5 ms·

I wouldn't consider this a failure. Guessing that you don't want to run into legally shady territory (assuming you're in the US) and start an online gambling si

I wouldn't consider this a failure. Guessing that you don't want to run into legally shady territory (assuming you're in the US) and start an online gambling site, it's hard as hell to make money in anything related to games, especially public-domain card games. For example, I'd doubt that the designers of card games like FreeCell and Ambition ever made a cent off their inventions. I'll point this out, though: games do well when the economy tanks, so I wouldn't give it up just yet. (Monopoly was invented, in its modern form, during the Great Depression.)

mattmaroon 18y ago
You have no idea how wrong you are. There's a tremendous market for poker-related apps. It's an industry that rakes in at least hundreds of millions annually. If I told you what I made off of this sort of thing in the pre-UIGEA days (and especially before Party spun off its skins sites) you'd shit your pants. Top rakeback providers made 6 or maybe even low 7 figures per month at the pinnacle. The Poker Tracker guys have sold many thousands of copies at $50 a pop. Games in general are the only thing monetizing well right now on Facebook and MySpace platforms too, and the #1 most profitable is almost certainly Zynga's Texas Hold'em.
- time_management 18y ago
  I looked into it a little bit. You're completely right. I was wrong. I remember looking at the casual games business in 2006 and realizing that there was almost no money in it at the time, but that changed, and Texas Hold 'em is, anyway, it's own beast. I'm very surprised, though, that the Texas Hold 'em blip is still sustaining. It's a fine game, but you'd think people would get sick of playing the same game after a while, and look into something more adventurous.
  - mattmaroon 18y ago
    Well, poker has been popular for over a century. Hold'em has a lot more cachet due to having relatively (for poker) low variance, yet still enough that any clown can win. It's got faster action than anything but a craps table. It takes only a few minutes to learn and can never truly be mastered. It's still got that kinda seedy feel to it. High school kids think a top poker pro is on level with a rock star or pro athlete (I know because I was one for a while and my wife is a teacher). I think TV ratings have come down a bit, but I'm pretty sure it'll be around for a while. I wish other games like pot limit omaha and badugi were more camera friendly, as they're a lot more skill intensive.

mattmaroon 18y ago

You have no idea how wrong you are. There's a tremendous market for poker-related apps. It's an industry that rakes in at least hundreds of millions annually. If I told you what I made off of this sort of thing in the pre-UIGEA days (and especially before Party spun off its skins sites) you'd shit your pants. Top rakeback providers made 6 or maybe even low 7 figures per month at the pinnacle. The Poker Tracker guys have sold many thousands of copies at $50 a pop. Games in general are the only thing monetizing well right now on Facebook and MySpace platforms too, and the #1 most profitable is almost certainly Zynga's Texas Hold'em.

time_management 18y ago
I looked into it a little bit. You're completely right. I was wrong. I remember looking at the casual games business in 2006 and realizing that there was almost no money in it at the time, but that changed, and Texas Hold 'em is, anyway, it's own beast. I'm very surprised, though, that the Texas Hold 'em blip is still sustaining. It's a fine game, but you'd think people would get sick of playing the same game after a while, and look into something more adventurous.
- mattmaroon 18y ago
  Well, poker has been popular for over a century. Hold'em has a lot more cachet due to having relatively (for poker) low variance, yet still enough that any clown can win. It's got faster action than anything but a craps table. It takes only a few minutes to learn and can never truly be mastered. It's still got that kinda seedy feel to it. High school kids think a top poker pro is on level with a rock star or pro athlete (I know because I was one for a while and my wife is a teacher). I think TV ratings have come down a bit, but I'm pretty sure it'll be around for a while. I wish other games like pot limit omaha and badugi were more camera friendly, as they're a lot more skill intensive.