[casual_games] RE: Business models

[Jeff Siegel]

This is a fantastic discussion. If I can put one other question to the
group, perhaps a little off the track: what DRM solutions are developers
using? Has anyone had better or worse experiences with anything in
particular?

Thanks,

Jeff
---------------------------
Jeff Siegel
JeffMedia Solutions, L.L.C.
917 842-3791
jeff.siegel at jeffmedia.com

  -----Original Message-----
  From: casual_games-bounces at igda.org
[mailto:casual_games-bounces at igda.org]On Behalf Of George Donovan
  Sent: Thursday, September 01, 2005 3:09 PM
  To: 'IGDA Casual Games SIG Mailing List'
  Subject: RE: [casual_games] RE: Business models


  One thing that I have done with the www.Toy-games.com team is to minimize
the development risk by pre-selling or selling during development certain
rights. Wireless, and Retail are the obvious starting points that usually
get me well above our development budget so that online sales become a
profit rather than a recovery.

  Having channels worldwide also helps. We were in 5 channels last year and
this year we are in 15 channels and I suspect that companies like Popcap and
Gamehouse  have 40-60. Every channel is a multiple and bonus revenue and
gives a your development team or a large high burnrate team a less riskier
forcast to project out.

  We have also curt down development timelines to 6 weeks (some card games
are 4 and original concepts are 8). Now we also have 22 retail titles under
our belt so Q&A and some GUI was already very well established and a great
asset in this business.

  George Donovan
  VP Business Development
  Infiknoweldge ULC
  (A www.Traffixinc.com Company)
  office: 506.855.2991 x111
  cell: 506.866.4585
  fax: 506.852.9510
  Check out www.Gamefiesta.com the New Game destination for all your
interactive desires.




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  From: casual_games-bounces at igda.org [mailto:casual_games-bounces at igda.org]
On Behalf Of Margaret Wallace
  Sent: Thursday, September 01, 2005 3:58 PM
  To: 'IGDA Casual Games SIG Mailing List'
  Subject: RE: [casual_games] RE: Business models


  One pervasive trend I see in the Casual Games market is that production
budgets are continuously going up and so are production cycles  --  but the
"churn rate" for the majority of casual games on portals is higher than
ever: a week or two at best.



  All of this leads me to question: At what point do you see minimizing
returns for these hefty production budgets and development cycles?



  Of course, part of the answer lies in continuously churning out hit games,
however, I worry these conditions may impede growth and innovation.



  Thoughts?





  -----Original Message-----
  From: casual_games-bounces at igda.org [mailto:casual_games-bounces at igda.org]
On Behalf Of Allen Varney
  Sent: Thursday, September 01, 2005 9:14 AM
  To: casual_games at igda.org
  Subject: [casual_games] RE: Business models



  Brent Lowrie wrote:



     (((This is the unknown that most new developers fear and having access
to this sort of information would help more new developers break out of
indie development and into commercial deals.)))



     "Break out of indie development"? This makes indie gaming sound like a
second-string, minor-league affair. I argue indie game developers are in a
far better situation, both economically and culturally, than the
increasingly beleaguered developer of retail computer games.

     For a discussion of the benighted state of retail game development, see
Greg Costikyan's article in the current issue of The Escapist magazine:



     http://www.escapistmagazine.com/issue/8/3



     And to see why I think casual-game designers are far better off in the
long run, see my article "Casual Fortunes" in the same issue:



    http://www.escapistmagazine.com/issue/8/14



  -- Allen Varney
  www.allenvarney.com
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