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#26 12/19/08 15:12

Iritscen
Moderator
From: NC, USA
Registered: 10/22/07

Re: Mirror's Edge

Yeah, I think I read that article too; even if it wasn't the same article, the percent of profitable games was really low in what I read, too.  Pretty shocking.  Of course, I look at what sells big and I can't place all the blame at the feet of the people making the games.  Most of the Top 10 sales in PC games are expansion packs for The Sims and WoW.  So the customer doesn't really reward the developer for going out on a limb and trying something different.


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#27 12/19/08 17:12

Gumby
Member
From: Seattle, WA, USA
Registered: 08/30/07

Re: Mirror's Edge

A8D wrote:

I've just watched some videos and it looked cool, but I'm not surprised at what you say, recent games often receive that kind of criticism : great graphics and technique made to impress the player, but bad story / not innovative (often) / no freedom, etc. Recently I read an article that explained how a lot of games are standardized to increase profitability. Because of the development costs that have become so high, you cannot afford to take too many risks, and it can be difficult for small studios. The article quoted someone of the company Electronic Entertainment Design and Research of California, who said that only 4% of games that enter production phase become profitable.

I'm not surprised. I have been noticing an oversaturation of games on the market anyways. A must have game seems to come out every few weeks. And these are just good games. God knows how many cruddy games come out every day. It is hard enough for a large, multi-milliondollar company to get a good game to be played for a long time, much less a smaller company. Especially since people are going to be more selective in what games they are buying, as times get harder.

I think that in the coming years, we might have a repeat of 1983. smile

Last edited by Gumby (12/19/08 17:12)


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#28 12/19/08 18:12

TomeOne
Administrator
Registered: 01/07/07
Website

Re: Mirror's Edge

2dlveiq.png


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#29 12/19/08 18:12

Iritscen
Moderator
From: NC, USA
Registered: 10/22/07

Re: Mirror's Edge

Yeah, and sports titles.  I forgot sports titles :-/

Gumby is right, the gaming market might just be oversaturated.  But there's still some serious injustice in charts like the above.  It's all about the games that have long-running franchises and tons of expansion packs.  Trying to start something fresh and new rarely pays off unless it's very carefully tiptoeing outside the line of familiarity instead of boldly hopping over it -- look at Beyond Good & Evil or Psychonauts (not to beat a dead horse, I'm not making any points that haven't been made countless times).

Edit: Ha ha, changed "hose" to "horse".

Last edited by Iritscen (12/20/08 08:12)


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#30 12/19/08 23:12

Gumby
Member
From: Seattle, WA, USA
Registered: 08/30/07

Re: Mirror's Edge

Yeah, there is just no room for games that aren't extra-superb. Which is a pity, because some of the games that aren't regarded as superb are among the best I have played. It doesn't help that it forces reviewers to be very unforgiving.


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