“Go big or go home” is great when you’re Donald Trump, rich enough to hire people to grow their hair for your toupee. If you “go big” and lose it all, you just drain one of your money-baths and try it again. But for those who have to grow our own hair and fill our tubs with water, not every swing has to be for the fences.
Success Scales
Success is often a matter of scale. For instance, if I have to pay for ten employees’ salaries, office rent, and weekly visits from Glommo the Clown, I might need my game to bring in $100,000 a month to consider it a success.
“Turbo Monkey Smasher Online only cleared $50,000 last month,” I may wail in despair. “We’re ruined!” (Though if I were working alone in my basement, $50k would be an epic win.)
It’s not uncommon to see movies and games making millions of dollars, and yet still be considered flops. They cost so much to produce, they need to bring in a crazy amount of money to succeed. They need to swing for the fences; anything less than a home run is a failure.
In order to bring in that crazy money, games are often made for the broadest market possible. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s not the only way to work.
Thinking Narrow, Not Small
Rather than aiming for the broadest market, it can sometimes be more efficient to aim for a narrower target, and deliver a more specific experience. I’m not advocating a lower quality product, but a more limited one.
For instance, if I’m making a game that simulates driving a big rig truck, I will focus on the simulation aspects, rather a GTA-style open world with hundreds of NPCs with voice-over dialog. I’m aiming at a small target audience (those interested in truck-driving sims), so I focus on what’s important to that audience.
Other (existing) niches are historical strategy wargames, which eschew high-end graphics for historical accuracy and vicious AIs — since that’s what the audience cares about. Or for a larger example, look at EVE Online. It found its niche (economic space sim) and made that sucker its own. While other MMOs have come and gone, EVE is still growing. It’s a niche market, but since they’re the best in that niche, players attracted to that sort of thing are very loyal once they start playing.
Not Just Indies
“Sure, that’s good for indies working out of their basements,” you might say. “But I’m running a massive studio with vast overhead. I got no room for niches.”
You’re probably right. If you’re investing a ton of resources into a single game, you have to do everything you can to ensure the highest rate of return — and that includes avoiding niches. You could make the world’s finest game about being a sewer rat being eaten by mimes but with such a small niche, you’ll never make your money back.
But…
If you haven’t invested the resources yet, I’d suggesting considering not just one, but multiple niches. Rather that investing a million dollars into a single game, invest a quarter of that into four “nichier” games. Each one has a smaller investment, but has the potential for long-term income. The scale of success is smaller, and you can deliver a more focused experience.
…Not that I’ve ever been in charge of a million-dollar studio. (Nor would I want to be.) But it’s something to consider all the same.
And on a Personal Note
Because several people have asked, yes, I was one of the many SOE employees laid off last week. I was part of the Denver studio where, most recently, I was lead content designer for Magic: the Gathering – Tactics. Yes, I’m looking for a full-time game design position and yes, I’m available for any contract writing or game design assignments you might have coming up. If you think I’d be a good fit for your project, please contact me.
