http://kotaku.com/5098356/only-20-of-games-make-a-profit-+-eedar Did a Google search and found that. It says 20% of games that enter production make a significant profit. I doubt anything even close to that make profit on the App Store. Also, earlier you said that you are a journalist and developer, so I went through your post history, and I doubt it. In a different post you said that you have a job that people "would kill for" (being a game journalist or developer is far from that). And almost every post is you trolling some other topic, and you keep supplying false facts, that anyone in the industry would know are false.
LOL! Such as? Oh, and "Kotaku" is a byword for ill-informed bullshit in the industry. But even the piece they quote from says the figure is 4%. If a game makes it into production but doesn't end up on store shelves, all the money spent on it doesn't just magically come back, dear. By your reckoning, Duke Nukem Forever hasn't lost a penny.
The iPhone has a very, very limited amount in quality games. It's basically a quick-buck- and-go platform. Only Gamevil's games have really impressed me.
Expecting an iPhone game to be developed for a couple of thousand bucks is not realistic unless you're only looking at games developed by hobbyists. Games in the league of Rolando and Real Racing are well into six figures in their development (and publishing) budgets, comparative in scope, scale and expenses to some XBLA, PSN and WiiWare titles. A high-quality $0.99 App Store title can easily have a five-figure development budget, and while it may have a chance for a great ROI if it hits the top 25 list, even a five-figure budget can kill an indie studio if the game doesn't make a splash. You won't see the iPhone branches of even larger publishers willing to lose such sums casually. If you look at big publishers in the App Store, there are plenty of examples, some already mentioned in this thread, of big budget projects being favored less instead of $0.99 games that minimize the risk.
Kotaku has always had a good reputation, what are you talking about? Also, the article links to a Forbes article, and if you think Forbes isn't reliable, then you really have noclue what you are talking about. And yes they do lose money off of unreleased games, but usually that is a pretty small ammount. And Duke Nukem was delayed for years, which is very rare. Off the top of my head, the only other one I can think of is Kameo. Also, if the App Store is such a success for developers, then why are they not making new original titles for it? Why are larger developers ignoring it? Why even bother making the large budget titles on consoles? I can tell you why, they make more money doing it.
So? Who says iPod games have to have that sort of budget? Besides, Firemint paid for the development of Real Racing with Flight Control. They EARNED the right and the resources to make a bigger, more sophisticated game. Devs who want to run before they can walk shouldn't be surprised if they fall over. Good. Personally, I love the iPod as a gaming platform specifically BECAUSE it's home to quick, fun hobbyist games. If I wanted bloated, tedious, expensive and "professional" PSP-type games, I've got a perfectly good PSP for that. (It's in a drawer covered in dust because its games are so damn boring.)
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Sorry, I don't mix with a lot of 14-year-old boys, so my experience is probably a bit different to yours. Er, they are. Er, they're not.
I can't really say much about Kotaku, other than that I see it sourced, frequently, and that its not banned from GAF who ban all websites they consider unreliable. And the article was linked to Forbes, so it shouldn't even matter for this case. I don't want to post my age, but I'm far from 14. Developer are for the most part NOT developing new games from the App Store, many of Gamelofts titles were on the DS beforehand, Ubisoft only ported DS games, Capcom has only ported games, SEGA only made one original game, because it was funded by Apple for the App Store debut. Other than that, they only have three ports. Namco only has one title that isn't a port, and I don't think it sold well, because they had to do two price drops and its only been out for a few weeks. Tatio released Cooking Mama, and IIRC, its a few of the recipes from the DS, Square Enix has only two spin-off titles, which are also available off of the iPhone. Also, Konami's original games got mixed reviews. So where are these large developers making original titles? Other than EA, I can't even name one. And there are many large developers ignoring the App Store. Activision ,for example, the worlds largest indipendant gaming company, hasn't even made a game (they do have some sort of App that links you to Call of Duty IIRC).
http://www.stromcode.com/2009/05/24/the-incredible-app-store-hype/ Here the developer of Rick Storm says when his App was #34 in the App Store he was only making $20 a day. I don't think larger developers can cover the costs of development with $20 a day, and I'm sure they make more than that on consoles.
Quite frankly, it's difficult to follow if you have some kind of consistent argument behind all the bravado. In one sentence you're hailing a developer for taking a huge risk by making a large game for the iPhone, and in another you're bashing larger projects in favor of hobbyist games. To name a few examples, Flight Control, Minigore, EDGE, Pocket God, Touch Grind, Sway and Field Runners have all been professionally developed and the effort spent in each one of those is far above that of a hobbyist title with "a couple of thousand dollars" in development budget. Considering each of the games mentioned above has been a success and has helped define the iPhone as a gaming platform, I would say that a high-quality App Store game requires a larger budget than your comments imply. This budget relates to production values, which in turn I perceive as quality. It is a strange attitude to associate quality with boring and bloated, particularly for a journalist. Quite the opposite, at least personally I have high regard for developers who spend good time in polishing a small game.
