Looking at PC gaming as a business
Many game developers think the sky is falling when it comes to the direction of the game industry. They talk about how the new mega games having budgets of $10 million and how that is making publishers risk adverse which in turn stifles creativity and takes the romance ouf of game development.
But is that really the case? Or is it more of a matter of game developers liking the "old days" where a small team could make "Game of the year" on a shoe-string budget. So is it really about economics or is it about glory? It is incredibly unlikely that I will ever make a game that becomes a house-hold name. But my games do make a profit and I get to make really fun games.
I recently saw some of the final Galactic Civilizations retail sales, roughly 140,000 sold worldwide (nearly all at full price). That was an indie game done on a shoe-string budget. Were the DOS games of the glory days typically selling those numbers? No.
You can still make good, innovative games without spending $10 million. But they won't be the "biggest games of the year". Or in other words, it's not profitability you sacrifice by not spending big bucks, it's glory.
On the other hand, I do think we need more distribution channels for games.
Movies get to have multiple lives -- first they're at the theater. Then they go on DVD. then they end up on cable TV. Then on regular TV.
Games just go from retail into oblivion. On TotalGaming.net one of the things we're struggling with getting publishers to let us put some of their games that aren't at retail available for purchase. I've been trying to get Atari to let us put Total Annihilation on www.TotalGaming.net for months but it's taking forever.
If games could have a second life beyond retail, I think the risk could be descreased substantially. And combine those classic "big name games" that aren't at retail with a fresh stream of new indie games and you create new venues for game developers to get their stuff out, take more chances, and be decrease their risks.