[arg_discuss] Hard numbers

[despain at quantumcontent.com]

I know nobody likes to talk about hard numbers, but I thought it wouldn't
hurt to ask.

I'm working on the whitepaper for the SIG - the section on business
models. This section would be much more effective if I could give real
numbers from games which have run their course.

Most important are things like: Number of players, website "hits",
measures of success promoting any related products (video games, tv shows
etc.) totals on any advertising revenue (has anyone taken this route yet?
selling ads on pages?)

And of course, if anyone is willing to give me big general numbers it
would be nice to give people an idea of the total budget for these things.

If it would be easier, you can email me privately at
despain at quantumcontent.com and tell me what numbers you can. Also let me
know if you'd prefer I didn't attach the numbers to a particular game or
studio. I can be sufficiently vague when necessary, but if I have to use
just a range, I'd like it to be something with more data points than my
own experience provides.

And finally, if you can't give me hard numbers (or broad ranges) if you
could just let me know if your clients have expressed satisfaction with
the results of the game - I'd appreciate it.

Take pity on the lowly researcher. I'll take good care of your data. (And
yes, I realize how wobbly things like website pageviews can be. I won't
hold you to it.)

Wendy Despain
quantumcontent.com