Free2Play - Not for Haters !!!

Warning - THIS IS A RANT !!!!

I have been reading quite a few blogs and articles, manufactured by some old school gaming journalists who like to beat down the Free2Play industry. (http://www.mmorpg.com/showFeature.cfm/loadFeature/3901/Whats-in-a-Name.html )
Their pet peeve seems to revolve around how Free2Play games are not really Free and ofcourse the hackneyed argument about how Free2Play games are not of the same quality as their surgically altered, plastic encrusted, retail cousins !!!

Free2Play Games are exactly that – Free to Play. You do not require to dish out any cash for a box and then, in some cases, get hit with an additional subscription fee – All this before you can shout WarCraft !! The Free2Play model has slowly yet surely changed the landscape of the video game industry. Last year saw a blood bath in the “traditional” “Cardboard-Plastic” packaged games market as gamers migrated in droves to the Free2Play model. Players can download a game like War Rock (www.gamersfirst.com/warrock) or Sword of the New World (www.gamersfirst.com/swordofthenewworld) , for free, and enjoy hours of fragelicious fun, without reaching for that other piece of plastic. Parents, struggling with an economy in a freakish Gran Turismo Tailspin, do not have to buy a $300 piece of Equipment to get that few hours of peaceful solitude while their kids indulge in some serious role playing !! Free2Play games offer the same escape, the same raw fun and the same indulgence as their bloated Pay to play cousins.

I am surprised the nomenclature of Free2Play gets a lot of the old school journo’s all worked up – Only because these games offer an option for a player to shortcut their level up process by spending a small amount of money via Microtransactions. I also do not see these “previous gen” bloggers giving any credit to the Free2Play industry for developing the offer based payment model which offers further options to gamers to “buy” items and premiums without actually having to pay for them. I do feel that the old school gaming industry still believes that Vinyl offers a more “Warmer” sound than the music you could download from iTunes !! These folks are dangerously poised to become another relic like the very industry which seems to be fading away in the sunset. Free2Play games are the future for this industry; an industry which seems to be struggling in doing what should have been done in the first place – Putting Gamers First !!!

Coping with Change - the Case of the Buzzard, the Bat, and the Bumblebee

If you put a buzzard in a pen six or eight feet square and entirely open at the top, the bird, in spite of his ability to fly, will be an absolute prisoner. The reason is that a buzzard always begins a flight from the ground with a run of ten or twelve feet. Without space to run, as is his habit, he will not even attempt to fly, but will remain a prisoner for life in a small jail with no top.
The ordinary bat that flies around at night, a remarkable nimble creature in the air, cannot take off from a level place. If it is placed on the floor or flat ground, all it can do is shuffle about helplessly and, no doubt, painfully, until it reaches some slight elevation from which it can throw itself into the air. Then, at once, it takes off like a flash.
A Bumblebee if dropped into an open tumbler will be there until it dies, unless it is taken out. It never sees the means of escape at the top, but persists in trying to find some way out through the sides near the bottom. It will seek a way where none exists, until it completely destroys itself.

Moral

In many ways, there are lots of people like the buzzard, the bat and the bee. They are struggling about with all their problems and frustrations, not realizing that the answer is right there above them.
(courtesy Amit Bhaskar - someone who I connected with after 18 years)

Outsourced Day Care - this is tooooooo funny ...!!

and you think we have problems with decisions ...

Immense Change in my Life - the last 18 months...

I was thinking about the enormous change my life has gone through over the last 18 months...and it made my head spin ! After being "relatively" single for nearly 33 years, I got married in October 2006. The East coast was never in my radar for a place to live but I moved from Dallas to New Jersey in March 2007 and changed jobs. I had been settling comfortably at HCL, India's 4th largest outsourcing powerhouse, enjoying the benefits and the "power" of being a senior manager at a $4bn company. However, the risk taker in me made me dive into a startup - Gameshastra. My wife and me had a baby boy, Arjun, in August 2007 and just as we were contemplating buying a house in the Poconos (an Hour from NY in Pennsylvania) , my company opened up a new HQ in El Segundo, CA (Greater Los Angeles). Before anyone could say "baby boy", we packed our stuff and moved to a beautiful apartment in Marina Del Rey. The highlight of course, in all this madness, was meeting my wife and having Arjun. Having a child is absolutely the most amazing life changing experience for any human being. Mita (my wife) and Arjun are the only things which kept me sane in the midst of all this change. Working for Gameshastra is the next best thing !! The opportunities and challenges in a startup are scary and exhilarating - Like the proverbial Roller coaster ride ! Every hour here is unique and since this is "my" company the buck starts and stops at me.

M&A Time: Is this the beginning of a new dawn for the Video Games industry?

The video games industry seems to have become the darling of the street !! Vivendi and Activision are merging, EA wants to spend a few billions to acquire Take2, THQ acquired Big Huge Studios, Microsoft acquired RARE, Activision acquired Bizarre UK....
I can bet that the offices of these large publishers have more M&A consultants and Bankers roaming the floors than developers and creative folk !!
This frenzied M&A activity will definitely have a huge impact - On consumers, employees and ancillary businesses which provide services to the large players. Just another example of extreme change impacting all the elements in the value chain of this business.
Check out this excellent article http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20080316-9999-mz1b16gobbli.html and let me have some of your comments and thoughts on how this would impact the stake holders in the video games business.

Change...The best way is to think different