3 ms·

Maybe I am being a bit naive, but I don't think many of those games in the good old days were made with the intention of making huge profits. Most of the peopl

by vparikh 12y ago

Maybe I am being a bit naive, but I don't think many of those games in the good old days were made with the intention of making huge profits. Most of the people were hobbyists who just had an itch to create the game they wanted to play - and they lucked out that a lot of other people wanted to play their game too. I think the state of the game market is good -- let the hobbyists of today create the game they want to play - and maybe it will make them a boat load of money. Or maybe they will be happy because they had their vision come true. Now the big corporations -- well they will just push whatever makes them money.

smacktoward 12y ago
> Maybe I am being a bit naive, but I don't think many of those games in the good old days were made with the intention of making huge profits. They weren't -- but the dream people had was that their games would generate enough profit that they could make a living making them. I read the post's message as being that they did, for a while, but those days have receded due to the collapse in what people are willing to pay for games. In a world where $0.99 for a game is considered expensive, it's hard to make a living making games unless you come up with some way to consistently make absolutely massive hits -- and that's a nut that nobody has ever cracked.
- k__ 12y ago
  Some devs of the community around Photonstorm/Phaser seem to make a living with games. But it seems a different story. Most of them do mobile-mini-games they sell to sponsors and game-hubs, or they do some promotion games for companies.
- wwweston 12y ago
  > but the dream people had was that their games would generate enough profit that they could make a living making them. Yep. And anyone who likes a game enough to think they'd enjoy something else the developer might make should hope the dev could make a living off it too. Otherwise, the dev will have to go back to the corporate IT salt mines, and you'll get whatever relative crumbs get produced in what we call "spare time," if that... and certainly not whatever their greatest work might have been. (Hope we're all paying for what we like!)
- marincounty 12y ago
  Yea, I will second that. I knew a bunch of young guy's in the 90's who loved playing games. One of the father's of one of the guys wanted to help out his kid and set them up in an office and set up the corporation. These guy put out sone good games, and loved their jobs. Along with not wearing ties, free food and sodas. They loved going to work. That was until EA bought the company, and shut them down. I think they each got 500k? I used to wonder why he didn't include me(we were all lost in the career market) in the company? He knew I was floundering, but I don't hold it against him--I really didn't like playing games. I still wonder why he didn't include me though. I included him in every money making thing I was in? Anyways, it's history, but don't overlook your true friends when starting a company--especially if they were always taking money/drinks/etc. from you? It hurts!

by vparikh 12y ago

smacktoward 12y ago

> Maybe I am being a bit naive, but I don't think many of those games in the good old days were made with the intention of making huge profits. They weren't -- but the dream people had was that their games would generate enough profit that they could make a living making them. I read the post's message as being that they did, for a while, but those days have receded due to the collapse in what people are willing to pay for games. In a world where $0.99 for a game is considered expensive, it's hard to make a living making games unless you come up with some way to consistently make absolutely massive hits -- and that's a nut that nobody has ever cracked.

k__ 12y ago
Some devs of the community around Photonstorm/Phaser seem to make a living with games. But it seems a different story. Most of them do mobile-mini-games they sell to sponsors and game-hubs, or they do some promotion games for companies.
wwweston 12y ago
> but the dream people had was that their games would generate enough profit that they could make a living making them. Yep. And anyone who likes a game enough to think they'd enjoy something else the developer might make should hope the dev could make a living off it too. Otherwise, the dev will have to go back to the corporate IT salt mines, and you'll get whatever relative crumbs get produced in what we call "spare time," if that... and certainly not whatever their greatest work might have been. (Hope we're all paying for what we like!)
marincounty 12y ago
Yea, I will second that. I knew a bunch of young guy's in the 90's who loved playing games. One of the father's of one of the guys wanted to help out his kid and set them up in an office and set up the corporation. These guy put out sone good games, and loved their jobs. Along with not wearing ties, free food and sodas. They loved going to work. That was until EA bought the company, and shut them down. I think they each got 500k? I used to wonder why he didn't include me(we were all lost in the career market) in the company? He knew I was floundering, but I don't hold it against him--I really didn't like playing games. I still wonder why he didn't include me though. I included him in every money making thing I was in? Anyways, it's history, but don't overlook your true friends when starting a company--especially if they were always taking money/drinks/etc. from you? It hurts!