I had the fortunate experience to sit down with Margaret Wallace, CEO and Co-founder of Rebel Monkey recently, and discuss not only their hit virtual world CampFu, but where Rebel Monkey comes from, youth oriented virtual worlds, microtransactions and much more!
Speaking to the fact that the youth oriented virtual world space is becoming increasingly crowded, Margaret presents Rebel Monkey’s take on how and why CampFu stands out in the crowd. “We really wanted to focus on cooperative gaming. We really wanted to emphasize the idea of the individual player being part of something bigger than themselves.”
Moving on to microtransactions and how they factored into the development of CampFu, Margaret tells me that the inspiration for CampFu came from her and co-founder Nick Fortuno’s views on the success of the free-to-play model in Asia, and how it was a good fit for what they were planning with their virtual world. “Free to play was definitely the way to go for online. It’s no longer a question of if microtransactions will take hold in Europe and North America. …Now everyone’s onboard and trying to figure out their offering.” Looking forward, Margaret shared with me her thoughts on where microtransactions are headed. She sees the marketing becoming much more ubiquitous, with not only innovators like Rebel Monkey experimenting with optimizing revenue streams, but also larger portals, and even the old school powerhouse portals migrate (at least in part) to utilizing microtransactions. Wallace also sees microtransactions becoming much more wide spread across various platforms, and moves towards universal wallets containing currency that can be spent across these platforms. Using CampFu as a prime example of this prediction, Wallace goes on to tell me that while CampFu is only available on a browser on a computer right now, down the road she envisions an iPhone component that would carry a level of virtual goods offerings that would tie back in to the main ‘home’ of campfu that lives at campfu.com. Wallace also hinted at an xbox component, all leading back to a total CampFu experience.
Looking ahead, talking about what’s next for Rebel Monkey and CampFu, Wallace tells me that the virtual world is only in it’s infancy right now, with plenty more additions and revisions planned. A ton of social networking features are planned, and plenty of new virtual goods, both clothing and virtual housing decoration are on the way. Rebel Monkey will also shortly be launching new games for CamFu players, and focusing on the way teams can form and support themselves, as well as creating API’s for developers to create their own real time cooperative games to be used within CampFu.
Rebel Monkey also isn’t just satisfied with one virtual world, but as Wallace explains, the engine that powers CampFu will be utilized to grow and develop further virtual worlds, making CampFu just one of several virtual world offerings from Rebel Monkey.
Wallace admits that Rebel Monkey is still ironing out the details surrounding a universal currency that would cover all of Rebel Monkey’s planned virtual worlds, but she does say that it has an undeniable appeal. “We definitely are leaning towards having a universal currency that would work with all of our virtual world offerings, because if we have a player that has FuCash from CampFu why would we want to establish all these hurdles for them to use their FuCash in other properties that we launch.”
Think Services Game Group’s Game Developer recently released findings from their most recent survey, asking approximately 200 developers their opinions and usage statistics on outsourcing game development.
The 2009 Game Development Outsourcing Report found that between 2007 and 2008 outsourced development rose 10 percent, from 76 percent to 86 percent. The Think Services Game Group conducted a blind survey, and approximately 200 professional game developers were polled anonymously, thereby ensuring a fair, yet comprehensive look at the industry segment. Questions included studios’ usage of outsourcing, the associated budgets and plans to accompany this outsourcing, and regional factors, amongst a number of others.
This survey reveals key data on the rise and usage of outsourced development work, and how the practice is on track to grow even larger than current levels. Of those surveyed that do not use outsourcing at one point or another during development work, half of them responded that they plan on doing so in the near future. Likewise, of those surveyed that do currently use outsourcing, 95 percent of them plan on continuing to do so.
One factor contributing to the outsourcing movement, according to the survey is the increasing cost and bandwidth required to create a high volume of assets for modern console systems. Respondents reported that the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 are the two platforms in which game development is most often outsourced. To compliment these findings, the survey also found that overall outsourcing budgets are on the rise, nearly doubling. The majority of companies planning to spend $2 million or more on outsourcing rose almost 20 percent in 2008.
“It is the goal of Game Developer Research to provide the professional game community with an understanding of the industry landscape from multiple perspectives,” said Simon Carless, publisher of Game Developer Magazine and director of Game Developer Research. “With game outsourcing an increasingly important part of making large-scale video games, we hope this survey will give both contractors and game studios a good sense of how business practices are evolving.”
