It’s strange to think that someone in the video game business (business being the key word) would actually consider sales and revenue a negative result of their product. However, one indie developer claims just that!
Jason Rohrer, creator of indie title Castle Doctrine , made a surprising statement about how he feels the current structure in the game industry should be shaken up. “To put it bluntly: sales screw your fans. Your fans love your games and eagerly await your next release. They want to get your game as soon as it comes out, at full price. But they are foolish to do that, because a sale is right around the corner. This waiting game is likely decimating your player base and critical mass at launch by spreading new players out over time…And your fans, who are silly enough to buy the game at launch and waste money, get to participate in a weaker, smaller player community.” Rohrer said.
Of course, this begs the question: if the current system is so bad, what do you replace it with? Rohrer points to the escalating price scale of games like Minecraft and other Steam releases with similar structures, where the earlier you buy the game in its development cycle, the lower the cost would be.
Rohrer’s current project, Castle Doctrine , will be available on Steam on January 29 th , 2014.