No one can afford to make Myst games anymore
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Re: No one can afford to make Myst games anymore
#2pretty interesting, the macro economics of the software space seem shaky
Re: No one can afford to make Myst games anymore
#3Is it really that no one can afford it, or is it more no one really wants to back independent studios?
Re: No one can afford to make Myst games anymore
#4Is it really that no one can afford it, or is it more no one really wants to back independent studios?
There are hundreds of indie studios out there that find funding just fine. Even indie studios making eclectic puzzle games with weird stories. So this is probably not the reason.
Re: No one can afford to make Myst games anymore
#5Re: No one can afford to make Myst games anymore
#6Is it really that no one can afford it, or is it more no one really wants to back independent studios?
I think it's that Myst was released in a hungry, undersaturated market, and the competition is a lot tougher now. I truly love what Cyanworlds is doing, but the fact of the matter is, I'd rather be playing TF2 Classic, or Animal Well, or Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, than Obduction.
Another problem is, their games were popular at a time when most people didn't even have an internet connection, and therefore had far more patience for offline gaming. Their games require a LOT of patience.
Re: No one can afford to make Myst games anymore
#7Makes me miss my old Packard Bell PB16 .. or maybe I just miss the 90's in general .. or being young.. sigh
Re: No one can afford to make Myst games anymore
#8Is it really that no one can afford it, or is it more no one really wants to back independent studios?
There are hundreds of indie studios out there that find funding just fine. Even indie studios making eclectic puzzle games with weird stories. So this is probably not the reason.
The problem the article is talking about is that publishers will no longer fund "AA" games with $2-15 million budgets. The game market has bifurcated into low end indie titles (The article brings up a few reasons for why this has happened, such as the end of ZIRP and the complete lack of curation on platforms like Steam making it hard for titles to stand out. I guess if you're a publisher, you have a better chance of making a return on investment by funding 20 pixel art or friendslop titles and hoping one of them goes viral rather than funding 1 title like the new Myst sequel and hoping it doesn't get buried on Steam and the Nintendo eshop.
Re: No one can afford to make Myst games anymore
#9Is it really that no one can afford it, or is it more no one really wants to back independent studios?
What the article misses is that the first game was made by just roughly 6 people on the development team.
What has happened is the number of people working on games has become ridiculously large.
Re: No one can afford to make Myst games anymore
#10Is it really that no one can afford it, or is it more no one really wants to back independent studios?
I think it's that Myst was released in a hungry, undersaturated market, and the competition is a lot tougher now. I truly love what Cyanworlds is doing, but the fact of the matter is, I'd rather be playing TF2 Classic, or Animal Well, or Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, than Obduction. Another problem is, their games were popular at a time when most people didn't even have an internet connection, and therefore had far…
Myst was also bundled with a lot of PCs. Perhaps as a cheap way to show off CDROM capabilities.
Getting games installed and working in that era was often a chore. So when people sat down to play, it was already there for them.
Myst's sequels didn't sell as well as the first, despite the power of the brand, either. Likely because of competition.