Bio: Manager and Principal of Fuzbi, a consulting firm focused on the business and design of online video games, and research affiliate of the MIT Comparative Media Studies Program.
A Japanese economic website estimates that the Wii costs just $158 to produce. (I’m not aware of a fully-translated version of this article, sorry.)
Burger King’s advergames have sold 2M copies. Given that they’re being sold for $4, that’s a pretty big win. Assuming a reasonable development cost, Burger King is advertising for free or even advertising at a profit. :-)
Funny, I read ’boutique’ as ‘niche’. (Low budget may be a fact of life given the volume of a niche, but not necesarily).
This topic always results in muddled language. They clearly wanted to talk about ‘niche’, but they mentioned low-budget MMOGs that have audiences rivaling WoW. AT that point, we’re not talking about niche anymore. (Let’s avoid the religious discussion about whether WoW itself is ‘niche’ or not…)
Hate to say it Dave, but that’s a PRC website, not Japanese. =p
Language aside, the tip off is the “.cn”
I leave the intelligent comments to those on vacation. ^_^
Comment by Nick Hunter — December 22, 2006 @ 3:03 am> Hate to say it Dave, but that’s a PRC website, not Japanese
Meh; the newsletter I pulled that from called it Japanese. Maybe it quotes a Japanese website or magazine? Engadget mentions a Japanese source, too.
Comment by David J Edery — December 22, 2006 @ 3:41 pmFunny, I read ’boutique’ as ‘niche’. (Low budget may be a fact of life given the volume of a niche, but not necesarily).
Comment by Kim — December 22, 2006 @ 9:21 pmThis topic always results in muddled language. They clearly wanted to talk about ‘niche’, but they mentioned low-budget MMOGs that have audiences rivaling WoW. AT that point, we’re not talking about niche anymore. (Let’s avoid the religious discussion about whether WoW itself is ‘niche’ or not…)
Comment by David J Edery — December 22, 2006 @ 10:08 pmPS. Aren’t you happy? I changed the spam-preventer just for you. ;)
Comment by David J Edery — December 22, 2006 @ 10:08 pmI’m happy, Dave!
Comment by breath — December 23, 2006 @ 2:45 pmThanks :)
Comment by David J Edery — December 23, 2006 @ 5:10 pm