Games For $60 Are Not Going Away, says Playfish ExecGames are increasingly going social, and traditional publishers like EA are pushing more and more into the space, challenging the likes of Zynga. The Sims Social has been wildly successful for EA Playfish but the company still sees a segment of the gaming audience that will always want that core $60 game experience.
"I don’t think that the $60 paid game is going to go away," Playfish London GM John Earner commented to IndustryGamers. "I think if you make a great first person shooter or a great role playing game, that there’s going to be an audience of millions of people who are probably going to be males, just as they are today, who are going to want a really high definition experience that’s very engrossing and the best way to monetize it is going to continue to be upfront payment."
"I think that in a few years time we won’t say social games anymore because all games will be social, even if the game is a $60 purchase download from Steam or from Origin."
"I just think that market’s going to get smaller. Or maybe, more importantly, that the total market of video gamers is going to get a lot bigger and a lot more diverse and the way to expand the pie is to add the new business models. If I were able to make a Battlefield game with the kind of economics that they’re able to do, I would continue to make those games. I just think that it’s going to command a lower multiple in the market and that it’s going to fail to reach as many users as it could. So I think EA’s done the right thing, which is diversifying in all those directions."
Even if the $60 game market continues, there's clearly a big shift occurring as developers flock to iOS, Android and social platforms like Facebook. At the same time, though, developers on these platforms are trying their best to draw in more of the typical core audience as well. There's a convergence happening, and the result is that everything is becoming social in some form.
"I think that in a few years time we won’t say social games anymore because all games will be social, even if the game is a $60 purchase download from Steam or from Origin; a first person shooter, that game will be social, and you’re already seeing the beginnings of that both with EA and Battlefield and also with Activision and Call of Duty," continued Earner. "These games are bringing in social elements. So the term’s going to go away, because these days, why would I not want to play a game with a friend when the alternative is to play with some 13-year-old from Kansas who’s got all day and swears at you over Xbox Live."
The platform differences between social, mobile, and console could one day fade away, and Earner would love nothing more. The games will exist wherever you are and the platforms will be irrelevant.
"As a developer, I have an interest, and I think we have an interest, in making games and thinking less and less about platforms. So one of the things that’s most appealing to us is increasingly being able to develop games using technologies that are platform agnostic. That’s a long way off, and it’s not going to happen overnight, but with things like HTML5 and other technologies, it will get easier and easier for us to make a game that you can play when you’ve got time to play it," he said. "Maybe you're on the subway and you’ve got your iPhone. Maybe you’re at work - wink, wink, and it’s on Facebook. But the notion, as a player, you don’t really care as much about platforms. You care about what’s available to you and what game you want to play."
