Game Ownership Distribution and Exchange Summary

Word Of Warcraft (WOW)

Developer:Blizzard EntertainmentPublisher:Blizzard EntertainmentWhich Formats:PCDose the Publisher own the developer:They are the same company Who owns the format:PC open format, How much dose it cost to release a game on this format:Its free because its PC open format, but WOW spend over 50 million pounds a year to maintain the servers.Is the game based on another licensed product:No, but they are making a film on the game.

How dose the products get to the consumer and how dose the company make money from it? The game gets to you by the consumer has to physically go and buy the disk then you play the game through your computer. The company make money from the product by the monthly subscription cost to play the game, the different map packs, and different accessories you can buy.How do you get hold of the game? you buy a disk that has the game on it, there are updates, you need to buy the updates if you wish to update and upgrade.Do you get the whole game or do you have to pay more for the full content? They sell the game in chunks, they bring out updates and new maps which you have to buy separately.Do you pay upfront for the game or pay in other ways?You have to buy the game disk from game retailers over a till, and when you have the game, you can buy new maps and accessories, but you also have to pay a monthly subscription fee to play the game.

This is a very risky way to sell the game for the company, charging people to buy the game, and then change them again on top of that a monthly charge to play the game, This is very costly for the consumer so the company have to make sure they build up a massive user base or nobody would go and buy an expensive game and then pay a charge on top of that to play the game.

Ed Bray ! UNIT01 AO5

Game Ownership Distribution and Exchange Summary

Parrallel Kingdom Developer:PerBluePublisher:PerBlueWhich Formats:Android, iOSDose the Publisher own the developer:They are the same company Who owns the format:Android, iOS, How much dose it cost to release a game on this format:According to the article below, a survey of 96 mobile app developers showed the average cost to develop an app was $6,453http://techcrunch.com/2010/05/16/iphone-app-sales-exposed/Is the game based on another licensed product:No

How dose the products get to the consumer and how dose the company make money from it? The product gets to the consumer by the consumer might see it on the top 40 charts for apps on the app store, if they are interested they download the app, free of charge, it downloads straight away. The company makes money by relying on in-app purchases, they hope that people will want to buy more ‘food’ to play the game more.How do you get hold of the game? You have to go onto the App store and download the game. Then you play it through your phone or tablet.Do you get the whole game or do you have to pay more for the full content? You get the whole game for free, they make money through in-app purchases.Do you pay upfront for the game or pay in other ways?no, The game is completely free, but if you want to get more ‘Food’ then you have to buy it, you buy it through the app, you pay first then you get the “Food” straight away.

This is a good way to sell the game in the view of the consumer, the consumer thinks a free app, great. downloads it and plays it, then if they like the game and want to play it more, they will need to buy some more ‘food’ which it for sale as an in app purchase. This is a bit risky for the company, they need to make sure people like the game enough to want to keep playing and then buy the ‘food’. Having the game free is good idea, they can build up a massive user base, get the app on the app store top charts, then more people will see the app, download it, and then they might go and buy some more ‘food’.

Ed Bray ! UNIT01 AO5

Game Ownership Distribution and Exchange Summary

Guild Wars 2 Developer:ArenaNetPublisher:NCSoftWhich Formats:Mac and PCDose the Publisher own the developer:ArenaNet are a subsidiary of NCSoftWho owns the format:PC and the Mac are open formatsHow much dose it cost to release a game on this format:No license cost - just the development costs - which are always ongoing for an MMORPGIs the game based on another licensed product:No - Guild Wars is a universe and brand created by the publishers.

The game was available at launch as a physical disc and download.

The price of the game at the first point of exchange is enough to cover the development costs (estimated 100 million) as long as the sales hit 1 million +.After that profits are made on the in-app-purchases of gems and equipment from the Black Lion trading.

3 million copies have been sold as of 2013 and the peak usage was 400,000 gamers at one time.

There are no subscription costs just profits from IAPs.

The split distribution satisfies much of the market that still buys discs (87% of UK games revenue is boxed games) but also suits the hardcore PC market that use services such as Steam and like to have downloadable content.

The business model relies on establishing a large user base to enable the game to make profits. The publishers could take this risk however as Guild Wars is part of a franchise and they were certain that there was already a user base established.

This is an effective business model for existing franchises as the lack of subscription will no seem a burden to existing fans or be a barrier for those gamers who wanted to get involved in a MMORPG for the first time.

Ed Bray ! UNIT01 AO5