I'll make clear right away that I do not and cannot follow all facets of the game industry, and two segments that I barely pay attention to are hand-helds and cell phones. That said, I do have a few comments on the first big-market device to slam these these two segments together, resulting in a Frankenstein-like device that absolutely fails in both areas it tried to combine: Of course, I'm talking about the N-Gage, by Nokia.
Many of my comments deal with branding and positioning theory, so you'll just need to bear with me as I prattle on about stuff that may bore a lot of people, but, hey, it's what I do! Also, keep in mind that while a great many other developers have expressed to me similar befuddlement about the N-Gage's many blunders, most will not say so in public. It's a dangerous game slapping the hand that one day might feed you.
o Nokia is the wrong company to make portable gaming devices.
Nokia needs to ask themselves, "What does our brand mean to customers?"
Often, companies run into big problems when they answer this question in a different way than their customers do. I'm certain the average Nokia customer thinks of Nokia as a leader in the cell phone market. And that's about it. In a nutshell, Nokia means cell phones to consumers. So, when Nokia jumps into the games market, it doesn't make sense to people. It doesn't ring true. People naturally ask themselves, "What the heck does Nokia know about games and game platforms?!" Oh sure, Nokia has simplistic little cell phone games on their phones already, but those are seen as a side feature. Every cell phone has these games. And these minor games do not negatively impact the meaning of a company's brand.
So, when Nokia last year released a dedicated portable gaming device, consumers subconsciously realized it was a mismatch for the Nokia brand. It's a positioning blunder, pure and simple. In fact, it can damage their brand by giving it a split personality.
Some 60 - 70 years ago, for example, everyone thought of Heinz as the king of pickles. In fact, 57 juicy varieties. Heinz ruled the pickle category. No one else was close. Then Heinz management heard about a new upstart category that had good potential for growth. Hey, we're a big, wealthy company, thought Heinz, let's take over a second category. And boy did they. They went after the ketchup market like a force of nature, advertising for years that Heinz made the best ketchup, eventually crushing all comers in this red-sauced category. They had done their job well, no doubt about it. By the time they won the ketchup category, the average person on the street thought of Heinz first and foremost when they thought of ketchup. Unlike waiting for Heinz's slow pouring ketchup, management did not anticipate what happened next...
In their fervor of red, Heinz lost green. Pickle green. No one thought about Heinz as a pickle brand anymore -- Heinz clearly meant ketchup. This is one of the very rare times in corporate history that a brand so thoroughly and successfully changed identities. Usually, when a brand tries to change, it fails in both categories -- witness this happening with Kodak right now, as it tries to change from a film brand to a digital image brand. Ain't gonna happen, if history is any indication. The end of the Heinz story is still happy, though. They still rule in ketchup, but they've gone sour in pickles, overtaken by better focused (single meaning) brands, like Vlasic, Mt. Olive and Claussen.
The lesson Nokia should learn is that when you give a brand two meanings, you place a high risk on devaluing the brand's value in both categories. You create a weaker brand. Is this really what Nokia wants to see happen with their brand?! You can bet that many of Nokia's competitors are giggling with glee to see Nokia distract themselves away from their core cell phone market, because when the leader gets distracted, it gives the guys lower on the ladder a chance to climb over top of them.
What Nokia has overlooked is that they're only successful within a well defined market, and they'd be better off staying 100% focused on it, maintaining their precious lead. But, only the smartest, best-run companies can resist the of-so-tempting urge to expand into new product categories that are outside their perceived area of expertise.
Is the cell phone market too small for Nokia? Do they believe that branching into other markets is the only way to grow revenues? Is growth in cell phones coming to an end? Gimme a break.
o N-Gage is a tricked up brand name.
