Mike Capps STILL Terrified of Cheap Mobile Games

[Sir_Brizz]

IndustryGamers reports that Mike Capps is still complaining about dollar apps on mobile devices stealing market share from Gears of War.

"I'm more worried that you can get a really good 99 cent game that occupies you for hours and hours on end and how that impacts $60 SKUs [like Gears]. I'm not as worried about how it impacts Infinity Blade - I think there will always be room for a premium SKU on a mobile platform. And I think as more buyers [enter the mobile market], there will be more people who are willing to spend a bit more for quality. But I do worry about what it means for the next generation of console games. Are people really going to want to spend $60 on a game? I mean, we're spending tens of millions of dollars making those games that they want to play... it's not a sustainable business model. I'm not sure how it all ends up"

My own opinion is that this only impacts $60 games because nobody wants to pay $60 for a game. Why else would the used game market be so massive? Drop Gears 3 to $40 at launch and gain massive respect from the community, sell billions, and become even more rich. You'll never compete in the market of dollar mobile games. They are successful specifically because they can be played for 5 minute intervals. Gears takes 5 minutes to get into, compete on time slots of hours please. Very few people buy mobile games expecting hours worth of gameplay from them.

 

[RoadKillGrill]

I have yet to buy an app for my Droid, I play the free games and the demos if anything.

%99.9 of them are not ones I'd pay for anyway. They are usually worse than a good flash game on new grounds..

My concern is how can a company make a GOOD game at $0.99 price-point and come out even. And I mean making a game that does more than rehashes a popular flash game or put nice pics on a physics demo.

I personally am a fan of the $20-15 price point for games.

 

[Twrecks]

IMO mobile games and PC/console are different markets albeit related. Think Mopeds and Cars, they both are transportation, if ga$ goes up (price of games) and/or disposable income drops (current U.S. economy) more ppl will buy scooters. If Epic could be like Kia and offer affordable quality games they would capture more market share. Uh, didn't Epic open a studio in Korea?

 

[Jackal]

IndustryGamers reports that Mike Capps is still complaining about dollar apps on mobile devices stealing market share from Gears of War.



My own opinion is that this only impacts $60 games because nobody wants to pay $60 for a game. Why else would the used game market be so massive? Drop Gears 3 to $40 at launch and gain massive respect from the community, sell billions, and become even more rich. You'll never compete in the market of dollar mobile games. They are successful specifically because they can be played for 5 minute intervals. Gears takes 5 minutes to get into, compete on time slots of hours please. Very few people buy mobile games expecting hours worth of gameplay from them.

100% Agree. The last few years I've been waiting for games to drop price and/or picking them up used for consoles, and waiting for Steam sales for the PC side of games, unless it's a game that everyone else is getting launch day, but that's just so I can play MP with them.

The mobile apps take only seconds to load, is in your pocket, and are cheap.

Console games take minutes to load, and have to sit in your living room/bedroom, and cost $59 more.

I agree with Brizz in that you shouldn't compare the 2. I only play mobile apps while waiting for something like my plane to board or someone who is taking awhile to do something (like shopping...) When I'm home, I play PC games and occasionally play console games, but never mobile games while I'm home. That's the difference and that's why you shouldn't compare the two.

 

[CyMek]

What he should actually be afraid of is a game like Section 8: Prejudice catching on. It's $15, but had the production values of a $60 game; the only things that kept it from being a success were a lack of players and GFW.

 

[DeathBooger]

Microsoft controls the price of Xbox games, not Epic. Capps is worried about the future because Microsoft will most likely want to charge the same amount for the next generation.

 

[Cr4zyB4st4rd]

When I want to spend an hour playing games. I sit down and play the games I enjoy the most. Not the one that cost more. Stop worrying about price and make something that people actually want to play :|

 

[Sir_Brizz]

Microsoft controls the price of Xbox games, not Epic. Capps is worried about the future because Microsoft will most likely want to charge the same amount for the next generation.

Even more of a reason not to sit on exclusive with any one platform. Also, Microsoft will do $40 price point, but probably not for a first-party-published "new" game.

 

[Alhanalem]

If he's so terrified of cheap games being popular, why doesn't he lower the price point on his own games so all the poor nobodies in this shiatty economy can afford to play them?

 

[toniglandyl]

what can I get with 60 euros ? a helluva stuff !
spending it on one game is seriously very hard to justify nowadays.

anyways, as said before : when you buy a $1 or $60 game, you aren't looking for the same experience.

 

[Spiney]

Also...

Pay 60 for a new game, or pay 10 for a bundle of 3 AAA titles from 2 years ago in the Steam sale...

Good games are cheap nowadays, if you're not insisting on playing the latest.
And the well of golden oldies is ever growing.

Hey Mike, it's a liberal market! Don't you CEO types love that stuff?

 

[BITE_ME]

"we're spending tens of millions of dollars making those games that they want to play"

It's stupid to spend that much money to make a game.
1 million is the most they should ever spend to make a game.

 

[Selerox]

The public wants what the public gets? </The Jam>

I have to agree that paying $60 for any game is unjustifiable. Movies make less than games, it it doesn't cost $60 to buy a cinema ticket.

Developers have to stop trying to make players buy games they produce, and start trying to make games that players want them to produce.

Having said that, even with the best will in the world, I'll think twice before buying another Epic game, due to it's attitude towards it's customers. I think Epic should worry about not being arses to their customers before they worry about Angry Birds.

 

[UnrealGrrl]

I have never purchased a mobile game and dont plan to. I dont think about the price of a phone app when considering buying a pc game. yeesh whatta stretch beyond apples and oranges. . . wtf

 

[Kyllian]

Considering I don't have a smartphone, I just have various card games on mine