[casual_games] Top Download List

Tue Jan 17 02:04:13 EST 2006

Why does one need the distributors to create this list?  Doesn't every developer/publisher get a royalty statement from each distributor indicating how many games were sold over the preceding period?  The publishers can all agree to contribute their stats to a neutral 3rd party which will aggregrate and publish them.  The downside is that the stats will probably be a little out of date due to the delay in royalty reporting, but you should be able to track patterns pretty quickly.

Sean Ryan

-----Original Message-----
From: casual_games-bounces at igda.org on behalf of Allan Simonsen
Sent: Mon 1/16/2006 5:38 PM
To: IGDA Casual Games SIG Mailing List
Subject: Re: [casual_games] Top Download List

All of which 
a) Costs money to do.
b) Alienates our distribution partners.

A better path really is to work as a group to come up
with a solution that the distributors feel safeguards
their privacy in terms of the numbers. 

One option would be to let the IGDA Casual Games
steering commitee be in charge of aggregating and
charting that information; most of them are veterans
from well-established retail partners, so the
trust-bonds should already be present.

Similar to how we have an Editor of the Casual Games
Quarterly, we could have an editor for the Casual
Games Saleschart Monthly. The commitee would then work
with the distributors to find some person that is
trusted enough to get the raw data, and have the excel
sheets delivered to him. As James said; it's really a
trust-issue, rather than a technology one.

How do we go about kicking this off?

Allan Simonsen
Boomzap Entertainment.

--- Hal Barwood <hal at finitearts.com> wrote:

> All the reasons why we don't easily see usage and/or
> sales numbers for 
> any games (not just casual games) are pertinent. 
> Here's how some of us 
> might force the issue: huff & puff and roll out a
> big splashy site that 
> casual gamers and developers can easily look at,
> plug in some 
> partially-researched, partially gessed-at numbers,
> and insist that they 
> tell the story in the absence of anything better. 
> If and when such a 
> site gains traction, then it will behoove the
> aggrieved portals, 
> developers and publisher types to issue corrections,
> thus improving the 
> results.  Yes, those who want to keep secrets may
> start simply by 
> attacking the site's cedibility, but as attacks and
> clarifications and 
> marketing spinmeisters battle back and forth,
> eventually real numbers 
> will leak out.  Over time, we'll know what's what. 
> Let's out 'em!
> 
> Hal
> 
> 
> 
> Matthew Ford wrote:
> > I'm afraid it may be the good old inverted
> Prisoner's Dilemma dynamic: each
> > one can share their numbers and theoretically help
> themselves by helping the
> > whole industry, but if some do it truthfully and
> some do it untruthfully, or
> > not at all, that "defection" hurts the truthful
> ones. Since everyone
> > suspects others will defect, nobody makes the
> first move.
> > 
> > We discussed something similar when debating
> whether to disclose subscriber
> > numbers (or even concurrency numbers) in Asheron's
> Call 1 and 2. Unless you
> > are sure you are #1, why do it and make it more
> clear to the customers you
> > are not at #1 or close to it? Disclosing would
> help the whole industry, but
> > who wants to do it first?
> > 
> > I wish it were different but it ain't. So what
> alternatives do we have? Is
> > there even a rough way to turn the numbers we
> have-- the size of the whole
> > industry-- into individual guessestimates for
> titles given the info we do
> > know about them?
> > 
> > Which of these casual game publisher/distributors
> are public and therefore
> > might have open-enough books to help us start some
> deductions here?
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: casual_games-bounces at igda.org
> [mailto:casual_games-bounces at igda.org]
> > On Behalf Of James C. Smith
> > Sent: Tuesday, 17 January 2006 7:22 AM
> > To: 'IGDA Casual Games SIG Mailing List'
> > Subject: RE: SPAM-LOW: Re: [casual_games] Top
> Download List
> > 
> > I agree that the current state of the casual games
> industry is very
> > different than the box office and that portals
> have many publishing
> > interests.  But I don't see why that would stop
> them from wanting to promote
> > the industry in general.  As James G. pointed out,
> having a standard top
> > sellers list to quote would create numerous
> opportunities for the mass
> > market media to mention casual games.  When this
> happens, everyone in the
> > casual games industry would benefit including
> portals, publisher,
> > distributes, retailers, and developers.  Everyone
> want a bigger slice of the
> > pie, but I think everyone also want to help the
> pie get bigger even if they
> > are a publisher and a retailer at the some time.  
> > 
> > -James C. Smith
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > _______________________________________________
> > Casual_Games mailing list
> > Casual_Games at igda.org
> >
>
http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/casual_games
> > 
> > 
> 
> _______________________________________________
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> Casual_Games at igda.org
>
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> 

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