3 ms·

I fully agree with this, although I'm more pessimistic: I don't believe that we can force our way out of this. It might work, for a while, for small teams that

by fhd2 13y ago

I fully agree with this, although I'm more pessimistic: I don't believe that we can force our way out of this. It might work, for a while, for small teams that already have a community and sufficient loyal customers. (I'll specifically talk about games, for which this is in my opinion most severe.) Developers have jumped right into a downwards spiral: Everyone really just tries to make money - when all else fails by being cheaper then the competition. That's rather natural and happens on all markets. However, games do not have any intrinsic value, so they can go all the way down to 0. At some point, games won't have any value left in the eyes of consumers - something we're awfully close to. But the bills still need paying. So customers are increasingly being tricked into spending money ("free to play", "micro transactions" etc). As someone who makes and enjoys games, this makes me sad. Unless we manage to revert that spiral, making a living from games will soon mean to build some kind of more-addictive-than-pleasant things more akin to market places and chat platforms than games. And as a gamer, I don't want to touch these things. I don't want to whine, I want to see the positive side. I just can't find it lately.

dylangs1030 13y ago
The race to the bottom is everywhere, but you're right in that it's most apparent in games. As always, developers are not necessarily savvy in business. Common sense suggests that undercutting competition with lowered prices will drive market share upwards, eventually beating them out. This is a desperation move, and one that only ever works in the short term, if it does at all. The truth is the race to the bottom exists because this kind of tactic is deployed by everyone in response to everyone else. But it will only work as a calculated move that crunches the numbers to find a sweet spot. Reducing your game from $5 to $1 might get a lot more customers, but you'll need to increase your user base fivefold just to match your previous revenue. That's not realistic in most cases. It's the same logic that people without a real edge mistakenly employ when they say they'll disrupt an industry by taking something really valuable and making it both better and free. It's not sustainable, but everyone does it.
- fhd2 13y ago
  Yes, this behaviour is certainly not limited to games. However, other software makers seem to cope by moving to SaaS and ads somewhat successfully. Ads in games haven't really proven themselves, and I'd personally hate it.
jiggy2011 13y ago
I think this explains why Microsoft is not encouraging towards indie developers for their new console. By adding barriers to entry they are increasing the value of each game by firstly adding scarcity and secondly reducing the lemon market effect by implementing strict quality controls so that gamers don't have to worry about forking over $50 for a barely functional product.

by fhd2 13y ago

dylangs1030 13y ago

The race to the bottom is everywhere, but you're right in that it's most apparent in games. As always, developers are not necessarily savvy in business. Common sense suggests that undercutting competition with lowered prices will drive market share upwards, eventually beating them out. This is a desperation move, and one that only ever works in the short term, if it does at all. The truth is the race to the bottom exists because this kind of tactic is deployed by everyone in response to everyone else. But it will only work as a calculated move that crunches the numbers to find a sweet spot. Reducing your game from $5 to $1 might get a lot more customers, but you'll need to increase your user base fivefold just to match your previous revenue. That's not realistic in most cases. It's the same logic that people without a real edge mistakenly employ when they say they'll disrupt an industry by taking something really valuable and making it both better and free. It's not sustainable, but everyone does it.

fhd2 13y ago
Yes, this behaviour is certainly not limited to games. However, other software makers seem to cope by moving to SaaS and ads somewhat successfully. Ads in games haven't really proven themselves, and I'd personally hate it.

jiggy2011 13y ago

I think this explains why Microsoft is not encouraging towards indie developers for their new console. By adding barriers to entry they are increasing the value of each game by firstly adding scarcity and secondly reducing the lemon market effect by implementing strict quality controls so that gamers don't have to worry about forking over $50 for a barely functional product.