eGames Breaking Out of Casual

[chanon]

They've bought Cinemaware and are introducing a new label "Cinemaware Marquee" that they will use to publish "foreign independent core games".

some snippets:

" we thought there were a lot of products out there that never reach the U.S. market which most of the bigger guys skip on because they might not see as much commercial validity in them. But, there's a market for these really innovative games that we feel bring some of the innovation that the Cinemaware products are known for, and we wanted to bring them under this new label. "

"we won't be focusing on any specific genre. So, we might be putting out strategy game or arcade games or real-time strategy games and so on and so forth, but most brands will still be targeting the core gamer market."

Read more at: http://www.next-gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2006&Itemid=2

Looks like this could be a good opportunity for many people here.

[ErikH2000]

The tack about publishing "foreign" games seems like a marketing ploy. Does anybody really not see games because the developers are in different countries?

-Erik

[mahlzeit]

Countries like Germany and France produce software in German and French. If these games are never localized to English, chances are you'll never see them. No doubt the same goes for Spanish, Russian, etc. I don't know if that is what they are up to, though...

[arcadetown]

I've literally seen tons of Japanese, Korean, and to lessor extent Chinese web games that are pretty darn good that never saw the english language. I figure there's got to be some good downloadable try/buy titles also but perhaps those countries still don't get downloadables.

[Hidden Sanctum]

eGames has been dealing with several issues in the last few years, most notably shrinking shelf space for their $9.99 games. Their stock prices have also dipped. I see this more as them taking a new direction to reverse their trends and move up into the $19.99 price ranges.

The downside is they have a bit of a bad reputation for cheap products. There 350 or 1,001 game CD are nothing more than demos they collected on the internet - most of them don't even run. I see this move as them trying to improve that image as well.

I agree that the whole 'foreign' thing is a marketing ploy. The underlying reasoning is strictly business and them trying to turn their trends around.

A good opportunity? Perhaps. I know several indie developers who have been published by big companies and the pay is not very good if you even get paid at all. I'll be optimistic that they may be run differently, but just be sure you fully understand what you are getting into before you sign a contract.