This point is rather self-explanatory. What if Microsoft called themselves Micro-Soft? Oh wait, they once did! Smart of them to drop that silly hyphen. What if Xerox called themselves X-rocs? Pretty lame, eh. Well, N-Gage is no less lame. Bottom-line, if you want to establish a new brand, use a name that's easy to say, and easy to write correctly. I've seen N-Gage as Ngage, N-gage, NGage, n-Gage, N-Game, iN-Gage, eNGage and a few other ways. If they liked the sound of "engage," then use "Engage" as the name. Keep it simple, otherwise expect people to screw it up at every chance. Wal*Mart is about the only top brand I know of with a tricked up name (and I too often see it as Wal-Mart, or Walmart, or several other derivations). Most brands that started out messy, like Micro-Soft's, eventually became de-tricked as smarter people within the company figured out that simplicity rules.
o Nokia does not know how to speak to gamers.
First and foremost, it's inherently difficult to advertise a product that is poorly positioned, like the N-Gage. But, Nokia's marketing for the N-Gage truly shows that they do not understand what the gamer cares about. I'm not the only one with this opinion -- I've heard it from a good many other developers in this industry, who agree with me in thinking that all of those two-page advertisements for the N-Gage were ineffective, unappealing, and failed to deliver a convincing message to get people to buy one of these devices. Their ads typically showed a scene with no people, such as a locker room, or a wet street, with a tagline like, "This is where I spun out of control." Okay, and why is that inherently interesting to me as a game player? What sets the N-Gage apart from the GBA? Why should I care? Grade F on the ads.
o Nokia lacks the know-how and experience to design a decent game device.
This is one of the least important problems, because no matter how well the N-Gage could have been designed, it was still a positioning mismatch for the Nokia brand, and therefore it's naturally hard for people to trust them to make a product that's outside their area of expertise. Would people buy a Nokia DVD player? Or a Nokia computer? But you quickly counter, "Scott, cell phone are hand-held devices and so are portable game systems." True, but would it therefore make sense for the Nokia to also get into PDA's, and portable GPS devices -- both of which can use wireless technology like a cell phone.
Likewise, why don't the PDA and Pocket PC companies, like Palm, come out with a dedicated portable gaming device? It makes just as much sense for them, no? And what about the other cell phone companies, like Samsung, Motorola, Ericsson, Sanyo, Qualcomm -- if Nokia thinks they can do it, why not their competitors? Or, do their competitors have a better grasp of their brand's limits. Again, a smart company knows its boundaries, and rather than stretching beyond them, they instead focus on winning the war within their stronghold. Nokia stepped outside its boundary, and sales show that Nokia got slaughtered.
But, more to the point, the N-Gage is a design flop. EA president and COO John Riccitiello recently slammed the N-Gage, saying, "When I picked that thing up I knew it was a dog -- it just feels stupid." He pretty much sums it up. As a cell phone you hold it like a taco, and as a gaming device the screen is oriented wrong, and the game card can only be changed after you go through the inconceivable hassle of removing the N-Gage's battery. Yeesh!
o Should Nokia try to rescue the N-Gage?
Bottom-line: They shouldn't. It's a positioning mistake for the Nokia brand, and a dead-end distraction for Nokia management. But, we all know that Nokia will try to save face and at least give the Nokia another try. Here's what they should do:
-- Fix the design. This is a no-brainer. Screen orientation should be landscape, like the GBA's. Allow players to change game cards without dissecting the device. Re-orient the phone's ear-piece and microphone so that you don't look like an utter idiot talking into the device.
-- Ditch the N-Gage name. It has no value. In fact, it has negative value. To most game players, the name N-Gage is a warning to stay away ...far away. Best to start over with a new name and a clean slate. Admit that the N-Gage was a mistake, and introduce a newly named device. Will Nokia do this? Not a chance -- they'll stick with the sullied N-Gage name because to change names is like admitting failure, and companies with egos hate to admit failure.
-- They need a revolutionary game that's not already available on the PC or on another platform. Getting games that are better played on stronger platforms is a weak strategy for any platform. The also need a game that truly exploits the Bluetooth and/or wireless advantage of the device. Otherwise, they'll never have a compelling reason for someone to buy their more expensive device over the GBA or coming Sony PSP. (The fact that Nokia has combined a cell phone with a portable game device adds very little value to most people. If the games aren't compelling, NO ONE cares that this device doubles as a phone. No one.)