The 2009 Game Development Outsourcing Report is available for purchase from gamedevresearch.com and also discusses overall budgets, reasons for outsourcing, the selection process for choosing firms to outsource to, and the regions of the world that the respondents worked with. The report also includes a directory of established outsourcing studios from across the globe that were mentioned by survey respondents, with a particular emphasis on those mentioned multiple times.
With the release of the digital download only Mega Man 9, there’s another great feature awaiting players: customized upgrades via microtransactions.
Released late last week, Capcom’s Mega Man 9 will offer players the ability to update the game via puchaseable features. While the content is not yet available for download, the online manual lists a number of optional features and the pricelist for each.
Here’s what Mega Man 9’s got on tap thus far:
Endless Attack: (300 Wii Points) Test your skills on a stage without end. Try to break the record for getting the farthest. Releases October 6.
Hero Mode: (100 Wii Points) Play the game with a more difficult level of enemy distribution. Releases October 20.
Superhero Mode: (100 Wii Points) Play the game with a super difficult level of enemy distribution. Releases October 20.
Proto Man Mode: (200 Wii Points) Play the game as Proto Man. You can use the shield while jumping. There is no story for Proto Man. Releases October 6.
Special Stage: (100 Wii Points) Gives you another Time Attack stage to try, including a new Boss at the end. Results will be displayed in the rankings. Releases October 20.
After giving Mega Man 9 a go, let’s hope that there will be additional items for sale in the game, as this is proving to be the most challenging Mega Man to date. Not quite enough to make me want to bag it quite yet, but getting very close. There’s a fine line between challenging and downright impossible. As with any new game, there’s always a lot of trial and error involved in boss fights (and some NPC’s as well), but Mega Man 9 presents players with a seemingly impossible trio of robot elephants that lob multicolored balls at you. After doing a bit of digging around, it seems that I’m not the only one with elephant troubles: Patrick Kiepek over at MTV is having the same difficulty.
From what I’ve played thus far, it’s been quite a challenge, and I’m not quite ready to shelve Mega Man 9 quite yet, but as previously mentioned, hopefully Capcom/Wii intend on either a content upgrade (I’m not asking for a cakewalk…just a tab bit easier guys) or some juicy (temporary) microtransaciton goodness that’s going to help me blast said elephants (and hopefully Concrete Man as well) into next week.
“Mega Man 9” arrived on WiiWare and PSN last week and goes live on Xbox Live Arcade this coming Wednesday. Who knows…maybe Microsoft users will have an easier time with it?
Our friends over at Parks Associates have recently released some more outstanding research and predictions regarding the gaming industry. Their most recent report: Connected Consoles: Gaming, Media, and Beyond predicts that gaming console revenues will reach a staggering $8 billion by the year 2013.
Parks Associates predicts that revenue streams from digital video distribution (think Xbox/Netflix), downloadable games and content, virtual worlds and avatar-based microtransactions, multiplayer gaming services, and dynamic in-game advertising will account for these numbers.
“Broadband connectivity, now a common feature for game consoles, is a key enabler for new business models,” said Yuanzhe (Michael) Cai, Director of Broadband and Gaming, Parks Associates. “Among the different online revenue opportunities, digital video distribution and downloadable games and content are the most promising.”
The reports goes a step further to reveal that among the “big three” console leaders (Xbox, PS3, and Wii), Microsoft currently dominates the online content and service market, but Sony and Nintendo are making strong headway into the field as they ramp up their base of connected customers and diversify monetization models.
“Led by Microsoft’s success in Xbox Live, all three console makers are dreaming up many innovative offerings to entice console households to get connected and spend more money,” Cai said.
In addition to top findings on the current state of console play, Parks Associates study even goes a step further and analyzes new console related capabilities, services, and business models. These new models include: online multiplayer gaming, virtual worlds, dynamic in-game advertising, and digital delivery. The study outlines the impact of game consoles on other industries and forecasts revenue growth and market share.
To hear more from Yuanzhe ‘Michael’ Cai, be sure to attend his session “Games of Tomorrow and the Future of MMOGs” at the Digital Media Wire’s NY Games Conference on September 26th.
While working the AI interface for Relic Entertainment’s Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War was good enough for Jamie Cheng, there was something missing. Something perhaps like…your own company?
