Massive

Global Best Practice in Digital Game Publishing

The UK Department of Trade International Technology Service have just published a report into a game mission to North America and France in 2003. The mission summary is online.

Some massive points from the launch event at BAFTA last night:

• Moral rights regimes, such as those in France, Japan, and Australia, prevent game creators from assigning over their moral rights. The UK moral rights regime is under review. Full moral rights regimes prevent any creator of content to re-assign them. This includes people who create game MODs using tools supplied by the games publisher.
• Viewpoint from Atari (ex-Infogrames) -
  • Games need to reach a wider audience
  • Games need higher production values, better in every area
  • Game developers need to out-source
  • Games need to be shorter but better, providing a more intense experience
  • game companies will continue to need a mix of original and licensed titles
• Online remains unprofitable and risky. Game company strategies view online in terms of the following, in increasing order of risk:
  • Online communities and registration
  • Online multi-player functionality on a title that also supports a single-player experience.
  • Online distribution of games
  • Massively multi-play online games (persistent worlds)
• Valve, creators of Half-Life, are developing a broadband business platform for direct software deliver and content management called Steam. "At its core, Steam is a distributed file system and shared set of technology components that can be implemented into any software application."

• EA and THQ want to invest in more 3d party original licenses.

• Licensed games seen as an opportunity to improve a film franchise. A suggestion that the game Goldeneye and related James Bond titles, revived interest in the movie franchise.
  
• Development costs are roughly one third the overall cost of titles released by major publishers.