Comments on: Articles of Interest http://www.edery.org/2006/11/articles-of-interest-64/ For those interested in the business of making great video games. Entrepreneurial spirit a must. Wed, 08 Feb 2012 08:07:36 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: breath http://www.edery.org/2006/11/articles-of-interest-64/comment-page-1/#comment-27150 breath Thu, 16 Nov 2006 06:10:23 +0000 http://www.edery.org/2006/11/articles-of-interest-64/#comment-27150 For Dave: EA is pissing pretty enthusiastically in the cornflakes of microtransactions. It could not be more clear that they would have made and distributed a lot of their microcontent for free in the "good old days". Some of these things they are *currently* distributing for free on other platforms, simply because those platforms don't have a microtransactions system to milk money out of. EA risks poisoning the entire concept of microtransactions for the rest of the industry. Actions speak louder than words, so the only way the other players in the industry can counter the EA curse is to provide valuable microcontent themselves, reliably and at a high value to the consumer. For jon: I doubt the two buying options worked out very well for the console makers. I suppose history will have to bear this out, but my perception is that people saw right through lower-priced console as a cheap ploy to get away with a higher price on the full package. The additional unit is decried as being 'confusing', and criticism is heaped on the highest price. Consoles aren't games, so the math might work out differently in that arena, but the prospects aren't good. For Dave: EA is pissing pretty enthusiastically in the cornflakes of microtransactions. It could not be more clear that they would have made and distributed a lot of their microcontent for free in the “good old days”. Some of these things they are *currently* distributing for free on other platforms, simply because those platforms don’t have a microtransactions system to milk money out of. EA risks poisoning the entire concept of microtransactions for the rest of the industry. Actions speak louder than words, so the only way the other players in the industry can counter the EA curse is to provide valuable microcontent themselves, reliably and at a high value to the consumer.

For jon: I doubt the two buying options worked out very well for the console makers. I suppose history will have to bear this out, but my perception is that people saw right through lower-priced console as a cheap ploy to get away with a higher price on the full package. The additional unit is decried as being ‘confusing’, and criticism is heaped on the highest price. Consoles aren’t games, so the math might work out differently in that arena, but the prospects aren’t good.

]]> By: jon http://www.edery.org/2006/11/articles-of-interest-64/comment-page-1/#comment-25335 jon Sat, 04 Nov 2006 22:27:28 +0000 http://www.edery.org/2006/11/articles-of-interest-64/#comment-25335 I think it's ironic how the same people who complain about a lack of innovation in the games industry at the same time seem to be the most resistant to new business models that might enable the innovation that they want so much. To make this stuff more acceptable, maybe the same thing could be done that they did with the consoles - have 2 buying options, a more expensive version that has everything in it ($90), and a cheaper version where you just buy the stuff that you want. Faced with this choice, most people would go for the cheap/customize track, and eventually that would be the only version sold. I think that showing consumers that they're getting a discount on what they would otherwise have to pay will be a big part of this. I think it’s ironic how the same people who complain about a lack of innovation in the games industry at the same time seem to be the most resistant to new business models that might enable the innovation that they want so much.

To make this stuff more acceptable, maybe the same thing could be done that they did with the consoles – have 2 buying options, a more expensive version that has everything in it ($90), and a cheaper version where you just buy the stuff that you want. Faced with this choice, most people would go for the cheap/customize track, and eventually that would be the only version sold. I think that showing consumers that they’re getting a discount on what they would otherwise have to pay will be a big part of this.

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