Real launching subscription game service

NEWS

The rest of the game industry is wielding huge development budgets and taking on massive technical challenges in its effort to push consumers to complex, multiplayer online games. But RealNetworks thinks there's a lot to be said for a nice game of mah-jongg. The streaming media specialist has sold more than 700,000 downloadable copies of games -- mostly simple puzzle and card titles -- through RealArcade, the game download and online play service Real launched last year. The company hopes to prompt even more downloads with a new subscription service to be announced on Tuesday. Customers who pay a monthly fee of $6.95, or about £5 ($4.95, or about £3.50, for those already subscribing to the RealOne service) will be able to download one game a month and receive discounts on further downloads. RealArcade's titles are different from the stuff that usually makes headlines. The most popular titles are puzzle and card games that seldom take less than 10MB on a player's hard drive and cost as little at $10. RealArcade hosts the games for developers and provides all support and download services in exchange for a cut of sales. Andrew Wright, general manager of the company's game division, said RealArcade has provided a valuable outlet for game developers who don't want to deal with the super-complex projects and Hollywood-level production budgets. "The simple puzzle games you can develop for as little as $60,000," Wright said. "The chance of getting a payout pretty quickly is very high." RealArcade titles typically appeal to people who don't spend a lot of time playing games but want a quick diversion now and then. The service's customer base is more than 50 percent female. "We're going for a mass-market consumer, not your typical core gamer," Wright said. "The retail channels are not catering to this audience. You go to Best Buy, and it's all about action games, blood and guts." Schelley Olhava, gaming analyst for research firm IDC, said it's possible to make money from such casual gamers, but it's tough to compete with free online games offered on sites such as Yahoo and Microsoft's The Zone. "The trick in the casual game market is to get those people to pay for content they can get for free elsewhere," Olhava said. "It's a tricky balance -- you have to make the download games compelling enough to convince people to pay a few dollars for them, but not so advanced you lose your audience." Still, Real's model may make for an easier route than the one facing major game publishers hoping to bring a mass audience to sophisticated role-playing games. "I think it's easier to get the average consumer to pay a few dollars for a casual game than to get them to sign up for an 'Ultima Online' or 'EverQuest,'" Olhava said.

For everything Internet-related, from the latest legal and policy-related news, to domain name updates, see ZDNet UK's Internet News Section. Have your say instantly, and see what others have said. Go to the ZDNet news forum. Let the editors know what you think in the Mailroom.

Post your comment

In order to post a comment you need to be registered and logged in.

You can also log in with Facebook. Log in or create your ZDNet UK account below

By signing up for this service, you indicate that you agree to our Terms and Conditions and have read and understood our Privacy Policy. Questions about membership? Find the answers in the Community FAQ

ZDNet UK Live

How dare film makers, artists or anybody that invests in creativity stop us pirating their works for free. I want to be able to walk into my local...

4 hours ago by JCB33 on ACTA stumbles in Germany

@GrueMaster. I prefer horses for courses rather than one size fits all. I, and I suspect most other computer users, do not really wish to have...

6 hours ago by Moley on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

The product that scares me every time I have to use it is the Office 2007 version of Excel. The first bug that I found was applying the median...

6 hours ago by greycynic on Ten flawed products that derail productivity

Nice review and very informative. One thing I'd like to add (in reply to whs001's 1st question), the main reason to have the same interface from...

8 hours ago by GrueMaster on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

I'be been using Mint 12 since the RC came out, and I am far more happy with the Cinnamon, the Mate, and, yes (with extensions), theGnome 3...

9 hours ago by Frederick Wrigley via Facebook on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

Excellent article. One small correction, though--although a fresh installation of Linux Mint 12 will, indeed, provide the user with a version of...

9 hours ago by bdantas on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

In related news, the ISPs club together to get the members of the Home Affairs Select Committee (ya goofed on that part, ZDNet UK) copies of "The...

10 hours ago by Alan Ralph via Facebook on MPs urge ISPs to take down terrorist material

In related news, the ISPs club together to get the members of the Home Affairs Select Committee (ya goofed on that part, ZDNet UK) copies of "The...

