This short presentation was given at the Videogame Economics Forum in Angoulême, France, April 2012. As the game industry moves toward "free to play", it has major ramifications on the game's cost and development strategy. How do we move toward a consistent server-based game experience?
3. Social, mobile, MMO, Free-to-play console
Mark DeLoura Videogame Economics Forum, April 2012
4. Mark DeLoura Videogame Economics Forum, April 2012
5. Mark DeLoura Videogame Economics Forum, April 2012
6. 70.0
• Calibrate against AAA
60.0
• Roughly 1/3
engineering, 1/3 art, 1/3
50.0
other
QA
• Initial small pre-
40.0 Audio
production team
Production
30.0 Design
• Grows to maximum size
Engineering during production
20.0 Art • Tails off at end of project
10.0
-
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Mark DeLoura Videogame Economics Forum, April 2012
7. 70.0
• Lack of initial tech
60.0
(internal engine or
external middleware)
50.0
requires more
QA
engineering staff at
40.0 Audio
beginning of project
Production
30.0 Design
Engineering
20.0 Art
10.0
-
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Mark DeLoura Videogame Economics Forum, April 2012
8. 70.0
• For DLC, typically
60.0
consider approximately
1/3 of maximum staff size
50.0
QA
40.0 Audio
Production
30.0 Design
Engineering
20.0 Art
10.0
-
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
Mark DeLoura Videogame Economics Forum, April 2012
9. Smaller scope
Reduced art and design requirements
Rapid launch
Move quickly to production with minimally viable
product
Ongoing iteration
DLC plan is replaced with ongoing live updates
Mark DeLoura Videogame Economics Forum, April 2012
10. Vast amount of technology required
Scalable server infrastructure
E-Commerce system for virtual goods
Analytics
Launcher/Patcher
CRM, Account system
Community management
Customer service
Mark DeLoura Videogame Economics Forum, April 2012
11. Game framework
Adobe Flash: 58% social
Unity: 53% mobile
Social network
Facebook: 72% mobile
Service technology
Scalable server infrastructure
▪ Amazon Web Services: 55%
E-Commerce system for virtual goods
▪ Facebook, Apple for front-end
▪ Back-end?
Analytics
▪ Kontagent 25% social
▪ Flurry 29% mobile
Mark DeLoura Videogame Economics Forum, April 2012
12. Core games spike on day one
Core F2P games require care and feeding
Mark DeLoura Videogame Economics Forum, April 2012
13. Mark DeLoura Videogame Economics Forum, April 2012
14. Increasing fidelity, team size and project length…
Mark DeLoura Videogame Economics Forum, April 2012
15. Increasing fidelity, team size and project length – device tech improving
Mark DeLoura Videogame Economics Forum, April 2012
16. Increasing fidelity, team size and project length…
Mark DeLoura Videogame Economics Forum, April 2012
17. PlayStation generation: $2M - $6M
PlayStation 2 generation: $5M - $12M
PlayStation 3 generation: $10M - $25M
Pressure to reduce game development cost
Mark DeLoura Videogame Economics Forum, April 2012
18. Aggregated distribution and marketing
Shared technologies
Outsourced art
Aggregated development
Mark DeLoura Videogame Economics Forum, April 2012
19. The rise of publishers/distributors
Use of open source and services
Other levers:
Technology level
Game depth
Minimum viable product
Mark DeLoura Videogame Economics Forum, April 2012
20. Cooperation: Rise of publishers/distributors
who can provide services
For example, Kerosene Games
Reuse: Rise of middleware and re-use
categories
Unity, Amazon Web Services, Raveld
Alternate funding: Funding for content, not
platform
Mark DeLoura Videogame Economics Forum, April 2012
21. “Convergence”, to a server-based experience
Game ships as a universe, with each platform
accessing it differently
Varying fidelity and gameplay
Each device is a porthole
Mark DeLoura Videogame Economics Forum, April 2012
22. Contact
Mark DeLoura
mdeloura@satori.org
@markdeloura
Mark DeLoura Videogame Economics Forum, April 2012
Notas del editor
Defining our termsSocial - Facebook, monetize with in-app payments and adsMobile - iOS, monetize with in-app payments and ads. Sometimes pay to play.MMO - well, the unsuccessful ones in the US at leastFree to Play: Console? Console "core" games are not free to play, $60. Well, some experiments by MS and Sony on this.