-- Nokia needs to create a separate company to handle the N-Gage. The "Nokia" name should never be associated with this device, much like the Toyota name is not associated with Lexus. Don't agree? Neither did all-powerful IBM when it came out with the revolutionary IBM PC. IBM had very bright people who developed the PC. But the IBM PC team was saddled with the crushing weight of IBM's slow-to-react management structure, and the fact that IBM management saw the PC group as a side line (add-ons to their mainframes and mini's), rather than a potential gold mine unto itself. It didn't take long for fast-acting competitors to out-pace, out-price, and out-brand the IBM PC. Had IBM's PC had it's own company (funded/owned by IBM in the beginning), then things could have been different -- at least this new company, with it's own separately branded image, would have had a fighting chance. Nokia can learn from this example.
But, the bottom-line is they won't. Therefore, my advice for Nokia is to disengage completely from the game market and remain focused on their core business. The N-Gage is a money pit. It has cost them $100 million plus so far and they have zip to show for it. Why throw good money after bad?
UPDATE (March 4, '04):
Nokia has tried before to expand the reach of its brand. Back in the late 80's they bought a failed computer division from Ericsson (whom previously purchased Datasaab, a computer maker at the time). So, after Ericsson figured out that they couldn't jump into the exploding computer market, Nokia thought they'd give it a go by creating a new division, Nokia Data. Three years later they realized their mistake and I think ended up selling their computer division to someone else, but either way they wisely got out of computers.
Actually, this move was the start of Nokia's critical turning point and rise to dominance. Nokia's management sold off most of its many side businesses and shifted nearly all focus to the cell phone market. By 1995 or so, over 90% of Nokia's business came from cell phone, and they had shed their conglomerate identity problem. What's neat is that by shedding all of these side businesses, they became a LOT more successful -- the lesson is that it's better to be the big fish in one pond than have small, easily eaten fish in many ponds.
Nokia basically shot to the top because they remade their brand to mean one single thing: cell phones. And by the time most of the world heard about Nokia, it was a cell phone company, and so it started off with the proper branding image.
Think about this...
What's a Nokia? (Most people will quickly answer "a cell phone" or "a cell phone company.")
However, how will people answer the same question about Nokia's competitors:
What's a Motorola?
What's a Sanyo?
What's a Samsung?
What's a Handspring?
What's a Panasonic?
What's a Kyocera?
What's a Siemens?
What's a Mitsubishi?
Nokia's wins because most of their competitors have brands that lack a laser-focused meaning. And since consumers innately trust a specialist over a generalist, when it comes to cell phone people naturally believe Nokia makes the better cell phone because they are a specialist.
This is why Nokia's N-Gage is damaging their brand, by painting it as a game platform maker. They're lucky that they're failing, because the more success they achieve, the weaker they become in the cell phone market (because they become more and more unfocused and meaningless, brand-wise, like their competitors above).
The two brands that seem to be well focused in Nokia's market are Nextel and Ericsson. These are the two biggest reasons Nokia needs to keep its eye on the cell phone market and not let itself get distracted down dead-end side alleys.
The way I see it, there are three big slices of the big "portable computing" pie: cell phone, (serious) portable gaming, and PDA. So far, any convergence of two or more such functions are failing miserably. Yes, you get those cheesy mini-games and a day planner on many cell phones, but they are thrown in for garnish.
The ultimate reason why I think cell phone + PDA combo has not worked so far is user interface. So far, no device can do both very nicely. Well, without you looking like a dork trying to use it anyway. But the SmartPhone based cell phones with touch-screen has a good chance, if Microsoft can shred the image of its OS being flaky. The phone aspect (most importantly, the familiar 12-key number pad) must be emphasized. You don't realize how much you've grown accustom to a real phone keypad until you've tried using a digitized one, even if it's touch-screen.
