Really interesting account from The Verge of how the two founders of Sierra’s adventure classic Space Quest series spent their careers. It’s a must read for any gamer like me who spent a lot of time on their computer in the early 90s blasting through a lot of Sierra games.
Rob Fahey, Gamesindustry International:
Zynga is no different – but it thought it was, and some investors believed it. Zynga is a games company. It’s important for it to keep its back catalogue healthy and thriving, but ultimately, if it wants to grow, it has to generate hits. Farmville is back catalogue – a comfortable set of laurels to rest on, and nothing other. Zynga, like any other media company, is only as good as its last release, and only as bankable as the strength of its forward release schedule. There is a sense that the company and its investors thought that the social graph and F2P business could change that reality, but they were utterly deluded in this.
I wouldn’t be too saddened about these guys taking a fall.
I’ve recently been diving into Steam games on the latest Humble Indie Bundle. But early on I had a big problem with control input via the standard Mac keyboard. Especially in games that rely on quick, arcade-like movements (e.g. Super Meat Boy), the keyboard isn’t precise enough and ill equipped to handle the bangs and keypresses of an average gaming run.
Enter the Mac app Joystick Mapper. For $5 on the Mac App Store I plugged in a PS3 Dualshock 3 controller via USB, mapped several buttons and directions to some keyboard and mouse commands, and I was ready to go. It makes a huge difference. Highly recommended.
Been enjoying this long-form feature over at Polygon giving perspective on where gaming is heading. It’s subdivided by major focus, with one major piece released each day this week. So far I’ve read about AAA games, indies, mobile, and how the demographic of gamers has changed.
It’s long, but if you have to cut down what you’re after, start with Russ Pitts’ piece on the AAA side of the industry. It’s scary breaking down Activision and Ubisoft’s numbers.
Really cool, very in depth history of puzzle classic Tetris and its evolution across platforms. Once again, The Verge and its sister gaming publication Polygon have published a compelling long form (two thousand word plus) feature article. It’s a nice break from the usual bite size reporting that dominates online journalism, and hopefully it’s a trend that will continue.