A shift is definitely happening, but idk if counting booths at PAX and GDC is representative.
PAX’ audience are primarily comic and board game nerds, they’re historically light on video game booths in their expo hall, usually prioritizing indie booths when they can. GDC’s audience is game developers not players, so the expo is typically a bunch of hardware and backend service companies.
PAX’ audience are primarily comic and board game nerds, they’re historically light on video game booths in their expo hall
That is entirely untrue. PAX has a specific tabletop convention (PAX Unplugged), but the main cons are very heavily video game focused. The expo hall have an indie game section, but the vast majority of the expo hall is major companies (Nintendo often has the largest booth). I have been to PAX West nearly every (I missed the first year and last year), and board games are there, but never the focus
I’m not saying they have no presence, I’m just saying PAX has not historically been a priority for AAA studios compared to things like E3 and Gamescom. On the whole, PAX is like 75% comics, tabletop/board game, and general nerd stuff, and less than 25% game studio presence. Which makes sense because Penny Arcade is a comic and they’ve always had an association with that crowd. Video games just tend to have a lot of overlap with that crowd, so it’s been worth it for studios to have a presence, some years more than others, some years more indie than AAA (ex Indie Megabooth).
Yes, I understand you think it is 75% board/tabletop/comics and, at least at PAX west, that is untrue. Nintendo literally did a mini event inside PAX two years. Larian has had a huge presence since BG3 was announced. There are esports events the whole time. Most of the panels are video game related. It may be that you don’t do the AAA stuff, but there has historically been a huge presence
Yes, I’ve attended everything you mention. I understand you think that is a large presence, but it amounted to less than 25% of the show. Larian and Nintendo were the exception, not the rule, they made up the bulk of the AAA presence.
Ive been going to pax West since 2011 and AAA absolutely had a huge presence there. It was the bulk of the show. Tabletop had a tiny section of the floor
This is a bit of a side point, but this quote seemed off base to me:
“People are paying for these games!,” he exclaimed. “This is not happening for … books.”
50 Shades of Grey was an all-human alternate-history Twilight fanfiction that was largely plagiarised.
There are also entire genres that are becoming successful for independent authors, mostly self-publishing on Kindle Unlimited like LitRPGs (basically fantasy novels with videogame-like systems) or Jane Austen variations (like Pride & Prejudice retold slightly or very differently).
I think the Long Tail of the Internet is changing a lot of industries, creative or otherwise, not just indie games.
Has this not been the state of the games industry for the most of time? Small bedroom coders get a break, build a studio, fire out some games, get bought out of grow huge. The founders move on and start a new studio, rinse, repeat. The games industry has always appeared pretty democratic in that specific regard, barrier to entry is pretty low compared to most other industries.
As for the over performance of older games, have they noticed they get cheaper and less shit than on launch?
I did pro game dev for like a decade and worked on AAA titles as an outsource, learning a lot of their tricks. I am now back in uni to learn programming and make indie games for the rest of my life.
I could be wrong here, but this feels like a larger trend of trying to consolidate profits. Cut out anything/anyone “unnecessary”. Similar to the whole AI trend.
Kickstarter is not a preorder site. The risk of Kickstarter is the same as investing in anything else, that whatever you’re funding goes belly-up and you lose what you invested
The point of that is to allow risky projects the opportunity to succeed in comfortable financial circumstances.
Risky projects are risky because there’s a potential financial loss to funding them. This is one of those times
Cases like this abuse the system to scam people while using the ToS to skirt legal implications. So it is fraud, just dressed up as a gambling.
If they put all the KS money towards the game unsure how it’s fraud. The fact that they couldn’t finish with the funding they got from KS is the risk that all KS projects come with
Again, it’s not a preorder site, there is no guarantee that someone who pledges on KS will receive anything. I’m just saying to adjust your expectations and pledgers should think about the risk when they’re putting down money
While it is fraud, it’s murky waters when you realize this is what every Kickstarter does. Gamers don’t easily fathom the full sum of what it costs to pay qualified artists for a full development cycle. Kickstarters have only existed to prove to investors that there’s monetary interest in a concept.
I mean when a small team with no budget can make a good demo that sells the idea but then can’t complete the project with years and houdreds of thousands what is going on? I backed like 8 kickstarters and only 3 made it out and 1 is saying they are about to be done after 7 years. Also one of the successful one’s shut down because of not enough post launch monetization. I’m still going to help with stuff i believe in after many failures but just not as enthusiastically.
Well, turns out people need to feed their families, keep a roof over their heads, and games are hard. 300k isn’t a lot of money to actually keep the lights on at a studio. Also keep in mind, depending on the tools you use, you could end up giving a portion of your game sales to the engine dev, then on top of that you have steam who wants a 30% cut for selling your game on their store. That’s maybe 50-55% left after all that depending on other bills and sales to fund anything after profits are left over.
I know first hand that JRPGs are a hefty projects to make, but I’m a little surprised they opted for shutting it all down and not going for Early Access to continue funding, especially as the idea seemed popular.
I can only guess that means the game is still in a pretty bad state.
From the Risks and challenges section of their Kickstarter:
We understand that backing a Kickstarter campaign carries a certain level of risk for our backers. With our seasoned team at the helm, we’ve meticulously planned every aspect of the game’s development to adhere to strict budgets and timelines, all while prioritizing the best player experience possible.
Our extensive network of trusted studios and partners further fortifies our ability to deliver on our promises and ensure the utmost quality for our project. Your support means the world to us, and we’re dedicated to going above and beyond to ensure your satisfaction throughout this journey.
Why didn’t they include the point about needing additional investment beyond their Kickstarter target for the project to be viable?
gamedeveloper.com
Najstarsze