game industry

  • EA’s Hilleman on the new games world

    Hours Categories Game talk
    Comments 9 Comments

    I know, I know, I have been neglecting the blog lately. Sorry about that. 🙂

    I thought this article was well worth pointing out though. We tend to think of EA as one of the largest publishers in the games biz, and then conclude that perhaps it is slow to adapt. But in terms of how the games industry is changing, I actually think they are more on the ball than they are usually given credit for. The article is based on a speech he gave at the Stanford Hot Chips conference, apparently.

    Check out these stats!

    EA now typically spends two or three times as much on marketing and advertising as it does on developing a game. That’s because advertising is critical to getting a game in the top ten rankings. If you have a $10 million game, don’t be surprised if the the TV advertising costs drive the ad budget to $30 million. If a $60 game yields revenue of $35 for EA, then (according to my math) the company has to sell 1.1 million copies just to break even.

    — EA’s chief creative officer describes game industry’s re-engineering | VentureBeat

    Bear in mind, though, this is what they are moving away from. The rest of the article probably won’t be a huge surprise to regular readers on this blog, but it’s good to see big industry giants taking steps in these new directions. Hilleman specifically cites looking to Korea as a model, lifestyle-driven development goals, lower cost development, web models, “multihead” games (where many platforms connect to one game experience, albeit in different ways)…

  • Video Games Are Dead video

    Hours Categories Game talk
    Comments 19 Comments

    The conclusion is “no” by the way. 🙂 But the video is very worth watching anyway, and I say that not just because I am in it — along with a host of game industry luminaries, I hasten to add. I sat for this interview back at GDC, actually, and it is kind of amazing how quickly things have evolved even over those few months.

    Freefalling sales. Skyrocketing unemployment. Studios tanking left and right. Between the twin pressures of one of the worst recessions in modern history and a fundamental shift in the way today’s fans consume interactive entertainment, the PC and video game business is quickly coming up short on extra lives. As Season 2 of Players Only opens, we connect with the industry’s biggest names to cast aside the field’s “recession-proof” image and explore how the very fabric of gaming as we know it has changed. Tune in for the first of a special two-part series as we ask: Is it ‘game over’ for thousands of developers and publishers – and millions of fans – worldwide?

    — Video Games Are Dead – Part 1 – Players Only – Digital Trends Videos.