Critics have had a field day debating why retail video game sales have been on the decline lately. As a visit to any GameStop reveals, though, the slump may have less to do with quality, price or new-fangled distribution methods than helping fans understand exactly just what they're buying.
"INDIE Live Expo, Japan’s premiere online digital showcase series connecting indie game fans all over the world, highlighted more than 150 games during its Saturday broadcast introducing world premieres, new trailers, and updates during its 10th-ever digital showcase." - INDIE Live Expo.
"Following a great event in November of last year, DevGAMM Lisbon is coming back to the beautiful and sunny Cascais region to catch up with old friends, connect with game developers from around the world, hear from seasoned professionals, and have a great time all around." - DevGAMM.
A look into the sad trajectory of indie games from high successful releases to complete irrelevancy in just a few weeks or months.
That's the thing with gaming there's always new experiences to have why spend months or years playing a single game when there's a new experience right around the corner.
Indie or AAA if your building your game expecting long term player counts you'll probably be disappointed as gamers often enjoy something for a few weeks and move on only to return if it's truely a classic.
Out of all the generations I've experienced there's games from 30 plus years ago I still dust off and play like super Mario bros, earthbound, vice city and san Andreas being games I treasure and revisit every few years but I'm not going back to play a game designed to keep me engaged for months on end because it's also designed to milk my wallet in most cases.
Build a great game that people love make it playable offline and ask does it matter if the concurrent player count is under 100 a year post launch more often that not it doesn't
The price of entry is too high to take chances like I used to. Was looking at V Rising and that ranges from $50-$130 CAD. That’s a lot for an indie imo. By the time it goes on sale, the player count might be dwindling. But that’s the trade-off, I guess.
nice that they used castlevania as an example, i had the same exact thought when i saw it. bring back good screenshots and gameplay "bullet points", save the legal mumbo jumbo for the manual.
castlevanias manual is also probably the worst i've ever seen. it's useless.
I would think Digigal Sales are taking over, which is why retail is hurting. Havent bought a retail game asides Star Craft 2 in 3 years. Over 90 games bought on steam now and growing.
Besides going digital is very environment friendly:
Packaging costs eliminated,
Transport costs none,
More profit for the developer,
Space saved at my place.
The Digital revolution started as early as 2006. Consoles are now getting onboard too. Once console makers see more and more people buying online, i wouldnt be surprised if new games are available for sale on launch day.