asia posts

Gamasutra consultant Tim Allison, who has worked on titles such as Pirates of the Burning Sea, has contributed an editorial that examines the key to success for Western-made MMOs being surviving and thriving in the West.

Referencing the development of Pirates of the Burning Sea for Asia, Allison wrote that the team broke "the 'Asia' approach into both localization of design, and business structures due to the complexity of online requirements going far past just having a great game. We also emphasize the true success in revenue terms for Asia is not from license fees, but having the title actually perform in-market. This means having both partners share that common understanding."

Allison also believes that any licensing fees earned should be invested back into the support of Asian partners. "Many western developers would cringe at that thought of spending their license fee, but with the title performing in-market those license fees will quickly diminish in total revenue terms."

Visit Gamasutra to read the article in its entirety.

We've heard it many times, from many people; PC gaming is dead, or will be dead. Or at least, it's in disarray. In 2007, the PC accounted for only 14% of game sales. Piracy is rampant. Victims wander the forums proclaiming the PC gaming apocalypse. All hope is lost! Well, that's all bollocks. PC gaming is transforming, not dying.

At least, so says THQ exec Jack Sorenson. On one hand, he said that "thinking about the PC as a disc-based platform may in fact be old." On the other hand, he described everything from MMOs to digital download (Steam, anyone?) to casual games as huge successes. "All of those business models just don't go through retail, so when you look at retail figures on a comparison, it looks radically worse than in fact it may be," he said. "Maybe the PC is just transforming to really being the other end of the Internet."

He also said that if you look online-based Asian market -- "where there's not a single boxed product being sold" -- the picture looks rosier. He even suggested that "on a global basis [the PC] may have seen the biggest growth of all platforms, but we're so western-centric that we just don't think of it that way." So there you have it. Lament the industry's changes if you don't like them, but at least it's not dying.