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The business model of video games would seem to be set. Companies develop a product, package it, and consumers buy it from whatever vendor is preferred. But the Economist has revealed to me something new, born of rampant continental Asian piracy making the standard model less effective than would be desired. This new means of company-to-consumer interaction shall be described with words not my own:
"Rather than selling games as shrink-wrapped products which can then be played on a PC or games console, the Asian industry often gives away the software as a free download and lets users play for nothing. Revenue comes instead from small payments made by more avid players to buy extras for their in-game characters, from weapons to haircuts. In this way, a minority of paying customers subsidise the game for everyone else."
"For games, the Asian model has many benefits. It lowers the barrier to entry for new players by allowing people to play games without having to pay anything. And since the game's software is usually given away, there is no need to worry about piracy - indeed, the more a game is copied and passed around, the better. Given the huge cost of developing the most advanced video games, however, the new model seems unlikely to push aside the traditional model of selling games on disc (or as paid downloads) any time soon."
For RPGs in particular, this model is definitely subject to the qualification quoted. The money likely to be recouped by players purchasing sundry download adjuncts to the game is highly unlikely to even help a company break even on development costs, especially with higher profile titles. For little developers online however, it could be ideal.
There is also the necessity of online access for this business model to work, which is not an issue because any players who might consider this method are going to have online access. But lacking a physical form of the game would certainly annoy me, and I cannot be alone in liking to have a nice library of games taking up shelf space.
Simply as an alternative method of getting games into existence and letting people play them without relying upon retailers carrying the desired product, this has a definite place. I'm in favor of seeing a few more trials by Western developers in this field.
Quotes taken from the June 28-July 4 2008 Economist issue, article 'Asian Invasion,' page 71.
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