I’ve written about my own concerns regarding content delivery and monetization in the MMO world, but I’ve largely ignored console gaming. Part of that is because I happen to work in consoles, and I can’t really talk much about what I do until after it’s released… and even then, not so much. It’s also partially because I’ve been playing MMOs more lately, trying to see what all the fuss is about.
Still, when I see an article like this one, I feel as though I should call attention to it:
Birdmen and the Casual Fallacy
It’s an insightful, if occasionally grumpy, look at Nintendo’s apparent business strategy. Anyone interested in the game industry would be well served to ingest and internalize it. Nintendo’s “Disruptive Strategy” also serves as a model to see where MMO monetization may go in the next few years. A company with humble beginnings but a well-plotted disruptive strategy, like a Puzzle Pirates or Wizard 101, is better positioned for the future than might be readily apparent.
Economic times are changing out there, and it would behoove us as designers (and even gamers) to understand why and how to make the most of the new landscape.
Why be content to ride the waves when you can be making them?
Hm. I can understand that people who bought Wii games would then go buy further Wii games when they were ready to “move upstream”, but I’m not sure that it’s a brand loyalty issue so much as it is a “well, we already have a Wii. And I can think of a lot of uses for $300…”.
Thus, I’m not sure it maps to the PC, and I’m unsure of the relevance of his rant about the 3rd-party developers on Wii – besides the fact that they’re making shovelware games trying to ride the wave.
The shovelware issue is definitely relevant, but I think the gist of the article is more about finding a “blue ocean” market segment and building from that by ramping up expectations. There’s certainly something to be said for finding a profitable niche and catering to it. The MMO market is oversaturated with $15/month monster hunts. There are actually other tastes out there.
Whoa, that was a big article, but definitely worth the read. I guess it can be summarized into the importance of understanding and creating innovation rather than copying it. That and the fact that most game companies haven’t got a clue. I don’t disagree there.
Nice find Tesh.
So true, CS. I’ve met more than my share of execs that I’d like to toss through a window. I’m pretty sure some of them wrecked one of the games that my company put together, out of sheer incompetence.
To be fair, and I should have noted this in the OP, the only reason I found this article is because Shamus linked to it here:
http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=2068
Still, it’s something that I highly recommend to those interested in games and business.