Jamie Cheng now sits in the drivers seat of Klei Entertainment and has released his own original downloadable games including Eets on PC and Xbox Live Arcade, and helped Metanet develop N+ for Xbox Live Arcade. And while these accomplishments are impressive in their own right, it’s Cheng’s recent deal with top free-to-play publisher Nexon that is starting to make big waves. Described as an “online arena combat game”, Sugar Rush seems to have a bright future ahead of it.
But it seems as though Klei didn’t initially start out to build free-to-plays. “While I was at Relic, I decided I was going to make my own game on my own time, so I got some friends together,” says Cheng. The ragtag team rented out a basement and started work on a 2D puzzle game, Eets.
Working on Eets as a labor of love, Cheng says, “I never really intended to sell it, I just wanted to see what we could do.” Luckily other members of his team saw the financial potential in the game an spurred Cheng on. “I used all the savings I had at the time, then I used borrowed money from my brother, then I started using government money after that.”
In 2006, Eets was released on PC and the followup Eets: Chowdown later arrived on Xbox Live Arcade.
Speaking to the recent deal with Nexon Cheng says, “We didn’t start working with Nexon because we were afraid of taking risks, or because we wanted the money. We felt Nexon really felt they wanted to do the right thing for a North American free-to-play game. We are their first North American free-to-play game.”
While Cheng’s titles are hits in the hands of gamers, it’s his take on free-to-play that makes a boatload of sense. He’s quick to admit that most people tend to see free-to-play titles as those of inferior quality to paid titles. Not reaching any further than a keyboard, Cheng points out a number of other free services that we use everday – Those that we do NOT expect a diminished level of quality and service. Gmail, Facebook and Craigslist are all free, and yet we don’t give any of these products the cold shoulder. Cheng also points to the music industry as an example. Radiohead recently gave away it’s most recent album, and charged only for concerts. Along this avenue, the classic of all classics: Woodstock, was a free concert that drew revenue from other streams such as merchandising.
Speaking of alternative revenue streams, Cheng spotlights the two leaders in the free-to-play arena: Microtransactions and in game advertising. “Yes, we do have advertising. No, we don’t force it right in front of your face and force it on you,” Cheng says. “What we want to do is incorporate advertising right into the games and make it enhance the experience.”
Cheng does however stress that microtransactions that radically unbalance a game are a bad thing. “If you sell a stronger sword, people are going to be pissed off,” he says. Along the Radiohead line, Cheng illustrates a common concert factor. If you go to the concert and enjoy it, you’re very likely to stop at the TShirt booth on your way out and pick up an ‘exclusive’ concert tour TShirt. Not only as proof that you were there, but also as a way to become more involved with a subject you like. The same is true for microtransactions. In regards to the in-game advertising vs. microtransactions, Cheng admits that his current setup is “heavily weighted” in favor of microtransactions. “You have to have a huge amount of volume before advertising becomes a large part of your revenue,” Cheng says.
The market research firm the NPD Group recently released its 2008 Games Segmentation Report which reveals some staggering numbers.
According to the US Census population clock, there are currently 304 million Americans. This includes all living breathing persons within the American borders. While some of these people do not fall into the range of NPD’s survey (ages 2-65+), NPD found that there are approximately 174 million Americans playing games. Even if we were to take the entire US population, that means that 1 out of every 2 Americans is playing some type of game on some type of platform.
The report divides the total number of gamers into 7 distinct “gamer segments” and analyzes their usage and ownership patterns. The breakdown looks like so:
3% are Extreme Gamers
9% are Avid PC Gamers
17% are Console Gamers
14% are Online PC Gamers
15% are Offline PC Gamers
22% are Young Heavy Gamers
20% are Secondary Gamers
Young heavy gamers make up the majority of the survey with a whopping 38 million strong. These gamers tend to favor portable platforms, make up at least one third of the system owner’s group with 6 out of every 10 owning a DS and/or PSP.
On the other side of the coin, Extreme Gamers, those classified as playing a total of 22.3 or more hours per week, and having purchased nearly 24 titles across all their gaming platforms in the past three months, show a strong preference for the PS3 and Xbox 360.
“Although Extreme Gamers are heavily involved with the industry, they represent a small portion of the potential market for any new game that comes to market,” said NPD analyst Anita Frazier. “In order to promote continued growth, we must better understand all of the gaming segments.”
While the PC is used more than any single console for gaming, Extreme Gamers, Console Gamers, and Young Heavy Gamers are more likely to use consoles than a PC to play.
