Actually, Ryan should get mondo credit for even thinking about starting a computer game company.
Our company's research shows that: 1. It takes about 40 professionals 18 - 24 months and 6 - 10 million dollars to produce a class A computer game. 2. Class A games (think Doom, etc.) set user demands for quality. 3. If you distribute a game through stores, less than 10% of the price goes to the developer. 4. If you distribute a game through the Web, only 1% of people who play a free demo actually buy a game. 5. The vast majority of games lose money. 6. The vast majority of gaming companies lose money (and then get bought or go away) On the other hand, if you are coding for people who are blind, 1. There are 250 - 300 blind accessible games available on the Web. 2. Almost all of those are totally free. 3. Comments on the forums indicate that even the free games have trouble getting people to play them. 4. And, 70 - 80 percent of people who are blind in the US are either unemployed or underemployed, so there's not a lot of cash there. Oh, and as Jim, Thomas, et al can attest, coding is hard work. If our company wasn't A. selling games to the general market, where we can get some revenue, and B. run by crazies who like building games and are satisfied with making a small profit and not trying to get rich we'd never even attempt to create accessible games. It's guys like Ryan who ultimately overcome all of the above and make this a better world, or at least a more entertaining one. So keep dreaming big, Ryan! It sets you above the cube slaves. John Bannick 7-128 Software --- Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED] If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
