Whyos

As AdWeek points out, these days it’s hard to justify a relationship with a conventional ad agency based upon its understanding of media and how to drive a successful campaign. And some of the worst efforts these days come from agencies trying to go “creatively outside the box,” without understanding that the box itself no longer exists, while some agency folks simply miss the entire point. Read More »

Last week, there was a pretty specific analysis of GameStop’s used game business in the WSJ (with the slightly annoying flaw that the writer seems to have conflated “gross” and “net” in the sentence emphasizing high gross margin on used games vs. single digit retail expectations).

I like the Gears of War 2 model that’s mentioned, of including in new games a single-use code for a map pack download with value approximate to the discount the user would get from buying the title new. This should be quite good for the publisher and the retailer. For the publisher, it simply feels fair, as the game that’s bought, played for a week, then sold back to GameStop has a value that’s slightly diminished, in proportion to the lower re-sale price of the used title. -The newer used title is still $5-$10 cheaper, but it’s diminished by $5-$10 worth of content. The publisher/developer still doesn’t make money on the used product sale, but this has to feel better for them than having the exact same title at retail, costing less and providing no revenue to them. Read More »

I remember in the early ’90s relying on dedicated and proprietary “black box” digital technology hardware, like the Synclavier, for post-production. That was also the beginning of the transition to desktop solutions, so it was a pretty exciting time for technology, but still not so far advanced that we couldn’t justify shooting film and mutilating it with alternative processing. -The first Avid setups we used were so low-res that we had to refer back to tape to check eyeline. Coincidentally, it also was about that time that I heard Strauss Zelnick give a speech about how interactive entertainment would change the world that convinced me that it wasn’t worthwhile to use this great non-linear tech in service of linear end-product. Read More »

I have been pondering today the question of why it so bothers me that Gabo!, by Yoot Saito (of Seaman fame), was rejected by Apple for iPhone.  The obvious issue is that it’s a curious and problematic situation when corporate entities own the tools of creative expression, and can stop distribution of an individual’s work. And this case is pivotal, as I don’t believe you can argue that his work isn’t art on some level, which could make it the Lady Chatterly’s Lover of the digital/hardware-approved content era. But, for me, it’s also more subtle, as I have long argued with more indie friends that the game console model of content control is fair because a) the hardware is subsidized, and hence the manufacturer is giving you better hardware than you’d buy for yourself for this use, in support of software sales and b) it’s focused primarily on commercial games, and not really a common carrier, as the PC serves as such an appropriate and parallel vehicle for content transmission. From a functional perspective, it never seemed to me that a non-commercial developer would bother putting in the time to learn the tools to put out a product onto a platform so customized to expensive development, and having an installed base so focused on gamers. This situation has changed slightly with xna and digital distribution, but still, developing for the console remains something that is logically targeted at gamers, under firm existing expectations on the part of creator and end-user. Read More »

Hellforge has an interesting post up now about the causes of several subscription MMOs tanking in the past year. The author posits poor execution as the cause, and while I don’t disagree that that was an element in sales numbers, I’d suggest that even if these efforts had been supported by adequate execution it would have been a pyrrhic victory. These games simply could not have succeeded on the business model under which they were conceived. Read More »