Majesco Goes To Bargain Bin For Videogame Profits 24
Thanks to Fortune.com for its article exploring the apparent success of often 'budget' publisher Majesco, which allegedly "scores extra points (and stays alive) by going where other publishers won't: the discount bin." The article explains: "Because the average value game costs a mere $250,000 to produce, Majesco needs to sell only 15,000 to 50,000 copies to break even, vs. anywhere from 200,000 to one million for more expensive titles." It also points to other, bigger-budget Majesco titles such as Bloodrayne and the forthcoming Advent Rising, noting: "While big publishers have the deep pockets to ride out a flop, virtually every one of Majesco's major titles - which can cost $5 million to $10 million each - had to hit big", though these larger development costs are somewhat offset by the value titles, of which it's suggested: "Those cheap games may not have flashy, big-budget effects, but parents are often more than willing to snatch one up for their kids on an impulse."
..and for some type of games (Score:3, Interesting)
$250K? Wtf? (Score:5, Insightful)
When I worked for Sunstorm, they were paying me $22K a year and employed five people full time. Most projects to my knowledge were developed on a shoestring budget of $60K or less, and were each completed in less than three months, with several projects taking only a month to complete.
I did some work on Deer Hunter but I left before it was completed. Still, to my knowledge it was developed in less than five months. There were two fulltime programmers, two part time college students who were being paid next to nothing, and a contract artist. Do the math. Deer Hunter was probably developed for less than $60K considering the amount of time spent on it, and the cheap labor costs because it costs very little to live in Indiana. ($430 a month for a one bedroom apartment!)
Deer Hunter, in my opinion did not even need a team that large to develop it. Hi Octane was a full price 3D racing game developed in 6 weeks by two guys at Bullfrog. Deer Hunter was a 2D sidescrolling game with static backgrounds and a few deer sprites that would occasionally walk over the background. I could have written and done the art and sounds for it entirely by myself, if so inclined, that's how simplistic it was. Later incarnations were 3D, but still would hardly require significant effort to implement. I could do it if I had an artist to help me out.
So where's this $250K budget come from? If it took a year to develop a budget game that would be understandable, but a lot of budget games require far less effort than that. The last budget game that Sunstorm Developed was a Duke Nukem 3D sidescroller... THAT required significant effort and funding, and ultimately, it it probably what drove the company out of business. They had been developing more and more complex budget games, that were trying to be full priced games.
Anyway, I don't know any value game publisher who will even advance you more than $30K for a budget game, even a FINISHED one. I tried to negotiate money for a 3D beat em up that was completed and pretty fun, and they were unwilling advance more than $10K.
So I call bullshiat on these numbers. There are few budget games out there that would cost $250K to develop.
Re:$250K? Wtf? (Score:4, Insightful)
There are more costs involved in running a business than college students, pizza and $490 apartments.
Things like insurance, accountants, office leases, advertising/sales, electricity bills, executive salaries, etc etc. A lot of people on the team are NOT productive.
On the other hand, I just picked up ESPN NFL2K5. Great game, and it LAUNCHED at $19.95. Pretty incredible that a company like Sega would put out a high quality game for so little. Maybe they are finally taking into consideration that each year is just a tweak of last years game, and pricing it accordingly.
Re:$250K? Wtf? (Score:3, Interesting)
Actually, they're taking into consideration that they have no market share against the EA juggernaut. If they didn't have to worry about Madden, they'd price the ESPN game normally. Same thing with the
Re:$250K? Wtf? (Score:4, Informative)
Simple example, that hard plastic bezel that goes on the front of a 1U appliance? Designer capable of producing the mechanical drawings for the manufacturer: $15k, cast for plastic molding: $15-20k. That's just the dollar cost for those people to do it -- there is a cost of the people involved within the company to get it done. They had to price it out using phones, from their cubicals, get paid during that time, etc. Loaded cost before the first $1.00 bezel gets stamped? About $40k.
Software is of course cheaper, however it still needs a box and packaging. Since it doesn't make sense for a software company to employee people who can do this full time, this gets contracted out. A small design project to design, layout, and generate the mechanicals for the box manufacturer will probably go for about $10k. The box manufacturer will require an upfront commitment for a certain number of boxes before they'll make them. So figure in another $5-10k up front. You gotta store those boxes somewhere (inventory), so make sure you have space for that. Then you need a manual to go with the game. It may be a simple enough game to only need a leaflet, but that still needs to get written. A project like that will cost a few thousand dollars plus the upfront printing commitment. Need any plastic molding to hold all of this in so it doesn't rattle around? Yeah, add money to that too. By the way, programmers need to be busy writing code -- so someone else has to put the CD and manuals into the plastic and put that into the box for shipping. The CD! Almost forgot that... Artwork, jewel case, artwork that goes on the CD itself... You gotta make a master for the CD which for high production runs is $1500. Thankfully those per-unit costs drop a lot after that. But then you need to commit for some number up front. Better make sure that storage that you got the empty boxes has some extra space.
