4 ms·
Problem is the difference in the budget to bring a great game to market. It's unlikely that a tiny team can bring a great console game to market, but that happe
by _lex 13y ago
Problem is the difference in the budget to bring a great game to market. It's unlikely that a tiny team can bring a great console game to market, but that happens all the time on mobile.
But I agree - it seems to make sense to make it easier to develop games (aka simpler, cheaper, better-designed tooling that does more heavy lifting), and add an appstore.
This is Oya's approach, and the big problem with this approach is that it doesn't really invite developers with deep pockets : developers who can actually pay to 1)develop a quality product, 2) advertise their product across mainstream media - which will drive demand of your platform.
And the final problem is that it'll be way less profitable for Oya: console games are so overpriced that they subsidize the consoles themselves. But apps can't really subsidize the iPhone - they're a low-margin business.
I think the real solution is to give away both the consoles and the games, but charge a monthly subscription, and divvy it up based on engagement in games. It'll be the new cable tv: $25 for basic service (you only get access to 20% of hot games, but all regular games), and $45 for premium access to everything, with netflix and hulu plus thrown in for free.
- jiggy2011 13y agoI don't know if that's strictly true, there's a number of indie titles that have done well on console and are the work of small 1-3 man teams. Super Meat Boy, Braid and Fez are the canonical examples but there are no doubt many others. OTOH if you let any old shit onto your store then you do get a lemon market effect which seems to have happened with mobile gaming.
- _lex 13y agoThose are rare successes, but if you look at the hits on the appstore, they're much more uniformly indie.