[casual_games] Casual/Mobile Games and RIAA, MPAA

[Ron]

The problem is, Big Brands drive creativity away.  I saw that first hand 
in the kids market and we see it in the main stream games market today. 
  These Big Brands bring with them a lot of money and recognition. 
Consumers tend to buy what they are familiar with, and that is a Big 
Brand.   Quality is not as important as you think.

Some people are happy working on games like that, I am not.  I like this 
business because I can be creative and create things.  Once Big Brands 
take over, the room for that goes way way down.

The problem I always have when companies sporting Big Brands come around 
is that they think we're going to be thrilled to use their properties. 
They fail to understand that some of us want to be creative and to 
create our own stuff.  They are often confused that we're not joyous for 
the gift from the gods.  It shows a lack of respect for me and my art. 
I am not a carpenter looking for a great floor plan to build, I am an 
architect.  That is something they never seem to realize.

My 2 cents.

Ron

Sean Ryan wrote:
> This is the second thread I've seen indicating we should "hide the
> casual games from the big boys or they'll destroy us", more or less.
> The fact is that big brands and venture capital money will enter any
> sector which has above-average returns - casual games is currently one
> of those sectors, which is why a variety of large players (NHN, EA,
> Ubisoft, NetMarble, Xbox Live, etc.) are entering or increasing
> investments in the business, and why VC's are funding casual game
> companies left and right - see PlayFirst, BigTop, Big Fish, etc.  It's
> getting more crowded, with more money, brands and higher budgets being
> thrown at it.  
> 
> To Lennard's question, if the big brands don't bring anything but
> truncated schedules and bad games, then they won't succeed, especially
> in a try before you buy world.  On the other hand, if the bulk of small
> developers keep replicating the same Match 3 game/Diner Dash clone over
> and over again aimed at the identical 35-yr old woman, then that group
> will disappear as well, or at least their economics will diminish.
> 
> Big Brands offer well-recognized and very popular icons.  Just as major
> labels control the bulk of the music business (85%) with sometimes
> dubious content, big brands will bring distribution, marketing, and
> global capabilities to the business, and they will certainly increase
> market share, even if they just produce identical games as everyone else
> - but again, if the games suck, then it won't work since our sector
> doesn't yet have a distribution problem like music retail where a few
> players control the entire business.  Smaller developers can generally
> get enough access to existing portals or sell enough units off smaller
> sites/their own home pages to make the economics work, but it doesn't
> mean that will hold forever.
> 
> As long as small developers make great games, they will generally be
> successful, but the noise ratio is going to increase a lot this year,
> whether or not we like big brands or not
> 
> Sean Ryan
> Donnerwood Media
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: casual_games-bounces at igda.org
> [mailto:casual_games-bounces at igda.org] On Behalf Of Lennard Feddersen
> Sent: Tuesday, January 24, 2006 3:07 PM
> To: IGDA Casual Games SIG Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [casual_games] Casual/Mobile Games and RIAA, MPAA
> 
> Hi John, I have a few questions.
> 
> 1.  Does the music biz. really need a different product?  They are 
> losing retail sales due to the fact that whole albums at retail are no 
> longer as compelling but doesn't digital distribution cut down on their 
> costs and inventory risk?  Has iTunes meant more or less revenue for the
> 
> oft-reported beleagured music business.
> 2.  TV is moving into the iPod model - is this not an opportunity that 
> will lead to greater revenue and ad. opps?  I wasn't paying for Lost 
> before but can imagine paying $1.49 for a missed episode which is just 
> new money for them.
> 3.  I'm curious about your background - not an attack or anything, just 
> curious where you are coming from.
> 
> As a small player in the casual space, big brands are not a welcome 
> thing.  They are going to go to the larger players who will then 
> accumulate more of the pie which will then be shared out of the space 
> with the brand holders.  Maybe it will grow the space but I'm dubious.  
> Back in the NES/SNES days, I worked on a lot of branded games and the 
> schedules were usually truncated and not accomodating to game play.
> 
> In specifics, what do you think the big brands will offer Casual Games 
> that might lead to a greater user experience than casual games currently
> 
> offer and will evolve to offer?  Where is the cross-pollination going to
> 
> ocurr that actually gets the end user a new and more compelling 
> experience.  As I write this I'm thinking about the first time I heard 
> an audio tape story (Lonesome Dove) that actually offered more than a 
> print book due to a great performance by the reader.
> 
> Lennard Feddersen
> CEO, Rusty Axe Games, Inc.
> www.RustyAxe.com
> 
> Lennard at RustyAxe.com
> P. 250-635-7623 F. 1-309-422-2466
> 3521 Dogwood, Terrace, BC, Canada, V8G-4Y7
> 
> 
> 
> 
> John Viguerie wrote:
> 
>> PREMISE:
>> The music biz needs a new digital product that can
>> command more than the .99 price of a lossy digi-rip. 
>> The tv/movie biz is scared to death that the same
>> culture of ripping and trading that has decimated the
>> RIAA will soon be visited upon the MPAA member
>> companies.
>>
>> HYPOTHESIS:
>> The casual/mobile game technology formats and business
>> models offer some compelling financial and market
>> benefits to popular music and movie brand owners.
>>
>> YOUR ROLE:
>> This is an exercise to test the current and
>> extrapolate the future relationship between
>> casual/mobile games and the traditional content
>> industry's brands & franchises...
>>
>> Read Timeline.htm and then MusicMoviesCasualGames.htm
>>
>> This is NOT ABOUT "Sponge Bob" plus "Collapse" or
>> "Li'l Jon Golf", but it SORT OF IS...  The digital
>> entertainment products of the future are hybrids of
>> image, audio, play features, interactivity and
>> branding that are NEITHER currently embodied in the
>> traditional entertainment products NOR standard casual
>> game modes.
>>
>> There are ~32,000 records released in North America
>> every year, only ~100 will be certified as 'hits'. 
>> There are about ~200 "major budget" feature length
>> movies released every year out of a total population
>> of ~700.  Adoption of the casual game format by the
>> MPAA/RIAA member companies as a key branding and
>> merchandising strategy could significantly accelerate
>> demand for 
>> - creative and technical production services from
>> casual game studios
>> - secure, robust management, distribution and
>> provisioning services from casual/mobile content
>> distribution platform providers
>>
>> I invite your replies, comments, anecdotes, examples,
>> arguments, criticisms, insults, etc. in support of or
>> against the argument.
>>
>> Evolve Entertainment Today.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> John
>> clubvig at yahoo.com
>>
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