Binx,
I don't know if you've noticed this, but generally there's an
understanding in the industry that mobile titles don't yield the kind of
numbers that desktop titles do. Have a look at the pricing for various
third party tools and you'll find that they are asking far less money
for their products in the mobile space. If your hypothetical situation
did indeed come to pass, which it may, I would guess that the cost
associated with the rating would be far lower than for other titles. I
don't think that would cause any grief whatsoever to publishers of
console and desktop games, since they're likely to be able to re-use
their already purchased desktop/console rating for the mobile market as
well.
Anyway, absent any actual evidence that this is happening, or even
planned to begin happening, it's all just speculation. It's probably a
better to spend your idle moments planning your next release or whatever.
On 11/28/2011 1:13 AM, Binxalot wrote:
There's nothing in writing from Google that games will not be promoted
on the marketplace without a rating just rumors. - but - there is no
other reason to suspect that the new rating system as it applies to
mobile phones would be different than the one for desktops and
consoles. Why would it? It’s the same content, just a different
distribution platform. So yes, when this announcement is made then
there will be two types of games - games with a rating and games
without - and like on all other platforms the hopes of getting your
game in to a mainstream outlet would require an upfront cost of $800
for a rating. It couldn't be anything other than that or console game
developers and other game developers would cry fowl at having to pay
two fees for the same rating on two platforms. Also all of the mobile
companies involved would have to accept this agreement or be seen as
allowing children access to violent games by customers / competition,
and if they accept the terms of the ESRB mobile rating system then
there's no addition need for more useless legislation from the
government.
In the end the small developer loses, I can pay $800 for a rating, it
would take me months to save up for it, but in the end I have to now
make up the loss of the rating cost and then after I dig out of that
hole if I'm lucky. Only months later would I see a profit from my game
on the store. Then we'd still be fighting against the mega AAA titles
which now litter featured marketplace.
Also this goes even further because now we have a breakup of the
android marketplace with Verizon and Amazon both pushing their own
separate app stores which all have a separate submission process and
hoops to jump through.
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
Groups "Android Developers" group.
To post to this group, send email to [email protected]
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
[email protected]
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/android-developers?hl=en