The study also found that Console Gamers; those that play on a console system, on average 8.2 hours/week, and purchased 3.2 games in the past three months, that own a PS3 are most likely to own other current gen consoles. In contrast, only 10% of PS2 owners also own a PS3.
Regarding micro transactions, the NPD Group found that more than half of the Extreme Gamers and just over a third of Avid PC Gamers said that they would definitely download a feature to enhance a specific game that they own.
Speaking of downloads, 14% of games purchased in the past threee months across all segments were digitally acquired, with Avid PC Gamers making 27% of their purchases digitally.
About the NPD Group Study:
The data was collected from more than 20,000 members of NPD’s online consumer panel, ages two to 65+. Responses for consumers ages two to 12 were captured by instructing a parent to take his or her child in this age range to the computer to answer the questions, either with or without the parent’s assistance. Qualified respondents reported they personally play video games on a PC, on a console or portable system, or on another device such as a mobile phone. The following four key variables were used to create the gamer segments: ownership; usage; frequency; and purchased/received video games. Final survey data was weighted to represent the U.S. population of individuals ages two and older. Fieldwork was conducted from January 11-February 5, 2008.
Note: This study was conducted in January, meaning that questions that refer to consumer behavior in the past three months include the Christmas/Hanukkah holidays.
Games Segmentation 2008 differs from Gamer Segmentation II (May 2007) primarily in the revised sampling methodology and the revised and updated Segment definitions. Gamer Segmentation II used a sample of individuals age 6 to 44. Games Segmentation 2008 uses a sample of individuals 2 to 99. By including all gamers, NPD will be able to continue to use and trend these segments for future waves.
Microsoft corporate Vice President John Schappert recently spoke with Venturebeat’s Dean Takahashi on a number of topics including a micro transaction based model for Xbox avatars.
The Microsoft avatar system was announced at E3, and one thing was clear: There’s a lot of potential for micro transactions in the Microsoft future. With the recent interview, Schappert puts the official stamp on the ‘It’s something we’re seriously considering’ rumor.
“That may be in the future,” Schappert said when asked about the prospect. “In the near term, we want to launch these with great customization and a great library of accessories this fall. I think there is a lot more we can do with them. You will see us continue to add experiences that make use of the avatar.”
“To me, avatars are a logical extension to give us countless ways to personalize our own styles,” he said. “It’s not like we are using avatars to recreate the perfect human body. And it’s not too cutesy. It’s in the middle. It dresses up the core first-person shooter, who can be edgy. And the more casual player can dress up to look friendly.”
If this sounds more than familiar, just have a think for a second about the Nintendo version: Mii’s.
“I have to make a shout out to the Miis and say that Nintendo did a phenomenal job integrating them into the Wii games,” Schappert said. “There was a lot of inspiration from them. At the same time, it’s a logical evolution of our gamertags on Xbox Live. It was a question of when to introduce it.”
It’s good to see that Microsoft isn’t just doing a bit of chest beating, but giving a nod to the Nintendo boys for beating them to the market. Whether these custom, micro transaction based avatars will cost an unruly amount of Microsoft Points is yet to be seen.
Micro transactions for in game avatar customization; good or bad? While the topic can and most certainly will rage on in forums, blogs, and chat channels, isn’t it simply a case of two different types of gamers? Will the ‘hardcore’ category yet again be the most vocal in it’s opposition, while the ‘casual gamer’ category silently goes about it’s business, dropping a buck here and there to truly customize and enjoy their in game toon? Clearly the market has shown growth in the micro transaction field, both in interest and development. With Microsoft putting more resources into developing a program, isn’t this a clear stamp of approval?
World of Warcraft lead designer Jeff Kaplan recently revealed Blizzard’s plan in introduce an achievement system in conjunction with the Wrath of the Lich King launch.
“Eventually, our plans are for the Achievement system to become an account-based system,” he explained.
“It’s basically a gamerscore,” Kaplan said, when I made reference to Xbox Live’s Achievement system. “For now the points are just a ‘WoW’ character score. As we graduate to that Blizzard Account system, which is right on the horizon, it will switch over to a Blizzard Level.”
“Your ‘WoW’ score would be just one factor that will go into your Blizzard Level. And rather than call it a ’score,’ we just wanted it to be like you’re leveling up on Blizzard games… You’ll have this Blizzard identity, and you’ll be able to see things like ‘Oh, this guy was great at Diablo III, but he never played Starcraft and he was mediocre in WoW. That sort of thing,” says Kaplan.
