Beyond the Launch Campaign


The publisher's job isn't done when the game ships. To maximize earnings, the publisher must extend the title's life cycle.

Support

First, the buying public must receive the support they need to enjoy their purchase. For classic retail games, support involves little more than a Web site, an e-mail address, a telephone number, and possibly a few patches to correct the bugs that have slipped through the quality assurance process. However, massively multiplayer online game customer support [Perkins03] requires dozens or even hundreds of people monitoring the happenings in the game world around the clock to foil hackers, stifle aberrant player behavior, and solve transient bugs.

Price Reductions

Highly anticipated games are released at premium prices ($60 or $70), so that the publisher will generate as much income as possible from early adopters. This is standard marketing strategy: DVD players, microwave ovens, and a host of other devices cost much more when they were introduced than they do now that they have reached mass market acceptance.

Unfortunately for publishers, early adopters account for only 20% of the population. Therefore, premium sales drop off within a few weeks or months of release. At that point, the publisher will stimulate demand by lowering the price to $50. (Games that do not justify premium release prices start at that level, or even lower.)

The price reduction process will be repeated periodically, as long as reports show that the drop causes an increase in sales. A highly successful game's retail price can go from $60 to $50 to $40 to $30 to $20 over a period of 12 to 18 months, before remaining stock is liquidated at $5 to $10 once demand has all but vanished. If the game fails to find an audience, retailer pressure might drive the price down to budget or liquidation levels within 6 to 12 weeks.

Add-Ons

For many types of games, an expansion pack containing new quests, new levels, or new units is a quick and relatively inexpensive way to generate additional income from the existing user base.

In the future, some games might be sold with minimal content included, and additional "episodes" be distributed online by weekly or monthly subscription. This way, publishers will be able to exploit a successful franchise for several years, much like the creators of a hit television series do now. (A potentially even more appealing benefit is that they will be able to cancel unpopular games before millions of dollars are sunk into development.)

Bundles

Once a game reaches the end of its retail life cycle, the publisher can entice additional consumers by bundling the game and several add-ons into a single budget-priced package. By adding special features to the bundle (e.g., a metal box, cloth map, action figure, music CD, etc.), the publisher might even turn it into a "lifestyle purchase" that consumers who already own the game might want to buy or receive as a present, much in the style of "greatest hits" music compilations.

Finally, once a game is completely out of the retail channel, the publisher might want to bundle it with hardware, books, or even include it in cereal boxes. Revenue generated from such bundling agreements is minimal (often less than $0.25 per unit), but volume and/or visibility might be sufficient to justify the deal.

Sequels

And of course, a successful game creates a built-in audience for a sequel, which might be easier to sell to retailers and consumers than a brand new product. In fact, it might be easier to make money on a sequel, even at lower sales volumes, because the sequel costs less to market—and possibly to develop as well, if assets can be reused, although the rapid evolution of game technology has made this unusual to say the least.




Secrets of the Game Business
Secrets of the Game Business (Game Development Series)
ISBN: 1584502827
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2005
Pages: 275

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