Comments on: Final Casuality Notes http://www.philsteinmeyer.com/118/final-casuality-notes/ Phil Steinmeyer's rumblings on the game biz, programming, and life Sun, 07 Sep 2008 17:27:20 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Jonas Antonsson http://www.philsteinmeyer.com/118/final-casuality-notes/#comment-2437 Jonas Antonsson Fri, 07 Jul 2006 11:04:28 +0000 http://www.philsteinmeyer.com/118/final-casuality-notes/#comment-2437 I left a response to your notes on my blog here : http://jonasantonsson.com/archive/2006/07/07/116.aspx I left a response to your notes on my blog here : http://jonasantonsson.com/archive/2006/07/07/116.aspx

]]> By: Beep, beep, beep, beeeep at Suttree - Real Artists Ship http://www.philsteinmeyer.com/118/final-casuality-notes/#comment-2332 Beep, beep, beep, beeeep at Suttree - Real Artists Ship Mon, 03 Jul 2006 23:20:10 +0000 http://www.philsteinmeyer.com/118/final-casuality-notes/#comment-2332 [...] I’m not sure how this all stacks up for Vista either, which is meant to focus more on games, along with DirectX 10. It’s as if Live Arcade has caught Microsoft by surpise, leading to exploratory moves like this, to see how and where they can sell these Casual Games. I think I’m just a bit let down by all this - Microsoft have found themselves a strong leader on the console simply through lack of coherent competition, and now they’re reversing into the Casual Games market at a time with a retail plan that could conceivably force a huge shift in its structure, when the same industry is trying to figure out how to maximise try-before-you-buy games and increase ad-revenue. [...] [...] I’m not sure how this all stacks up for Vista either, which is meant to focus more on games, along with DirectX 10. It’s as if Live Arcade has caught Microsoft by surpise, leading to exploratory moves like this, to see how and where they can sell these Casual Games. I think I’m just a bit let down by all this - Microsoft have found themselves a strong leader on the console simply through lack of coherent competition, and now they’re reversing into the Casual Games market at a time with a retail plan that could conceivably force a huge shift in its structure, when the same industry is trying to figure out how to maximise try-before-you-buy games and increase ad-revenue. [...]

]]> By: kim pallister http://www.philsteinmeyer.com/118/final-casuality-notes/#comment-2320 kim pallister Mon, 03 Jul 2006 17:49:20 +0000 http://www.philsteinmeyer.com/118/final-casuality-notes/#comment-2320 I agree that the second to last point is a cop out. On the last point, three reasons: - yes, better games tend to get the free web version built, so there's a chicken-egg thing here. - games with a free web version have that additional "step" in the path from see the game listed --> try web version --> try download --> purchase progression that consumers make. Think of it as coaxing a shy little squirrel along toward the cash register :-) - games with a free web version get better merchandising/location - i.e. if it's a download only, and not moving a lot of units, it gets pushed down/off the site. I agree that the second to last point is a cop out.

On the last point, three reasons:
- yes, better games tend to get the free web version built, so there’s a chicken-egg thing here.
- games with a free web version have that additional “step” in the path from see the game listed –> try web version –> try download –> purchase progression that consumers make. Think of it as coaxing a shy little squirrel along toward the cash register :-)
- games with a free web version get better merchandising/location - i.e. if it’s a download only, and not moving a lot of units, it gets pushed down/off the site.

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