Spore's real costs, implications therof. A rant.

[Hoi]

Multiplayer isnt possible when you dl games, and that's what spore is all about.

[Otherside]

imo Spore is more revolutionary than spiderman 3 and will provide more entertainment

Spiderman 3 cost 5 times more

[Pxtl]

imo Spore is more revolutionary than spiderman 3 and will provide more entertainment

Spiderman 3 cost 5 times more

but...but...but... PIE!

[manored]

Multiplayer isnt possible when you dl games, and that's what spore is all about.

Spore isnt multiplayer tough, its just that stuff made by other players are downloaded by your game then your world needs new stuff, but since there are always people neurotic about stuff they dont know being downloaded automatically and etc they probally had to make some way of getting that stuff winhout the direct connection.

[SinbadEV]

pre-order display box it EB says internet connection is required to play the game... of course it could be cracked or something...

Spring Forums doesn't support linking to or suggesting downloading pirated software... they were kinda discussing it metaphorically...

[Otherside]

playing without being connected to server = only using ur creations + maxis stuff (which is only a thousand or so creatures 50 buildings/vehicles/spaceships)

so other peoples content is neccesary for a rich and diverse universe

[jcnossen]

So yeah, I think it was a crappy investment of 50 million dollars, pure and simple. Innovation is not a compelling reason to spend that kind of money.

How do you know that it's a crappy investment if the game is not even released yet?
I think the spore creature creator already shows that there is quite a large market for this game.

[Argh]

How do you know that it's a crappy investment if the game is not even released yet?
I think the spore creature creator already shows that there is quite a large market for this game.

Well, let's do the math.

$50 million, production.

$25 million, promotion (estimated by WSJ).

Take for publisher, after distribution, takebacks, taxes and other costs: about 40%, IIRC.

How many sales, in dollar figures... do you need, at $50, to break even? About $190 million.

Divide that by $50... 3,800,000 units would have to ship- no discounts, no giveaways with video cards, etc., but at actual full retail price.

See why I'm skeptical? The math does not look great, people.

Sorry, it's just how it is, frankly. All of the vaunted innovation in the world won't do jack, if a game that's PC-only (at this time), one year late, and waaaaay over the initial projected budget doesn't turn into a mega-hit. 3.8 million units sold is... FF7 territory. Typical hit games run in the hundreds of thousands of units sold, not millions.

If you guys believe this is another FF7, all right, that's fine, you're entitled to your opinions, and I mainly wish that you'd just quit heckling me for saying that this looks like a really bad business decision.

I just think that the whole thing smells like a mess, and that Wright's original premise from his GDC speech about why Spore was being built, which you'll go look up, if you're actually interested in why I bothered posting the OP... is broken on delivery. And no, I don't really believe that there are giant, lasting things that are coming out of Spore, or we'd have seen a lot more talk about that end of things. My best bet is that anything that was really cool just got sucked into EA's proprietary hoard... so, why are we all supposed to be excited, eh?

[smoth]

The technologies developed are the real takeaway from spore. EA games has the rights to that now developed tech and can sell it to others/use it for their own games. With spore EA games also gets to pull the gaming communities to them as their popular opinion of EA is that EA is a bad guy. In a world where these sort of megacorps are scooping up all of the successful companies having new technologies are assets that can be leveraged for higher return. Spore will sell, the company will easily recoup that petty 50mil and they will have the new technologies as assets.

Will Wright is a proven developer with the sims being the most sold game in history. Something like spore is crack for casual gamers, kids can play it, chicks dig it and even some of the hardcore guys are raving about the monsters they can create. He is a brilliant developer and allowing him to create this project has allowed a megacorp like EA to use him to be their "out of the box" guy.

You are incorrect on this one argh, better to just let it go.

[Argh]

Meh, I dunno man. Seriously, I'm really not sure about any of that.

It's not like the Sims at all- this is a lot more like Impossible Creatures, and the audience will not be the same. Same goes with the tech- I haven't seen much that tells me that the initial goals were met. That's just going to have to play out, we'll see in the long run. I think in the short run, they're going to take a pasting though.

[Otherside]

Spore is good cos of the technology and possibilities its opened up not cause of the game itself and 50 million is cheap imo for what its made possible + thats low compared to films like i said and will wright will make that bak by the end of the year np + much much more

[manored]

EA is giving out some of the the programs they used for experimentation and testing for free: http://www.spore.com/comm/prototypes

From the variety of things there I think there was indeed a lot of research around Spore.

In the faq its writen that you do can play offline, and aparently its possible to share creations winhout using the game's connection, like you share maps of spring.

[Imperium]

So presumably one would be able to pick a bunch of random creations by other people, download them, chuck them in a folder, and they would appear in their own game without the need for the internet being involved? Interesting if true...


In spore are you always playing against AI? Or would you be playing against other people who are in control of their species?

[Dragon45]

i think argh is just trolling at this point
or he's an idiot
ignore him and he'll go away

remember, dont feed thetrolls!

[smoth]

you are right dragon, this isn't going to go anywhere, it is like arguing with a blue bucket of paint that thinks it is red. Ultimately we will see the end result soon enough.

[Otherside]

Purple

[AF]

I anticipate that spore could well sell millions simply through expansion packs adding extra features and stages just like the sims. The game si so open ended and vast it would have unimaginable extensions, whereas the sims has limits due to its confined nature. You can apply all the sims additions to spore and there are still tonnes of different facets to add.

Spores engine would also allow EA to create the ultimate RTS engine of all time, that is if people don't treat spore purely as an RTS once they reach the tribal stage.

Imagine spore preloaded with the technology and civilizations of a scifi universe marketed as a new game where you can do fully interactive galactic warfare. Imagine startrek on a galactic scale or starwars or star gate, or populous.

I pre-ordered this in 2006, expecting it a month later. 2 years later I get my email saying its dispatched and should be with me by the following morning ^_^

[Otherside]

loving the space stage :}

[Lolsquad_Steven]

Remember those mods you made? Those were pretty horrible.

[Zpock]

Wait until you realise what government does with it's money, how much, and where it comes from.