Great -- you've made the game and the box looks good. Still haven't spent $250k? Oh... wait... there's telling people about it. Still need the programmers designing the next game so there better be someone doing the marketing for the product. Posters, artwork, in store displays, bugging magazines to review the product, doing events where the gamers are so you can show them you have a game. Low budget impulse buy kind of game? It wouldn't hurt to have an ad and be mentioned in Parenting Magazine -- that half page ad is $25k for one month. Plus artwork, plus the person's time to do it.
Reseller costs? Wait... you mean that $9.95 I paid for the bargain game isn't all going to the company that made it? Try about $4-$5 at best, depending on how many distribution tiers were involved.
And that's just for a US version. Want to sell in Asia? Rinse and Repeat...
That $10k advance for your 3D beat'em'up game is a small part of the total cost to sell the thing.
Re:$250K? Wtf? (Score:3, Interesting)
no budget publisher actually gives out royalties, simply because those 'extra costs' that you mention are PAID FOR BY THE DEVELOPER - just like the music industry, when the big stars go around in limo's & private jets - all paid for by their record company - the stars themselves are, in the end, paying for every single penny.
publishers a
Re:$250K? Wtf? (Score:2)
Full price? PFFT! (Score:4, Insightful)
I can name a list of games I don't want to pay £40 for but I'm happy to wait 2-3 months for it at £20. The gaming market is becoming like the drug market.
"Quick fix" "Move on" "Quick fix" "Move on"
Games are getting shorter and easier, I remember the days where you could finish a game in a couple of hours (Hello Sonic games) but they were fun so you went back and played them. I used to spend hours playing RPGs each day, hunting out that uber sword and last spell from some where.
It'd take me months of 10 hour+ days to find them items, I'd buy the magazines each month to follow progress of a game in development I wanted. I'd sit and drool at screenshots with funny little Japanese symbols I never understood (still don't know but I have babelfish..).
Then suddenly it stopped... the market became main stream, Sony flooded the market with poor quality 3D platformers and RPGs, the internet had news the day it was released in other countries. I haven't found a need to buy a magazine and theres just something missing from the internet previews.
Suddenly games don't seem worth the £40 I payed for stuff like Secret of mana, sonic and the like. Now I don't see a huge point of buying more then one every couple of months. So by the time that game I really want becomes an option for the "couple of months game" I buy now, it's reduced to half price. Everyone has forgotten it and I can sit down and enjoy it for what it is and not the hype everything gave it.
So in short for those not willing to read my rant.
Games today are shorter and less fun IMO.
The world's attenction span has dropped so they don't stick around with the games they buy, hence prices drop majorly and quickly.
May as well wait and get 10 games rather then 5.
Re:Full price? PFFT! (Score:5, Interesting)
I know I used to spend hours and hours hunting down perfect completion scores and those hidden power-ups on my Commodore 64 games, but that wasn't because the games were necessarily any better than today's-- in fact I would wager the majority were worse on average-- it's because I was younger and had tons of free time and games were still new and exciting.
Now I'm older, I have a full-time job, and the gaming industry is matured enough where I know that if I miss the next latest-and-greatest dungeon digger I can just wait a few months for a new one. The gaming industry hasn't changed, I have. And I think you have, too.
Re:Full price? PFFT! (Score:1)
On the other hand 3D changed everything gaming wise..
Re:Full price? PFFT! (Score:1)
We're on the 20000th iteration of the same FPS over again and again. It's boring because no one is making anything new. In the past, we had platforms, then shooters, then this, then that. Sure, the plot and goals stayed relatively fixed, but the "gimmick" changed. Now, the industry is stuck soully on 3d platformers and FPS, both of which have lost the "novelty" appear and thus feel old. Not just old, old and busted.
What the game industry needs is a new
Too cheap (Score:1)
I've been noticing far too many games these days that seem to be cheaply-developed and overpriced. Most of these games are based on movies, cartoons, or the fictional adventures of Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen. These games are poor and generic beyond belief, yet they continue to be produced, so somebody must be buying them. I don't know first-hand whether or not Majesco's discount games are any good, but it seems to me tha
Bloodrayne Roxored! (Score:2)
Advent Rising (Score:1)
11 September was nothing! (Score:1)
11 September was nothing compared to what we have planned for you soon, America!
Tahya al-Moqawama al-Iraqiya!
Long live the resistance in Iraq, and death to American dogs!