From:	Brian Hook <bwh AT wksoftware DOT com>
Newsgroups:	comp.os.msdos.djgpp,rec.games.programmer,alt.comp.shareware.for-kids
Subject:	Re: Publishing a game
Date:	Tue, 21 Jan 1997 11:07:30 -0800
Organization:	WK Software
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Mike Kulas wrote:
 
> developer.  One thing to keep in mind is publishers, as a group, are not
> getting rich these days.  Most did not do well this Christmas season.

Well, with games with $5-15M budgets, this seems only natural. I agree
entirely with your post, but I do think that a lot of publishers have
been going a little ape shit with their insistence on FMV (with name
brand actors), lots of cut scenes, multi-CD distributions, etc. etc. and
raising the overall cost of development significantly.

I think the adage of "$100K/person/year" for development is still valid
for a small development house (that's NOT all salary!), so games should
still be doable (from a purely engineering/artwork standpoint) for well
under $1M.  But we're still seeing budgets of $5M+ because they're busy
hiring seven producers, a dozen actors (who aren't getting ANY less than
SAG minimums), a director, post-production specialists, foley and sound
specialists, etc.

Do games REALLY need a score or soundtrack from Brian May or Gravity
Kills?!  Most people I know turn off music anyway.

And then you tack on their, er, overzealous ad campaigns (do you think
the ads for Descent 2 REALLY made a difference in sales?), etc. and soon
the price sky rockets.

So while I agree publishers earn their money, I don't have TOO much
sympathy for them since they have been less than frugal in the past few
years.

And publishers have hit a boon recently with 3D HW acceleration, where
they can subsidize HUGE portions of their development by supporting a
piece of hardware.  I'm curious just how much revenue MW2 from
Activision generated JUST by supporting lots of different hardware.
 
> Things are a lot harder and a lot more complicated than I once thought.  I
> used to think it was a natural part of evolution for any developer to turn
> into a publisher.  Now, I'd rather stay a developer.

Agreed.

Brian
-- 
+-----------------------------------------------------------------+
+  Brian Hook, bwh AT wksoftware DOT com                                 +
+  WK Software, http://www.wksoftware.com                         +
+  Consultants specializing in 3D graphics hardware and software  +
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+  For a list of publications on 3D graphics programming,         +
+  including Direct3D, OpenGL, and book reviews:                  +
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