Likewise, the combination of cell phone + portable gaming must focus on the cell phone aspect. If a device is a cell phone and happens to be able to play GBA? I'd probably buy it in a heartbeat. But an add-on which allows you to use your GBA as a cell phone? Well, does anyone remember the sticker picture printer for GameBoy? How many people actually bought one?
In short, any device with cell phone capabilities should make it the first priority. Period.
I think PDA + serious gaming never mixed is identity crisis. There are many games available for Palm and PocketPC, and the new generation of 400MHz ARM-powered PDA are powerful enough for serious games. But the image of PDA being a productive tool and a GBA being the exact opposite are all but engraved in our minds. Anything marketing trying to weave productivity and fun together won't work.
If Microsoft decide to jump into the portable gaming foray (a possibility, especially if PSP well-received), in all likelihoods their portable gaming device will be based on PocketPC, and their marketing team can say, "Hey, look! We've got a new portable X-Box and a great lineup for it!" The fact it has day planner and address book built-in, if it does, will be swapped aside, much like the DVD player function in X-Box.
BTW, my snow tires are made by Nokia. ;)
Posted by: Cindy Wong | Wednesday, March 10, 2004 at 02:32 PM
"NO ONE cares that this device doubles as a phone."
Everyone I know who owns an N-Gage has one because it is a phone... and that's the reason why I own one and not a GBA... I kind of needed a new phone and with 3-D gaming thrown in it sounded like a great idea, and I haven't regretted buying it! N-Gage doesn't appeal to hardcore gamers, sadly this is how it has been advetised, it appeals to people who like games, phones and PDAs, but not enough to spend a few hundred pounds on just one.
"N-Gage is a tricked up brand name."
I disagree... Though being easy to mispell with that hyphen, engage is an easy to say, relevant and memorable word.. so maybe naming it nGage would have been a better move. Personally, I think XBox is an awful name for a system, but I still like it as a system and definitely prefer it to PlayStation or GameCube.
N-Gage still has a lot going for it - Online play with live online play coming very soon, taking advantage of it's phone abilities. Some exclusive titles which look and sound great. It has a small but sturdy fan-base on which to build, and from where I come from Nokia is a much cooler brand than Sony or Nintendo.
If it was just another GameBoy (Another terrible name, but we've come to not notice), without it's phone/PDA abilities, there would absolutely be no point in getting it and it would have no unique advantages that you couldn't expect in a PSP or the next Game Boy.
Posted by: I AM JOBE | Thursday, March 11, 2004 at 10:02 AM
I heard that Ngage 2 is coming from http://www.ngagegaming.com also
Posted by: Dave | Thursday, March 11, 2004 at 10:06 PM
David, I agree with almost everything you're saying. I think there is WAY too much theory conjecture involved here. The N-Gage failed because it is a bad gaming device, and if possible, an even worse cell phone. That has to be the clunkiest garbage to fit in your pocket and hold up to your ear.
Branding had nothing to do with anything. You can say N-Gage and XBox, or Nokia N-Gage and Microsoft XBox. It just depends how much like a commercial you like to sound. Sure Nokia making a game device caused some murmurs. So did Sony making a console. A lot of people thought Sony would never be successful.
"When a North American thinks of a wireless handset .... In Europe, you buy a wireless handset and you expect it to have good SMS capabilities in addition to the standard voice capabilities along with a few technical perks such as a speakerphone. The ability to switch carriers along with calling plans whenever you want is assumed as is keeping your phone number. A European consumer also wouldn't find it strange to toss that same handset out in 8 months to buy another better one."
Surely a couple years ago Americans weren't looking for this stuff, but today the average phone in America supports all this stuff. Well, 12 month contracts tend to discourage getting a new phone within a year, but that's it. All the perks you go on to list for Asian market phones are pretty standard in above-average American phones too. My Motorola cost me $100 and has every feature you listed. Maybe the US still keeps a lot of lower end phones around for budget consumers compared to other countries?