10 hours ago by Alan Ralph via Facebook on MPs urge ISPs to take down terrorist material

For Gnome 2 die-hards, it is possible to add icons to the bottom panel (or top top panel, if you prefer) which provide the exact Gnome 2...

11 hours ago by Moley on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

Your comments would seem pretty naive and immature. Your 'solution' appears to be, "gee, let's all just give in to the hackers and give them...

11 hours ago by ramwellian on Cloud computing security: no more oxymoron?

"Interesting thought ... If you installed Win7 as a dual boot on a machine that previously only had Linux, and it wrecked your Linux installation,...

11 hours ago by BugStalker on Windows 7 Declares War on GRUB

This is an excellent summary of Ubuntu and Mint and the interface differences between them. Most such articles take a very partisan position for...

11 hours ago by whs001 on A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

@ewallace. Not so clear. Anyone can obtain the text, for example from here http://www.ustr.gov/webfm_send/2379. I support ACTA so long as it and...

12 hours ago by Moley on ACTA: Facts, misconceptions and questions

I think WinRT is fantastic. I just wish it was an option for people that didn't want to go through Microsoft's App Store with its attendant...

15 hours ago by 45283 on Why Windows 8 needs architectural hygiene for WOA

Nine people? £30m? Who's back pocket is that lot going in? And IF they say it is for new buildings, what about all the ones the government has...

16 hours ago by Burn-IT on Police set to launch three £30m e-crime hubs

Just to be clear, nobody knows what is in the text of ACTA, here is a photograph of the text of ACTA http://twitpic.com/8h9iju as submitted to the...

16 hours ago by ewallace on ACTA: Facts, misconceptions and questions

Unfortunately main issue is that ASUS is refusing to accept that they make some mistake on this version of asus Transformer prime. 1 - GPS sensor...

17 hours ago by fgvrg56 on Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime Wi-Fi & GPS problems?

@Marcus A fair question. Just talked with Archos which said it was working on an announcement for next week....

18 hours ago by Ben Woods on Archos confirms G9 Ice Cream Sandwich update schedule

Any update on this, considering the claimed "first week of February"?

19 hours ago by Marcus Karlsson via Facebook on Archos confirms G9 Ice Cream Sandwich update schedule

Bill Goodrich : Just as al_langevin pointed out, with Windows Server 2008 there is no Services for Macintosh anymore. It's gone, not available....

1 day ago by apexwm on Windows Server 2008 drops the ball for Mac compatibility

Featured white papers

Latest jobs

Real launching subscription game service

Daily Newsletters

Topics

Related stories

Online gaming predicted to grow sixfold

Ofcom to make it easier to change broadband service

Google set to build backbone of its 1Gbps fibre network

Nicira reveals network virtualisation details

MPs urge ISPs to take down terrorist material

Post your comment

ZDNet UK Live

Latest in Networking

Ofcom to make it easier to change broadband service

Google set to build backbone of its 1Gbps fibre network

Nicira reveals network virtualisation details

Featured white papers

Latest jobs

Test Analyst - Business Intelligence /Data Warehousing

Test Analyst - Business Intelligence /Data Warehousing

Technical MI Manager - 50-60k - Leeds

Inside ZDNet UK

A tale of two distros: Ubuntu and Linux Mint

2012 Predictions: VCE FastPath, VI SAN Probe & Hadoop

BlackBerry Bold 9790

Case study: How cloud enables growth

Ten factors that make Ubuntu 11.10 a hit

Toshiba Portégé Z830-10P Review

BT's archive: Pictures from the vault

News & Analysis

Reviews

Blogs

Resources

About Us

Member Services

Special Features

Advertising Features

ZDNet UK / News and Analysis / Infrastructure / Networking

Real launching subscription game service

Daily Newsletters

Topics

Related stories

Post your comment

Get ZDNet UK's daily newsletter

Enter your email address to sign up

ZDNet UK Live

Latest in Networking

Featured white papers

Latest jobs

Inside ZDNet UK

Resources

About Us

Member Services

Special Features

Advertising Features