So I'm sure a lot of you are aware of casual game offers lately. As affiliates they make a relatively well performing vertical.
Here's the kicker though-- these games cost no more than $300 to make
People began to realize this and now there's a new browser mmorpg popping every month.
ex; Age of Ocean-Free Browser-Based Online Game of High Seas Adventure- http://ao.hithere.com
ex; Welcome to Earth Eternal, the 3D MMO Game that's Free to Play.
ex; Business Tycoon Online | Browser Game,business simulation
Repeat ad infinitum.
You'll notice all of these games intro pages look like Acai submits. Hmm, something's cookin...
In bygone decades, game development was a playground restricted to the privileged class. Development costs were high. Staffing were pricey and very hit/miss. Technical knowledge and infrastructure were either way expensive, unmanageable or both. Not to mention marketing budgets.
Skip to 15 March 2010. Here's what your very own browser mmorpg costs:
Game - $300. ALL of these games come premade by the hands of Chinese developers. There are rooms in China where 8-12 people create mmorpgs 24/7 like Indians work to break captchas. The games come in several forms. Closed/protected-source Installation files and self-managed operation will cost no more than $300. Source codes run up several times. Optionally, the sellers of your game can then outsource several departments while you're at it. Support, custom design, server management and so on.
Support, design and management are around $4-700 per month per employee. You don't need more than 8 people to manage a game. Supporting it can be done with another set or two of 8 people.
Marketing - this runs up to 90% of a browser mmorpg's budget.
All in all, the cost of these games themselves has become negligible. Development costs or academic qualifications are no longer the essential barriers to having the actual mmorpg in your hands. The real question- can you market it?
PS: some inside numbers from my notepad;
Here's the kicker though-- these games cost no more than $300 to make
People began to realize this and now there's a new browser mmorpg popping every month.
ex; Age of Ocean-Free Browser-Based Online Game of High Seas Adventure- http://ao.hithere.com
ex; Welcome to Earth Eternal, the 3D MMO Game that's Free to Play.
ex; Business Tycoon Online | Browser Game,business simulation
Repeat ad infinitum.
You'll notice all of these games intro pages look like Acai submits. Hmm, something's cookin...
In bygone decades, game development was a playground restricted to the privileged class. Development costs were high. Staffing were pricey and very hit/miss. Technical knowledge and infrastructure were either way expensive, unmanageable or both. Not to mention marketing budgets.
Skip to 15 March 2010. Here's what your very own browser mmorpg costs:
Game - $300. ALL of these games come premade by the hands of Chinese developers. There are rooms in China where 8-12 people create mmorpgs 24/7 like Indians work to break captchas. The games come in several forms. Closed/protected-source Installation files and self-managed operation will cost no more than $300. Source codes run up several times. Optionally, the sellers of your game can then outsource several departments while you're at it. Support, custom design, server management and so on.
Support, design and management are around $4-700 per month per employee. You don't need more than 8 people to manage a game. Supporting it can be done with another set or two of 8 people.
Marketing - this runs up to 90% of a browser mmorpg's budget.
All in all, the cost of these games themselves has become negligible. Development costs or academic qualifications are no longer the essential barriers to having the actual mmorpg in your hands. The real question- can you market it?
PS: some inside numbers from my notepad;
They correspond with grossly any browser or free 2 play mmorpg with large, nearly End of Cycle userbase. obviously, fresh titles will have active account ratios of well up to 50%