Anyway, Scott, cell phones are not the future. They're the present. In the future we'll all have portable devices that act as phones, PDAs, GPS, connected gaming, hard disk storage, even interface devices (think coke machines but on a grander scale) all wrapped up in one. That's what 'mobile communications' is really about. And any cell phone company would be foolish to not be forward-thinking and just focus on phones with perks. Sure, it will take people time to adjust to the attitude that Nokia isn't just a cell phone company, but you can't fault them for trying to change consumers' perceptions.
Posted by: | Friday, March 12, 2004 at 04:20 AM
uh... Word.
Posted by: Brant Bassart | Friday, March 12, 2004 at 04:23 AM
Hey, unnamed, you are quoting a number of features which you think are part of the future, but they sound like old history
>>In the future we'll all have portable devices that act as phones<<
So why not call it phones then? Smartphones, handphones..etc.
>>PDAs<<
The PDA is a thing of the past.
>>GPS<<
Already in some phones and PDAs, hence *present*.
>>connected gaming<<
Like Ngage II or Ngage III ?
>>hard disk storage<<
You must be joking! Hard disc? With all these CF, MMC, SD cards, hard discs are completely stoneage.
>>all wrapped up in one.<<
This is present time. Check out Nokia 9500 and Nokia 7700 and Sony Ericson P900.
>>That's what 'mobile communications' is really about.<<
No I think it is much more than that. The Nokia 7700 is already eclipsing what you are saying because of all its media features.
cheers
Martin
Posted by: Martin M | Friday, March 12, 2004 at 08:45 AM
Scott,
Your bombastic tone does not match your analytical skills.
You wholly, and naively, miss the point.
The N-Gage is a DEFENSIVE product, NOT an OFFENSIVE product.
The N-Gage is there to stop offensive attacks from competitors such as Nintendo, Sony Ericsson, Microsoft etc.
The N-Gage is designed to plug a hole in the Nokia portfolio and to stop competitive attacks.
The number of devices sold is irrelevant.
The N-Gage exists to drive Nokia further up the experience curve.
The N-Gage has plugged a strategic gap.
As any High-School economics student will tell you, every product launch has objectives.
The objectives of the N-Gage are to stop, or diminish the threat of, competitive attacks in the emerging mobile-gaming-plus-phone segment.
The N-Gage has fulfilled, nay, exceeded, those expectations.
Job done.
Finally, I would add that the N-Gage accounts for about 1% of Nokia's total global sales.
So, not only are you strategically mistaken about the N-Gage, you are numerically mistaken, too.
Please don't let hotheaded-gamer emotion get in the way of cool-headed intelligence.
Regards,
Anon.
Posted by: Anon | Friday, March 12, 2004 at 03:17 PM
Martin, that last unnamed post was mine, hence the followup post.
All those technologies surely exist in some form or another today. I'm not claiming to be inventing these things. I'm just saying that in the future almost everybody will have all-purpose mobile devices that can handle any number of useful, everyday tasks. These handhelds will be much more than 'cell phones with perks', and that is why Nokia's emphasis isn't on phones, but communications.
Posted by: Brant Bassart | Friday, March 12, 2004 at 04:07 PM
I think it's hillarious that people hate the N-Gage so much they seem compelled to spend hours discussing it in detail. I have no such hang-up,
my N-Gage keeps me entertained through many boring situations with videos,mp3s,internet,radio and oh yeah the games, online and otherwise. I guess some just don't get it. What else is a grown man going to carry with him everywhere he goes but a cellphone? I can't see myself taking a gameboy to work.
Posted by: Victor Vedit | Saturday, March 13, 2004 at 07:12 PM
I do..
Posted by: Collo | Sunday, March 14, 2004 at 10:30 AM
The n-gage is the best cell phone/game/a lot of other things Ive ever owned anyone who says its bad doesnt know how to use it!
