Re: Indie games?

On Wed, 26 Feb 2003 08:32:01 +0200 (EET), Jan Ekholm wrote:
>
>Can single persons still make games that get published more
>officially than "downsuck from here and pay me 25€"?

As a generality - no.  You have the VERY infrequent outlier such as 
Chris Sawyer (RC Tycoon), but even then he almost didn't get 
published.  But that is so rare that to even call him an exception 
would be minimizing the completely rarity of such cases.

>Is it worth even to try to get something published?

Sure, go ahead and try, but just be prepared for rejection and 
heartache.  The fact of the matter is that retail games today require 
a ton of money and time to make because of the expectation of the 
consumer (and publishers) about the size and scope of such games.  
"Value" games have no inertia in the market simply because the cost 
of shelf space is high enough that most retailers would rather stock 
a $50 title than a $20 title in the same slot.

If a market is large enough to be financially interesting then it's 
usually already heavily mined by the big publishers, almost 
definitely to the exclusion of the smaller indies.  The few bastions 
of borderline commercial indie gaming -- Palm Pilots, PocketPC -- are 
so niche that major publishers have almost no interest in pursuing 
them.  And, as a result, it's tough to make a living as an indie 
selling into that space.

>Is the games bussiness as
>evil as the music bussiness where the developers end up with
>virtually nothing except bills?

Possibly even more evil, because in the music industry at least a 
band can tour and pocket a good chunk of that change.  In the 
traditional game industry the typical developer is living advance to 
advance, and even with a huge hit they're often screwed in the 
process.

For example, many starving developers will gladly:

- grant ownership of IP to the publisher
- grant right of first refusal on subsequent projects to the 
publisher
- grant minority ownership to the publisher

It's a rough industry, and maybe 1/20 developers would be considered 
"successful".  Look at the all the recent studios that are closing, 
often after shipping successful products (Sunstorm (?) who made Deer 
Hunter; Presto who made Myst 3; Rogue who made Alice in Wonderland; 
Looking Glass, list too long to enumerate; etc.)

This is why if someone is really thinking about being an indie, they 
need to think long and hard if they want to fight on the "system's" 
turf.  It's a losing battle there.

-Hook




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