[casual_games] Casual/Mobile Games and RIAA, MPAA

[John Viguerie]

I might have to invent these game categories myself...


--- Sean Ryan <sean at donnerwood.com> wrote:

> What's great is no one forces you to work with Big
> Brands - you can make great original content games
> and hopefully everyone will do so.  But to assume
> they won't come to the category and to assume they
> won't change the category is to avoid the inevitable
> vs trying to understand how they will work and how
> to differentiate from them.
> 
> sean
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: casual_games-bounces at igda.org on behalf of Ron
> Sent: Tue 1/24/2006 6:32 PM
> To: IGDA Casual Games SIG Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [casual_games] Casual/Mobile Games and
> RIAA, MPAA
>  
> 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
> 
=== message truncated ===>
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