Posted by: Jon | Monday, March 15, 2004 at 06:47 PM
Victor, not to be a downer or anything, if you like your N-Gage then thats perfect, and its money well spent.
But I cant honestly see myself talking on an uncomfortable taco, that looks like a very gimmicked teenagers toy.
I also can see myself bringing a Gameboy SP to any job, its low profile, and compact. and most people who know what it is, own one as well, heck you might even find someone to link and play mario kart with.
just my thoughts.
-n
Posted by: Nathan Peterson | Tuesday, March 16, 2004 at 09:14 AM
I think the genuine problem here (highlighted by most comments above) is that the N-Gage has simply been spectacularly mis-marketed. I've no idea how good my N-Gage really is as a games console because I don't use it as one (occassional Tetris playing notably excepted ;) and haven't used competitors such as the GBA.
What the N-Gage is, is a terrific smartphone/entertainment centre: With a 128MB MMC card it makes a good replacement for carrying a music player (you also have the radio), it wirelessly and quickly synchronizes my diary and contacts with Outlook (letting you edit these on the move), has a built-in IMAP e-mail client and a web browser. In short, it very capably replaces 3 devices I would otherwise want to carry around (phone, PDA, music player), plus giving me a few extras, in one pocketable package - exactly what a convergence device *should* do.
Whilst it is true that the device has faults (128MB MMC card limit, 'sidetalking') I simply couldn't find another device that did what I wanted so well. Incidentally, if you always carry the music headphones with the unit, 'sidetalking' ceases to be an issue since these double as a phone headset (a bluetooth headset and the unit's speakerphone capability complete the picture).
Posted by: Chris | Wednesday, March 17, 2004 at 10:39 AM
-- "N-Gage has simply been spectacularly mis-marketed."
And this is merely a symptom of the fact that Nokia has stepped outside its area of expertise.
This might be okay for a company that's well behind the leader in its market, and needs to try to lead in a new category. But for Nokia, they'd be much smarter to stay focused on the category they currently lead in. It's very rare for any company to be a category leader, and when you're in that fortunate position, time, money and effort are better spent on maintaining that leadership position. The reason is simple: Being a category leader is THE MOST POWERFUL REASON people buy your product.
For example, people do not buy Coke because it tastes better -- it's been proven in numerous blind taste tests to be less desired than Pepsi. Yet, in non-blind taste tests, Coke wins every time. People prefer leaders. It's that simple.
One of the latest Coke vs. Pepsi taste tests:
http://www.brandchannel.com/start1.asp?fa_id=201
Posted by: Scott Miller | Wednesday, March 17, 2004 at 11:22 AM
Mr Peterson I am sorry you see the N-Gage as a toy. Are you aware of its features? It plays movies for gosh sake not to mention the mp3 player and all the third party software. With T-Mobiles unlimited internet (not wap) service and the netfront browser it's like taking a fully functional pc everywhere I go and memory is a snap with the new gigabyte mmc cards. I can check and send email, do anything on any site, even buy stuff online with as much security as at home (if not more). I just wish you would give the thing another chance. You don't have to hold it like a taco to talk it comes with a speakerphone and stereo headphones. And the bluetooth multiplayer games are a real kick too. Oh yeah with the new gameboy roms out I can even play your gameboy and advance games too what more could you possibly want in a Cell Phone.
Posted by: Victor | Friday, April 02, 2004 at 10:29 PM
Yeah , I own the N-gage myself , I have to admit the name is pretty crappy , and most fo the games suck too
but the MP3 player and the movie viewer and all the other cool features are just fantastic
I pruchased the N-gage to play games - listen to music and to watch movies and im not dissapointed
Posted by: Kevin | Monday, May 10, 2004 at 10:31 AM
You have some valid points about a company having split a personality, and that thus leads to failure. Therefore, I just want to let you know that Im a 17 year guy that enjoys video games. I got accepted into this college in Pittsburgh (The Art Institute) but I decided not to go because, in my major (game art and design) consists of alot of drawing. Im not one of those game nerds that just do nothing except play, and worship Sony. My respect level for games is through the roof, but I wanted to know if you knew how to get in the gaming world. You already know my weakness is drawing. However, I have unbelievable concepts and ideas for video games that would dazzle anybody. Yet, my problem is how do I bring my ideas to life? If you anything/anyone/ or can just give your honest advice I'd appreciate it. Thank You.