Beta testers of Wrath of the Lich King have already gotten a taste of the new Blizzard Account system. Beta players have been required to temporarily create a Blizzard Account that’s tied to the WoW accounts. However, this beta is just that, a test account, and will not function as actual ‘Live’ Blizzard Accounts, and will not count towards purchases in the Blizzard store once the real system is active.
While achievement systems are nothing new to the gaming industry and games themselves, this is however a highly significant move from Blizzard. Blizzard has bucked the trend for years now, firmly ignoring the growing trend in free to play, micro transaction based MMO’s, favoring the traditional subscription based model. With the introduction of a pan-Blizzard product database, could there be a weakening of this philosophy? Would it be possible someday in the near future to equip my Orc hunter with a new gun or outfit based on achievements? And if I can get these items through an achievement system, how far off are we from dropping a dollar here, and a few dollars over there to grab that purple version of the gun and match it perfectly with newly acquired epic flying mount?
Pocket Gamer, considered by most to be the industries leading figure in mobile gaming recently published it’s findings of a comparison study reviewing all game publishers. The study was based on 313 international game reviews made public between January and March 2008. Rankings and ratings were compiled from heavy hitters Pocket Gamer, IGN Wireless, Mobile Game FAQs, Airgamer, and midget review.
Gameloft came out on top, receiving the award for “Best-Ranked Mobile Game Publisher”. Editor in chief of pocket gamer said, “Gameloft’s tally was based only on 34 available reviews out of the 313 that we studied. This makes the outcome all the more impressive because they managed to secure very high scores based on a small number of published reviews.”
“Receiving this honor from Pocket Gamer is a true privilege,” said Michel Guillemot, President and CEO, Gameloft. “We will strive to live up to this distinction by continuing to deliver the best titles worldwide.” Gameloft surpassed the competition with an average score of 7.94 out of 10, ahead of the second place publisher that earned a median score of 7.61.
Gameloft is a leading international publisher and developer of video games for mobile phones and consoles. Creating games since 1999, they have options available for handsets equipped with Java, Brew, or Symbian technology. Gameloft also publishes titles for WiiWare and DS, Xbox LIVE arcade, iPods, and PCs. Gameloft’s top titles include Block Breaker Deluxe, Asphalt: Urban GT, and New York Nights. Gameloft enjoys network distribution in over 80 countries globally.
Market research firm NPD released April data on Thursday putting Nintendo’sWii on top.
Nintendo also released their own press release using the NPD numbers:
According to NPD, the Wii outsold Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony’s Playstation 3. The Wii moved 714,000 units in April bringing it’s total US sales since launch to 9.5 Million units.
NPD’s numbers show that Microsoft milked the cash cow for 188,000 units and Sony, 187,100 PS3′s.
Perhaps having a bit of advanced knowledge of the upcoming numbers, Microsoft released a statement of their own on Wednesday that they’d reached the 10 Million units sold mark, making the Xbox 360 the first next-gen console to reach this landmark. Microsoft gave itself a pat on the back, arguing that this is the landmark that that usually indicates the eventual winner of each console generation.
Speaking of April, unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto IV launched on the 29th on Xbox 360 and PS3. Granted, GTA IV had only been out for 2 days last month, and box Microsoft and Sony saw an increase in these sales, and yet Wii still came out on top.
NPD’s data on GTA IV places the game in two of the three top slots of software sales, with the Xbox version cashing in with 1.85M copies, and the PS3 version selling 1M units.
Again, Nintendo backs that ass up with Mario Kart Wii coming in as the second best selling game for the month of April, pushing 1.12M bananas out the door. Overall, 6 out of the top 10 best selling games during April were Wii games.
Let’s not forget about the other white meat: handheld gamers. The Nintendo DS and the Sony PSP outsold both the Xbox 360 and the PS3. The DS cranked out 414,800 receipts, with the PSP paling in comparison at only 192,700.
Overall, NPD’s research indicates what we’ve already mentioned, even though the economy sucks, the gaming industry is still partying like it’s 1999, with total sales in April racking up $1.23 billion. Yep, that’s Billion. That’s a 47% increase over the $839 million only one year earlier. Likewise, hardware sales were up 26% from $339 million in April 2007 to $426 million in April 2008.
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Perhaps having a bit of advanced knowledge of the upcoming numbers, Microsoft released a statement of their own on Wednesday that they’d reached the 