I am? When did I do that? There are so many non-sequiteurs in that paragraph I've come over all dizzy. I'm off for a lie down.
If you'd asked me if the #10 "paid social networking app" was making any money, I'd have guessed no. Free social networking apps on the iPod/iPhone are ten a penny, I literally can't imagine why anyone would pay for one. By the time you get to no.35 in the list, I'm amazed it was making $2 a day, never mind as much as $20 a day. (And y'know, $20 a day is still $600 a month from one app, and this guy says he's got 20 apps out there. Even if that's the big hit and the rest are only making $5 a day, that's $3450 a month or $41,400 a year, which doesn't sound like a bad little earner to me compared to the salaries you were quoting for full-time professional devs, given that it's not even his primary source of income and he evidently has plenty of time to do other stuff.)
"Many"? I can see about four titles previously released on DS among the 61 Gameloft games currently available in the UK App Store. I can only assume your other figures are equally inaccurate.
Rick Storm is a game, not a social networking App. And it was #34 in the entire paid App Store, not just the games section. And he was making $20 a day when it was at #34, apps drop from the top 50 quickly so he sure isn't making $20 a day anymore, he was only making it at its peak. Oregon Trail is going to DSiWare (and I think the PSP), Brothers in Arms was originally on the DS, Real Soccor is on DSiWare (and I think also available as a cart) Guitar Rock Tour is available on a cart and DSiWare, Asphalt 4 is available on the DSiWare (again, I think also as a cart). I know UNO is on the DS, but I'm not sure if its by Gameloft, Brain Challenge is on DSiWare, Assassin's Creed was originally on the DS, Real Tennis is on DSiWare. Gameloft also did all of Ubisofts games, which are all ports of DS games. Hero of Sparta, UNO, Asphalt 5, Let's Golf, and Real Soccor are all going to be on the PSP. Also, on the US App Store, they have 54 games, 17 of them being lite versions so 37 total. I only see a few games noton the DS or PSP (and most of those are their smaller titles). And Gameloft is still putting their iPhone games on DSiWare, and will probably move a bunch to the PSP's new service so more are coming. So no, that was not an inaccurate figure.
What on Earth are you talking about? The link you supplied (but obviously didn't read yourself) was to the website of someone called Rick Strom. The word "storm" does not appear anywhere on the page. Indeed, so far as I can tell Mr Strom doesn't write games at all, but novelty and photography apps. No game called "Rick Storm" is currently on sale in the UK App Store, nor can I find one on AppShopper or via Google. Please furnish us all with some details about this successful game called "Rick Storm", as it seems to have disappeared from the face of the planet. Either that or, y'know, shuffle off quietly before you embarrass yourself any more. Hold the phone there, tiger. You said their iPod games were ports of their DS games, not originals, which proved they weren't making original new games for the iPod. Now you're telling us that they're porting them FROM the iPod TO the DS and PSP. That's not quite the same thing, is it? In fact, it's the exact opposite thing, isn't it?
By bad, on the first part, I meant to give a link to an article on Rick Rocketson, who has a similar story. I'll see if I can find it. And yes some are being moved to DS/PSP but also some are being moved from WiiWare, DSiWare, XBLA, and PS Network. My point is that even many of the popular games can be found elsewhere, and thats still the case. When most of the popular DS/PSP games aren't even feasible on the iPhone.
That wasn't your point at all. Your point was that developers like Gameloft weren't getting behind the iPhone, because they weren't making original games for it and were just porting existing titles. It was nothing to do with things being exclusive or not, and on examination it's turned out to be bollocks. Most of the popular DS games are perfectly feasible on iPhone. The only games that would prove tricky are ones with particularly complex controls - I wouldn't fancy an iPod version of Bangai-O Spirits, for example. Conversely, the DS couldn't handle a lot of iPhone games. It couldn't match the graphics of Real Racing or Gangstar, and it can't handle anything with multi-touch. But that's okay, because they're different machines and it's okay for them to have different libraries. Do you have any idea what your point actually is any more? Still waiting to hear what these false facts are that I've apparently been spreading, by the way.
Obviously, it was in the first version, I haven't played in a since it came out so I forgot about it, I could see if expert is really "expert" for me, but I don't want to play the game. Honestly is that all you have to talk about? Who cares.
Rick Rocketson's app page claims it's had over 1.4 million downloads. That doesn't sound like a very good example of a game being overlooked.