Posted by: Lyrix | Monday, June 14, 2004 at 11:34 AM
Good luck with your journey Lyrix.
From what I've seen, people don't just go in and become "designers" in the industry (which if I read correctly is what you want). You cannot just come in with your ideas and have the whole team entrust its next project to it. Usually, people becoming the designers start in QA, or as a junior level designer (building the world) or scripting designer (creating events in the world, usually requires at least basic programming skills). I don't think all the good designers are good artists; a lot of them (especially the early ones) were programmers first.
That's about all I can tell you. Hope it helps.
Posted by: Gabby Dizon | Monday, June 14, 2004 at 12:58 PM
-- "Yet, my problem is how do I bring my ideas to life?"
Lyrix, this isn't just your problem, it's *everyone's* problem. Everyone has good ideas (or more specifically, everyone has good ideas on how to improve what's already out there), but it's the implementation that's the hard part. Implementation requires a team, a lot of money, and a solid leader. And it can require two or more years or dedicated effort.
It's a wide chasm between having a winning concept and bringing a finished product to market. Lots and lots of established teams, full of people with great ideas like yourself, are folding or being bought by publishers. It's tough on this side of the fence. It's about as tough getting a game made as it is getting a movie made nowadays, in terms of getting a concept approved and funded.
Not the answer I like to give out, and I'm sure not the one you wanted to hear. But as this industry has gelled, the reality is that the barrier to entry has grown like the Great Wall of China.
Posted by: Scott Miller | Monday, June 14, 2004 at 01:57 PM
"It's about as tough getting a game made as it is getting a movie made nowadays, in terms of getting a concept approved and funded."
So true. Especially for an indie developer like us who cannot make a AAA game with our own cash. We've heard so many times something like "You have a good concept, but we're not looking for new IP right now, we're looking for established brands or franchises."
It's gotten so bad that even investors have noticed it. Do you think that when investors are the ones complaining about sequelitis and too many WWII shooters, these publishers will sit down and listen? Or would we have to have a sales crisis (i.e. no one buying games anymore) before publishers change their tune?
Posted by: Gabby Dizon | Monday, June 14, 2004 at 06:45 PM
"It's gotten so bad that even investors have noticed it."
My bad, i meant analysts. Just woke up.
Posted by: Gabby Dizon | Monday, June 14, 2004 at 06:47 PM
It's a matter of free lunches. There aren't anymore left; they've already been eaten. Anyone who wants to succeed these days has to make their own.
Frankly, I regard this as a clear sign that the games industry is maturing. Like Scott just said, it's like getting a movie made. Movies can be made for all sorts of audiences, but you need millions of dollars to reach the big screens nationwide. Thankfully, there's an undercurrent of support for "independent" and even "art" filmmakers, provided they aren't interested in making much money.
Such things exist in the gaming world. With as many engines, toolsets and SDKs out there, if you want to make a game, go and make one -- just don't quit your day job.
But if you want to make games your day job -- and I've heard this repeated by more people than I can name offhand -- start bringing your ideas to life, right now. Hook up with a mod team. Make a map. Make a module. Do something, that proves you have the stones to make it in the real world. Opportunities do exist for those with the patience and desire to get it done.
Posted by: J. | Tuesday, June 15, 2004 at 05:07 AM
Dear Sir or Madam,
I was wondering if you print games? If not can you guess any that does print games in China?
my email is lizzie_chrysos@hotmail.com
Thank you
lizzie
Posted by: Elizabeth Chrysostomou | Saturday, April 16, 2005 at 10:19 AM