Title: The Business of games
1The Business of games
CS281 Intro to Game Development
2GAME INdustry
3Games Big Business
?????????
- Currently bigger than Hollywood box office sales.
- Global gaming industry currently estimated to be
worth 35 Billion Dollar. - Despite economic downturn 08/09 projected to be a
record years
4Business break down
- 200 million play PC games
- 140 million play console games
- 100 million play handheld games
- An estimated 40 of people play games.
- 43 of all gamers are women
- 60 of all gamers are 25 to 44 years old
4
5Market share
6Publishers by country
7Largest publishers
8Number of people employed
9Whos playing?
- An estimated 63 of US population plays games!
- The average gamer is not an 18 year old boy
- 43 of all gamers are women
- 60 of all gamers are 25 to 44 years old
- Percentage of People that play games is still
increasing!!!
10Game evolution
11Graphics / AI / Physics
12Interaction
13Technology drives expectations
14increase in storage capacity
1994
2007
System shock 187 MB
Bio shock 6.1 GB
15Development costs rise
- 1982 Pac-Man (Atari) VCS
- 1 programmer
- 4 months
- Cost 100.000
- 7M copies at 30 each
- Cost of goods 5
- Profit 175M
- 2004, Halo 2 (Microsoft) xbox
- 190 people
- three years
- Cost US40 million.
- 8M copies at 50
- Profit 360M
16Shift towards networked games
- Increasing connectivity
- Surge in online multiplayer games
- MMOs World of Warcraft
- FPS Call of Duty, BF1942
- Attractive business models
17problems
18Rising costs
19Hit driven industry
- 500k copies to break even
- In 2004 12 games sold more than 1 million units
- 52 console games sold more than 500,000 units
- each year 800 new games
- Estimated that only 1 in 7 games makes a profit
- Top 99 of all games (3.3 of development)
accounts for more than 55 of all sales.
20How many games do you have to sell?
- The wholesale price 35.00
- Platform license fee
4.00 - Box, manual, DVD
4.00 - Shipping, support
2.00
-----------
net
profit 25.00 - AAA title.
- Average dev costs 10M
- Marketing costs 5M
- Need to sell 600k to make a profit.
21Winner takes all
1. WII PLAY W/ REMOTE Nintendo of America FEB
2007 (E) 1 5.28 million 2. WII MARIO KART W/
WHEEL Nintendo of America APR 2008 (E) 2 5.00
million 3. WII FIT W/ BALANCE BOARD Nintendo of
America MAY 2008 (E) 3 4.53 million 4. WII SUPER
SMASH BROS BRAWL Nintendo of America MAR 2008
(T) 4 4.17 million 5. 360 GRAND THEFT AUTO IV
Take 2 Interactive APR 2008 (M) 5 3.29
million 6. 360 CALL OF DUTY WORLD AT WAR
Activision Blizzard NOV 2008 (M) 6 2.75
million 7. 360 GEARS OF WAR 2 Microsoft NOV 2008
(M) 7 2.31 million 8. PS3 GRAND THEFT AUTO IV
Take 2 Interactive APR 2008 (M) 8 1.89
million 9. 360 MADDEN NFL 09 Electronic Arts AUG
2008 (E) 9 1.87 million 10. NDS MARIO KART
Nintendo of America NOV 2005 (E) 10 1.65 million
- Top 5 games 23M
- 200/300 new games a year
- Top 20 ( 10) 60 of the market
- Pareto principle (80/20)
22Consolidation
- Publishers buy successful companies
- Bad companies go out of business
- Spread Risk
- Only publishers have the scale to develop
multiple projects
23Decline in innovation
- What-has-been-sold-before-will-sell-again
- copy cat products
- expansions / sequels
24Top 10 best sold games 2006
- Madden NFL 07 (ps2)
- Kingdom of Hearts 2 (ps2)
- New Super Mario Bros. (DS)
- Tom Clancys Ghost Recon (360)
- GTA Liberty City Stories (ps2)
- NCAA Football 07 (ps2)
- Madden NFL 07 (360)
- Brain Age (DS)
- Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion (360)
- Fight Night Round 3
- Source Forbes magazine
the only new IP
25schedule slips
spore
duke nukem forever
- Only 1 in 10 games is developed on time
- hard deadlines
26high turnover
- 75 have less than 8 years experience.
- Crunch time / burn outs / 100 hour work weeks
- Salaries in the game industry lower than in any
other CS industry.
27Is there any hope?
28Indie games
- 1-3 people working on a game (full / part-time)
- Dev time
- Sell for about 5 - 20
- New innovative ways of playing
- Self distribute or Steam/ Xbox live arcade
- Sell by word of mouth
- Good way to get in the game industry
29Casual games
- 2008 - 1 billion
- 2010 - 80 million players
- 60 are female
- 2 billion mobile phones
- 100 million iPods 10M iPhones
- Investments small / profits large
30Steps to play an FPS
- Game provides feedback enemies/ gunfire/ sound
- Player decides what in-game response to provide
- (a) Do nothing.
- (b) Move or reorient his/her character.
- (c) Fire his/her gun.
- (d) Change the weapon.
- (e) Change the camera viewpoint.
- (f) Reload, pause, or save the game.
- The player must physically issue the chosen
action(s) through a physical device. - The internal state of the game may change and new
feedback may be provided
31Educational / Serious games
- Market is huge and not explored.
- Educational games sell better than violent
games. - Not necessarily very Graphic intense
32How do YOU get into the games industry?
- start small but think big
- Create indie/casual games while you study.
- Build a portfolio
- Come up with unique new concepts.
- Find your market / niche.
- Identify your weaknesses / strengths
- People do make a living of indie / casual games!
33Independent Games Festival
- http//www.igf.com/02finalists.html
- Deadline IGF 2010 October 2009