The stories for this week:
- Only 4% of Games Put Into Production Make a Profit, 20% Actually Released Make a Profit
- Eidos UK Tries to Suppress Low Tomb Raider Underworld Scores
- Midway Gets NYSE Delisting Notice
- Super Street Fighter II Turbo Remix Finally Coming to PSN/XBLA This Week
- PC Magazine Goes Online Only, EGM May be Next
Only 4% of Games Put Into Production Make a Profit, 20% Actually Released Make a Profit
You may or may not have heard of EEDAR (Electronic Entertainment Design and Research), but the industry uses them to try to project sales of a game they are producing before the game actually comes out onto shelves. The key note in the link below is that EEDAR says that only about 4% of games make a profit and that 60% of the game’s budget is spent on reworking and redesigning the game. Also of note is that EEDAR says that Mature rated action games sell better on the 360 than Teen rated action games. The whole story is rather interesting and I personally know that EEDAR does a wonderful job at what they do.
UPDATE (11/24) - It seems Forbes quoted EEDAR incorrectly. The 4% is related to number of games put into production. Many games are put into production but never come out in retail. The correct percentage of profitability in actual released games is 20%. That seems much more sane than the insane 4% number.
Source: Forbes
Eidos UK Tries to Suppress Low Tomb Raider Underworld Scores
You’d think they would have learned after letting a trumped-up rumor snowball into them being blamed for Jeff Gerstmann’s firing at Gamespot just over a year ago. Although we may never know the full story of Gerstmann’s firing, the prevailing opinion is that Eidos had something to do with it. Now, a year later the rumors are snowballing again about Eidos UK trying to suppress scores that are under 8 until this coming Monday. Eurogamer came out with a 7 review of the game and this started the snowball going down the hill. Of course Eidso UK’s PR company has come out to say there are lower scores out there and that they weren’t trying to suppress it, but really who are you going to believe?
Source: Videogaming 24/7
Midway Gets NYSE Delisting Notice
No big surprise here honestly, although I do want to say that my time with Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe has been rather enjoyable and a review should be up sometime next week over at Colony of Gamers. Midway got a delisting notice from the NYSE this week and they have six months to turn things around. Midway also announced this week a February release for Vin Diesel’s Wheelman game. Maybe they have finally turned the corner with MK vs. DC in sales, but we shall see
Source: various places
Super Street Fighter II Turbo Remix Finally Coming to PSN/XBLA This Week
It seems as if we’ve been waiting forever for this game to come out. Now, finally, the week of Thansgiving we will be able to give thanks and desperately want to get our hands on some arcade stick for either the 360 or PS3. The game is certainly looking good and hopefully they have ironed out the online problems that were noticed in the shortened beta period. The game will sell for $15 or 1200 Microsoft points now that games like Braid and Castle Crashers has shown that $15 really isn’t all that much to thrifty gamers out there.
Source: myself
PC Magazine Goes Online, EGM May be Next
A sad piece of news to close out this week, PC Magazine will be shutting down printing operations and be going online only. This magazine has been around for 27 years and has seen a constant drop in subscriptions since its 90s heyday. There are rumors that Electronic Gaming Monthly could be next to be moved to online only, but a decision won’t be made on that at least until the end of the year. I don’t know about you, but I’d like EGM to stay in print because it makes good bathroom break reading. EGM is the last print magazine for Ziff-Davis and I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if they take it online only. I also hope this doesn’t spread to other magazines like my locally produced Game Informer, although I think GI pretty much pays for itself with their relations with game companies and getting early word on games not yet announced. It will be a sad day for EGM to cease printing.
Source: various