October 20, 2012 Outpost Opinion
There was no video game in my childhood for a long time. Then my uncle took me to work with him, where I was able to play a computer for the first time (as they were called) in bowling, artillery and other games created with the help of some letters and numbers, no graphics. They had to literally tear me away from the computer, because I cried, shouted and scratched, I didn't want to leave so. A few years later I was already in the lobby of the SEARS department store and played in Space Invaders 25 cents over the token. Dyadin computer could no longer surprise me.
We will move a few more years in advance. 1980s, Kalgary, Arcade Automatic Hall. I lower my entire salary of a newspaper for a video game. In such institutions, I left literally thousands of dollars. After amazing arcades on cheap machines standing in supermarkets, I no longer wanted to watch.
The era of the consoles came – Atari, Intellivision and others. Now I could play at home, spending only a tenth of the amount that an arcade machine was worth (cartridges sold at $ 30, and arcades – $ 300). Naturally, I stopped going to the halls.
Why should consoles die
The consoles were strong for many years, but now they have problems. It is also time to replace them with something new. Why?
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Incorrect attitude to the consumer. Model, when you have to pay $ 60 per game, in fact, not knowing about its quality, you have outlived yourself. She worked earlier (there were simply no others), but with the development of Free-to-Play, she is waiting for her. People want to know what they get before they spend money, especially if the game cannot be returned back, as in many US stores.
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Poor retail model. This is a topic for a separate article, but, in short, shops should increase the rate for a place on the shelf, so that in a prominent place there are only truly cool games worth $ 60.
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Greedy secondary markets. Unlike film studios, publishers do not receive money from the resale and rental of their games. Not a penny. Therefore, networkers like GameStop concentrate on this business segment, complicating life to developers. The industry would have changed beyond recognition if we received our percentage from the sale of used games and rental.
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Bad development model. For many years, publishers were happy to sell us the day before yesterday with new graphics, which entailed the stagnation of the industry, the clinical death of Japanese games and the general lack of interest in video games among the broad masses. Another problem is that all publishers want to sell their games with fantastic circulations, and therefore make games only in popular genres. I can understand them from an economic point of view, but the healthy industry should invest part of the income to finance alternative, non -trivial ideas. Today the platform holders are not doing this.
[[Bullet]] Apple revolutionary in the mobile phones market, changing it beyond recognition. Today, the console market needs such changes.
- Bad model of creating content. In my opinion, one of the most underestimated problems that kills the console, and the main reason you should help them die. Cantileum manufacturers stand their back to independent developers. I will explain. The standard agreement between the publisher and the developer looks something like this: 1) the publisher pays for the cost of development, advertising and distribution; 2) this money is considered an advance as an https://sister-site.org/spinland/ advance on the fee (that is, the publisher does not have the right to demand from the team the money spent on development, but it is still believed that you are hanging a “debt” that you must pay from profit); 3) They promise you as a reward from 0% to 15% of profit from the game (I understand that all this is technical information, but tolerate). Add to this the fact that the publisher is constantly changing the terms of the contract, and get the current result: the developers do not receive a sales center regardless of how successful the game turned out. Defend your rights? The American courts in decision -making are guided not by justice, but to their own benefits, so independent developers have no chance of winning such matters.
I will give the simplest example. The game budget is $ 1,000,000, and our royalties under the contract are 10%. Each dollar from sales goes to our millionth “debt”. By the time the game has already paid off and earned nine millions on top, the publisher changes the algorithm of calculation and distribution of profit, and in the end we are left without money.
The current model is solely to blame for the oppression of the rights of independent studios, which we have observed over the past seven years.
But today alternative platforms are finally available to us-phones and tablets, social networks and MMO. Thanks to them, the industry has a new hope.
New future of the gaming industry
A little higher, I explained why the consoles and the business model that accompany them should die. Now I will talk about what I would like to see in the new industry.
The value of any gaming device or computer is determined by the quality of the software that can be launched on it. And in the case when, on the contrary, the iron determines the level and nature of the software, we receive stagnation. Games on mobile phones suffered for a decade until the iPhone appeared. The market needed a company that could purposefully change the existing model.
