The demographics of the market are different than many people think. First of all, computer games are not just for kids any more. People my age (31) grew up with games and still love them. We also now have the cash to buy them, which was more than I can say for when I was young. Second, we have moved well beyond Pac-Man and it has become respectable to play. The Sims, Flight Simulator, the Tycoon games and Everquest have seriously changed the way society looks at games. PC Gamer ran an article on older gamers and it was filled with people over 50 who spend a lot of time on computers. A repeated comment was that Quake was a bit too fast for them, but these other, more thoughtful games were right up their alley. This market is only going to grow.
Also, the place of games in our lives has changed. This web link
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/ent...00/1752522.stm
Goes to an article stating that people in the UK now spend more money on games than on renting movies. Admittedly, they also say that consoles are where the action is, but it points to a real change in the role computers and computer games, in one form or another, play in our lives.
Grommet has a point, buying console is cheaper than getting a computer just for games. However, the number of households which already have a computer for other reasons is quite high. Adding a game to the existing computer is relatively cheap. Until consoles have full web surfing capabilities, folks who want to use the Internet and send email at home have to get a computer. For them, getting a console instead just adding games to their Internet machine doesn’t make sense. I could be wrong, but I think this is a big market. How to get the money in that market to the people who create the games is the key to ensuring good games keep coming.
Richard, where do the development teams get the cash to pay their staff? If only 1% of games in retail return money to the developer, how did the games ever get put together in the first place? I don’t know the business, but it seems to me that no matter how much you love a game, you are not going to be working long on it if you have no pay cheque. You mention development costs in the millions, and lots of the games look it, yet you say the developers don’t see any money. I have a feeling I am missing something.
Tigga, I think you have made up my mind on how I will play my Empire. You had best hope you don’t fall to us, your furry people will be cleaning our sewers with their toothbrushes while my Discipline Lords read motivational speeches over a megaphone. And get back to work, damn it!