One thing worth remembering is that at least in the UK, the retailer drives the price up and actually makes more than the developer - that certainly doesn't help.

For an average XBOX game selling at £44.99, the shop makes about £22, the rest is split between production, the publisher (and if they are lucky) the developer....

Driving down the retailers share would reduce the price of games, although getting the retailer to do that is hard... I've sat in on some of those discussions at various games companies I've worked for and they usually have a fixed (non moving) profit they want to make on any certain price range of game... whilst publishers are greedier (but think they have higher overheads and lotsa Mercs and BMW's in the carpark to feed) the shops are by far the greediest.

This comment was edited on Oct 2, 06:44.

Yes, people who don't pay for their games are doing something illegal (of course). But the fact of the matter is also that the gaming industry as a whole is increasingly reluctant to take chances on new, unknown companies and games. Every year, a handful of megahits from industry veterans keep the publishers alive, while the rest of the portfolio accually loses money.

The price of the games is simply too high, which makes gamers think more than twice before they accually buy a game. This hurts the lesser known developers and games a hell of a lot more than all those 'big name' games.

I really believe people would buy more games if they were cheaper - it's just not worth taking a 70$ risk for a game you 'kinda hope is cool'.

There's a great initiative going on in the UK now to try and reduce the price of games. The Fair Play Campaign hopes for a complete boycot on game buying the first week of December. Allthough biased, naturally, their site has a lot of great info on what's wrong with the gaming industry.

http://www.fairplay-campaign.co.uk/

Well, seeing as how it doesn't seem like they were trying
to attract any US publishers(or not doing it very well), you
could see how a lot of people overlooked it.

-Hyatus
"da da da"

It's a shame that more people didn't know about this game. It was really promising, bringing together FPS/RPG/adventure elements and combining them with amazing graphics. This is a loss for the games industry.

Haha you crack me up, you logic and argument relativity is
astounding, how can anyone argue with your magnificence.

Do people you know actually buy this stuff?

No you are wrong, ROTFLMAO

Acleacius

This comment was edited on Oct 1, 18:33.

Warez is most people who have been ripped off in the past by publishers who rushed games out and poorer people(easy target of critism) who cant afford, grossly over priced games, some even sell for $70 US.

No, you are wrong.

People who "warez" are just thieves.

Thinking the warez mUnk33z should join with the anti-Earth people ;P,
Ray

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Just say no to anonymous posting registered trolls!

warez kiddies?

haha! warez doesn't put software houses out of business!

f00l!

- Dr. Del
http://www.SuperBlog.com

The idea that this is because of Warez, is laughable.
Warez is most people who have been ripped off in the past by publishers who rushed games out and poorer people(easy target of critism) who cant afford, grossly over priced games, some even sell for $70 US. YOu probably know nothing about this company or there financial decisions. I know one thing the choice of using Ureal Technology is probably the most expensive engine available.


Acleacius

This actually looked pretty damn good. What the hell has gone wrong?!

Call of Cthulu is caught up in a "who owns it" debate between Headfirst and Ravensburg Interactive... the former said the latter had breached contract and they would take the game elsewhere, the latter said they didn't and would take steps to make sure the former didn't do any such thing... From what I hear they are still working on it and its due out in 2003 - provided the whole mess with rights / ownership and publishing bollox is sorted out.

Hmph. It actually did look kind of cool. Speaking of which, whatever happened to Call of Cthulu? I was looking forward to that game. Guess it suffered a similar fate...


-----------------------------------------------------
Cry 'havoc', and let slip the dogs o' war!

hate pirating more than anything but I fail to see the draw between pirating, single player games, and originality. I can see how pirating would have a general effect on the industry, but why this specific game? Care to clarify

I understand what he means, people, especially the warez'ers hesitate more to buy a new franchise game, theyll rather pirate it, as the dont want to spend 50 bucks on "maybe good" so a sequel sells easier that way. A singleplayer game works even if its cracked and hacked beyond recognition, In multiplayer, the game need a cd-key, non cracked non modified, so its easier to pirate SP and still get the "full game experience".

Last but not least, big corporations are bad, because they try to make money so their employees can eat, (the filthy bastards) So they hesitate to take any big chances.

BTW i was really excited about the Y-Project, it seemed right, like it was going to be the next bombshell, after Half-Life. too bad, too damn bad

____________________________

"Today a young man on acid realized that all matter is merely energy condensed to a slow vibration, that we are all one consciousness experiencing itself subjectively , there is no such thing as death, life is only a dream, and we are the imagination of ourselves. Here's Tom with the weather." -Bill Hicks

So many explitives I wish to scream right now, but I'd rather be decent.
But this sucks I really was looking foreward to this game.
*sighs*

at least there still is deus ex 2
==================================
a member of the davidon inn ( www.davidson-inn.com )

All I can think of to say is: Bugger!

A shame, I actually saw this one several times in person (both early on and recently at ECTS) and it really had potential... the blend of RPG elements & action/consequence really looked like it could raise the ante in the genre and the Unreal Engine *really* did it justice...

Ho-hum

I hate pirating more than anything but I fail to see the draw between pirating, single player games, and originality. I can see how pirating would have a general effect on the industry, but why this specific game? Care to clarify?

Don't get me wrong, pirating does hurt the industry, but
this sounds like just another poorly managed business
problem. And, I mean, let's face it...even before pirating
was wide-spread publishers didn't exactly jump at
originality.

Tho, what exactly was original about this game, I have no
idea.

Im not surprised, never thought much of the game really.. knew it didnt have potential, not for a publisher anyway.

I should be a PC Game Anaylst

...that is really sad. I cannot say that I kept active track of the game, but I had noticed how good the screenshots looked when they were released and, at the very least, it seemed like something to keep an eye on. It certainly looked like a really interesting sci-fi game. It is too bad...

Still waiting for my grand sci-fi game,
Ray

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Just say no to anonymous posting registered trolls!

Thank you very much warez kiddies, you managed to put another great game developer out of business. The reason Westka had to close down is because they did not find a publisher and this is entirely due to publishers not willing to take any risks (especially not for single player games) and instead going for another dull sequel which would be a sure-fire hit...

I can imagine some other issues were reason for Westka's closing down, but I am VERY certain when pirating games wouldn't be such a problem, a lot more original games would be made...

damn, Yproject looked so promising