In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Richard Garriot, creator of Ultima, spoke on the state of the social/casual games space and the huge investments that are going into many new developers. Garriot, who will soon reveal his social game with his company, Portalarium, suggests that big money is being tossed at developers of sub-par games.
“…there’s tonnes of small start-ups who we are seeing take lots of investment and lots of activity and large acquisition costs – who are creating, literally, junk. Stuff that people aren’t playing that much and if you play it it’s not much fun.”
Garriot suggests this is another example of a bubble about to burst – “I do think it’s going to be short-lived, the door will close quickly. People that think we have the permanent door open of free distribution on the internet and therefore viral is going to be the great permanent equaliser – it’s just not true. Because you’re still going to be competing for mindshare and access to where people go to find this information. Advertising and distribution muscle is still going to win that day.”
As for what Garriot will be offering to the social space, his next title will be more in line with the Ultima Online-style he’s made his name with. “Ultimately, we do plan to bring an experience to the consumer in the casual space, that while it meets the criteria of social and casual still has the depth of what people are used to seeing me make akin to the Ultima series,” says Garriot.
Along with that, his team is hard at work on a suite of services and development tools that they’ll give away for free, in order to spur growth in the social game sector.
“There are people that are trying to sell their game development tools of various kinds and there are lots of high quality tools and engines available. But a lot of people are demanding that either money changes hands, or if you use those tools you must publish or use a particular service. That limits adoption and turns that standard into a competitor group that is out to resist other standards.”
With more and more big names headed into the social game space, a new wave of quality casual experiences may be in store for us gamers. Here’s hoping.
