When you've fallen into the ocean, success is keeping your head above water. Success is also being picked up by Hugh Hefner's yacht, out on a three month voyage.
If you are holding out for the perfect game, the only game you play will be the waiting one.
I can only say this so many times. Success and failure is a financial indicator. A game has targets, it is what investors use as a benchmark when making investments (be they funders, shareholders, bank loans, whatever.
If a game is a success it has achieved one or more of the following; recouped development cost plus interest, earned profit over and above safer alternative investment options, earn sufficient cashflow to cover operating costs and profit. The payback period and individual feasibility for every game is different. But this is the measure of success and failure and the only one. Customer satisfaction is a part of this but only in so far as the payback period may require X number of subscriptions for Y number of months before a game hits the payback period.
This is the only measure of success or failure. Not liking a game does not equal failure.
You can take this further by including a time element. The Secret World sold about a fifth of the copies they expected it to sell, but they had a very high retention rate. The retention rate wasn't that important because not many people started the game, but it was a good thing.
Now, TSW is making money, getting updates and is in the front line of Funcom's portfolio. It was a very hard road to get there, and a price was paid by many of their employees, but they successfully managed to stave off bankruptcy and demonstrate that they could get a complete game developed. It wasn't a game that too many people wanted, but still, they successfully built the game from start to finish and have successfully managed to keep it running, even expanding it over time.
There seems to be an absolute failure of a game shutting down, but there really seems to be a spectrum of success, with some successes far better than others.
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
There is no standards for being a success. Success can be judge financially or by word of mouth, or more rigorous, both.
Generally, a game hits when it get big markets, good word of mouth and great profits at the same time.
However, a mobile MMO developed by a small studio can say their game is successful by reaching 100 downloads. I think WoW is a huge success but many people say "Wow sucks."If we only see the reviews thru Internet, then EVERY game fails. because there are always a lot of people complaning about everything, and they will never stop this.
Comments
If you are holding out for the perfect game, the only game you play will be the waiting one.
You can take this further by including a time element. The Secret World sold about a fifth of the copies they expected it to sell, but they had a very high retention rate. The retention rate wasn't that important because not many people started the game, but it was a good thing.
Now, TSW is making money, getting updates and is in the front line of Funcom's portfolio. It was a very hard road to get there, and a price was paid by many of their employees, but they successfully managed to stave off bankruptcy and demonstrate that they could get a complete game developed. It wasn't a game that too many people wanted, but still, they successfully built the game from start to finish and have successfully managed to keep it running, even expanding it over time.
There seems to be an absolute failure of a game shutting down, but there really seems to be a spectrum of success, with some successes far better than others.
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
it depends.
There is no standards for being a success. Success can be judge financially or by word of mouth, or more rigorous, both.
Generally, a game hits when it get big markets, good word of mouth and great profits at the same time.
However, a mobile MMO developed by a small studio can say their game is successful by reaching 100 downloads. I think WoW is a huge success but many people say "Wow sucks."If we only see the reviews thru Internet, then EVERY game fails. because there are always a lot of people complaning about everything, and they will never stop this.