(keitai-l) Re: Gig at Namco mobile...

From: dc <dc_at_gamelet.com>
Date: 09/16/03
Message-ID: <MJEJICKIOHLOGHNJOPGJIEBODIAA.dc@gamelet.com>
//  maybe it's coincidence but there is an interesting report today
//  on Namco's greatest J-Sky Java game ... for 1000+ yen per download.
//  http://www.zdnet.co.jp/mobile/0309/16/n_namco.html
//  http://www.namco.co.jp/mobile/jsky/ridgeracer.html

The CP price is 500yen. I think the download itself (256k) is about 700yen,
of which JPhone keeps 100%. So the TCO is ~ JPY1200 - 10 bucks. A lot in
japan, but not that much in the US right now. People are paying $5 for
bowling games!

And it is basically identical to the PlayStation 1 original - even down to
the easter eggs - the secret black "devil car" you can get, and the
animation of Galaxian on a billboard as you go into the tunnel. Some of the
original PS team worked on it too.

it was a stake in the ground, to raise the bar. The game itself is
definitely a huge risk and the most expensive mobile game ever produced.
Hence JPhone introduced the new price point of 500yen.
It's a death spiral for mobile games doing these sites of
all-you-can-download drossy games for 100yen... Remember Atari burying
100,000 ET carts in the desert? Inspiration for a BM camp...

It was a needed step for the mobile games industry - the first mobile
blockbuster. And it certainly hasn't hurt namco staking out the premium
corner.

/dc

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Received on Tue Sep 16 19:54:25 2003