[MUD-Dev] Re: MUD-Dev Digest, Vol 4, Issue 30

[Lee Sheldon]

>From Matt Mihaly:

>> UO, EQ and SWG -are- small niche games on entertainment's grand
>> stage, and that's why pointing at them as a successful model can
>> be counter-productive to put it kindly. What else do we have now
>> or in the predictable future? More niche games or design-limited
>> subsets of our already over-crowded niche like Shadowbane and
>> Horizons.

> On entertainment's grand stage they're niche but on
> entertainment's grand financial stage they are not niche for a
> single product. They're racking up revenue and profits equivalent
> to some summer blockbuster movies.

I admit my math skills aren't great but summer blockbusters gross on
an average$200,000,000 domestically in about three months
time. Pirates of the Caribbean has made $297,000,000 in 13
weeks. That's what?  37,000,000+ people have seen the film at an
average of $8 a ticket? My calculations suggest SWG (the MMO summer
hit - 300,000 people have bought it to date) has grossed
approximately $28,500,000 ($15,000,000 for $50 boxes, the rest for
initial 3 month subscriptions at $15). The studios spend on an
average a bit less than half of their figure to make a big
movie. I'd suspect the SWG budget was more like two thirds of gross,
so profits would be proportionately less. I'm not sure how you're
using the word "equivalent."

Lee
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