Behind the Curtain: the Gaming Industry
On Wednesday, James Mishler posted an interesting and informative ramble over on his Adventures in Gaming blog about the state of the gaming industry and where he thinks that it’s headed. If you want to see someone talk frankly about the costs of doing business in the gaming industry, you should check it out.
[As an aside, I didn't check his numbers rigorously but from a spot reading, and my experiences as a game-store owner and small-press publisher, the information that Mr. Mishler provides is acurate.]
Unfortunately, and probably inevitably, this post set off a bit of tempest in a teapot, as these things frequently do. So, ignore the part of the post where he calls out Paizo Publishing, specifically, for selling their Pathfinder pdf on the cheap and substitute ‘PDF producers.’ Selling pdf games for less than they are worth has been a hue and cry for years now, so pointing fingers at anyone in particular was, in this case, just a matter of picking a high-profile company to be used as an example (IMHO).