Comments on: Analyzing console online revenues

By: Top 10 Ways to Remove Barriers to Entry in MMOs and Virtual Worlds « Free To Play

Thu, 05 Jul 2007 08:28:56 +0000

[...] to Raph Koster for analyzing my previous post. [...]

By: Andrew Crystall

Andrew Crystall — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 17:05:25 +0000

The problem with XBLA is getting on there in the first place. Microsoft have definite ideas what they want, and only release so many games per – basically, you have to allow them to exercise creative and scheduling control.

Which is why WiiWare is interesting. Because Nintendo won’t be exercising creative control (aside from the “no AO games” policy). I still think the controller is good only for a subset of game types, but if you’re working with that sort of game – it’s got to be interesting. How much they control scheduling, well, we’ll see.

By: Azaroth

Azaroth — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 05:50:13 +0000

I always knew I was cute.

By: David Edery

David Edery — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 00:46:38 +0000

Likewise, I can’t really get into the numbers, but I think there’s opportunity in this space for concepts of reasonable scope. And if those concepts are ultimately developed by SFA (Hah! First to use the acronym!) that’s fine by me — XBLA is geared to support indies.

By: Kim Pallister

Kim Pallister — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 17:53:48 +0000

I find the ‘small furry animal’ nomenclature funny, as it looks like Raph’s dinosaur/mammal metaphor is getting firmly entrenched!

I can’t comment on things like attach rates, trial rates, etc. I will say that like any portal (msn games, for example), or for that matter, any retailer, than marketing and promotion can sway the number a fair amount.

Interesting analysis anyway!

By: Patrick

Patrick — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 17:10:00 +0000

It can mean a lot of things, but usally it means smaller team and/or burn-rate, looser corporate structure (i.e. work is modulated by remote contracting, development partnerships, outsourcing, ect. not nessecarily a more lax corporate tempo), smaller budgets, more reliance on procedural content, target platform usually is either a low bar console (like the DS or the PSP, or one of the console’s online markets) or is the internet, which can include downloadable games, web-based games monetizing on a variety of business models, or some kind of middleware/service provider. In other words, an entity operating with wider constraints than the big AAA console studios.

By: The Economics of a Free-To-Play Console Game « Free To Play

The Economics of a Free-To-Play Console Game « Free To Play — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 16:06:05 +0000

[...] Raph’s Website » Analyzing console online revenues Says: June 28th, 2007 at 11:54 am [...]

By: External News

External News — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 13:15:46 +0000

[...] Analyzing console online revenues [...]

By: curious

curious — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 11:10:11 +0000

I am curious, but what does it mean to be a small furry animal?

By: Adrian Crook

Adrian Crook — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 23:35:40 +0000

Just added an update to my original article. I had forgotten to deduct the 30% cut Msft takes of DLC. So that revenue estimate went from $3.5M to $2.5M.