For many years, publishers and manufacturers of iron dictated to developers what games to make. But this is in the past. If you look at the world as a whole (and not just at Europe, America and Japan, as is now customary), we will see that the main platforms are not game consoles, but smartphones and PC. Followed by the future of the gaming industry.
Exit from the cave
All its history, mankind has transferred its essence, its nature on technology. Now you can observe the reverse process. Since we left the caves, have passed millions of years, but people remain creatures of social and mobile.
When the first computers and consoles appeared, we were so fun to play them that we forgot about our nature. Today we can wear a small device in your pocket, which allows you to play anywhere, anything and with anyone. That is why social and mobile platforms develop so rapidly. Who needs a home computer if the laptop performs the same functions, but at the same time you can take it with you on the road? Who needs a laptop if you don’t have to get up to use the iPad, even gets out of the bed? Who needs iPad if any smartphone has the same functions? Socialists and mobile phones, as they are called, are not just new segments, this is a movement. Now we want something else from the technology. Fundamental changes in the mind occur. And they did not start today.
[[Bullet]] Mr. Castillo next to the poster Rise of the Argonauts – Games, according to which he mainly knows his studio. It is such games, according to Edward, should die soon.
Already in the eighties in Space Invaders there was a record table. Today it is called "social integration". Multiplayer for four players appeared in Arcade Gauntlet , For which my friends and I spent a lot of time in 1986, and in the first portable games I also managed to play back in the 1980s (mine Escape from the devil’s doom , not requiring batteries, finally died only last year, I played it for 30 years).
See? Even 30 years ago, we sought to interact with other people and carry games with us in your pocket. Because it is laid in us by nature. The development of technology allows us to have fun anywhere, no longer needs to fasten ourselves with a chain to a computer table. Why stay in the Stone Age?
Ouya – the console of the future
First of all: this is not an advertisement, I do not participate in this project in any way and I will not get any money if it is successful.
[[Bullet]] Portable LCD From The Devil’s Doom.
Ouya – the future of consoles. Its creators are trying to implement a new financial model that will take into account the interests of the developers. It is easy to hack, it is quite powerful and works on Android OS. Open architecture, affordable price and free access for independent teams. It is obvious that the first thing to the Ouya will appear emulators of most popular consoles. Just imagine a device that can launch games for all Nintendo consoles, PlayStation 1, 2, 3, Xbox, Xbox 360, Neo Geo, Atari 2600, Colecovision and others, including ROM’s old arcade machines. Just science fiction.
Ouya may well become the most important gaming device from a cultural point of view over the past decade.
Let it die
As a gamer with many years of experience, I managed to play hundreds, if not thousands of computer, card and board games. As a child, I just enjoyed the process, I was not worried about who and how made this or that game. When I became a developer, a complete picture opened to me: creative people tirelessly fight the laws of the market and iron producers, dictating the direction of the development of games.
A new audience met with the development of socialists on Facebook – people who never held a gamepad in their hands did not hear about Unreal Engine 3 and did not play in World of Warcraft. Inexperienced more recently players began to switch from socialists to Halo And FIFA. After that it became completely clear to me – the changes were coming. I was convinced of this when, with the advent of the iPhone, I began to spend 70% of the time playing on the phone, only 20% on PC and 10% on consoles. Playing on the phone is as fun as on PC and consoles, but I am not forced to carry an extra device with me and pay $ 60 per game.
[[Bullet]] hardly now, someone would go to the shopping center to fill points in Space Invaders.
In the console market I see a rotten business model that kills innovation and does not encourage the efforts of developers. Freedom, reigning in social and mobile games for phones, tablets and PC, allows you to create a new, energetic community of creative people who, having freed from prohibitions, will be able to make amazing, original games.
I have observed the development of the industry since its birth and have been working in this business for many years, so I can confidently say that now is the right moment to support new undertakings. It is important for me that creative is encouraged, and the developers receive an appropriate reward for their labors and ideas. And it should be important to you.
If you do not want your children to play only some Metal Bayonetta’s Halo 14 and Creed of War 15, then support mobile and online games. Support new platforms where the freedom of creativity is preaching, and with a calm soul, let me die everyone else.