We're going to talk quickly about core F2P and costs involved for these games, how they differ from traditional console titles. Some of this info will also be true for the other categories. Team Fortress 2 League of Legends World of TanksHawken is coming, others
Let’s calibrate against AAA core game staffingTraditional console game development costs Graph of Production, Design, Engineering, Art, Audio, QA Roughly 1/3 engineers, 1/3 artists, 1/3 other Initial small pre-production team Grows to maximum size for duration of production Tails off at end of project
If no initial tech, bigger bump of engineers at the beginning (building tools for art/design)
If DLC, small team for DLC post-release is ~ 1/3 of staff
Smaller game scope – reduced art and design requirementsRapid launch – move quickly to production with minimum viable productDLC plan is replaced with ongoing rapid iteration based on player analytics Infinity Blade example: small team but rolled entire group onto updates
Service layer - all that crazy stuff you have to build or license, then monitor ongoingly This can be a lot of information -> Scalable, virtualized hybrid cloud infrastructure (AmazonWS, Right Scale, Eucalyptus) E-Commerce system (virtual goods) Analytics Localization QA Installer/Patcher Matchmaking Customer support CRM/Account system Community management Billing
Core revenue curve is very spiky on day one with blips for DLCCore F2P revenue curve starts with zero but grows with IAP, requires constant marketing
Let's talk about increasing costs of F2P game developmentSocial games growing in cost (team size and project length) Compare Mafia Wars to Castleville to Margaritaville No tech updates here, this is leapfrogging due to demand <FB is noisy, owned mostly by Zynga, how to stand out?>
Mobile games growing in cost Compare Trism to Fruit Ninja or Angry Birds to Infinity Blade Device updates over time <Mobile market is noisy, and device capabilities increasing>
MMO games changing in fidelity / cost as well What was initial Everquest or UO cost? Star Wars TOR estimated cost
This is a natural cycle.Let's look at console games. Console games used to be fairly inexpensive to produce. Each advance in technology increased development costs They have grown in cost over time, from cycle to cycle, and higher at the end of each cycle–PS1 generation: $2M - $6M (and visual)–PS2 generation: $5M - $12M (and visual)–PS3 generation: $10M - $25M (and visual) most of the games i worked on the past few years were $20-$35-PS4 - ? Purchase price of games isn't going up, and audience only increasing slightly, so With each new generation, must sell more copies per game in order to make a profit So there's pressure to keep cost of game development DOWN Also pressure to improve marketing for each game (fewer, larger risks)
What has the console game industry tried to do to reduce costs? Early on, Indy devs look for 1) distribution and later, as more developers came on the scene, 2) marketing Move toward working with publishers Middleware technology: Licensed external technology and servicesGamespy, Agora, etc - or internal cross-team Outsourcing art: Cheaper region can produce more content ($10K/MM in NA, 1/3 or so elsewhere, add oversight costs) Later on, as games became more expensive to produce, Indy developers collapsing due to risk level Publishers buying out devs in order to consolidate costs, get benefit of aggregation More shared internal technology and services
So we assume social, mobile, MMO, core F2P games facing similar cost pressures will follow sim trajectoryWe are starting to see a push toward working with publishers/distributors due to costsMiddleware: developers already use a lot of open source technologies which are freeSome licensed middleware now availableMany servicesOutsourcing art?? Indy devs, pub aggregation etc??What level of technology do they live at? Higher fidelity = higher costHow deep are they? Console game 10-12 hours typicallyHow much do they launch with?