- The last few months since we launched That Dragon, Cancer have been pretty incredible. The mainstream culture, the gamer culture, and others have all embraced our story and been willing to listen to our heart as we released a project that we spent more than three years on. They’re talking about Joel and sharing their own stories of loss and bringing comfort to each other. In every regard, the reach of our work continues to confound us.
However, there is another side of this that I’ve been afraid to talk about in public. And that is this: our studio has not yet seen a single dollar from sales. That Dragon, Cancer was created by a studio of eight, and for many of us it was a full-time effort that involved thousands of hours of work. This huge effort required taking on investment, and we decided to pay off all of our debt as soon as possible. But we underestimated how many people would be satisfied with only watching the game instead of playing it themselves.
And so yes, Let's Play person, I agree with you, it does suck to have someone else making revenue off your work.
Found this quite interesting as someone who follows game development and regularly watches Let's Players.
It is interesting, but it's also disingenuous. I hadn't heard of this game before you posted it. In the past 20 minutes, I've discovered: - they had an exclusivity agreement that they reneged on - they were covered $104k through Kickstarter. Sure, 8-person team or whatever but I've done movies with less - they have a documentary coming out in April - Their game is 2 hours long - it's fifteen bucks on Steam - They've made a quarter million dollars off of it there - The most watched "let's play" they have only has 2.5 million views which, from what I know of Youtube, is about $1800 worth of revenue That's the thing about remix culture - someone will appropriate your work and repurpose it. If your argument is that your work isn't really being repurposed, yet people are still enjoying the appropriation, it's possible that your original purpose wasn't well-served. I watched some of that let's play. It's a shitty-looking game with minimal interaction. It looks like you've basically got camera control over a world that makes Second Life look like The Matrix. And it's entirely possible that the rational price-point for the game is well below the $15 they're charging. A fee that, by the way, they got 2300 times before they even released. And I'll be honest - there's something kinda icky about parents throwing a documentary and a video game release at the memory of their dead kid while they have two others that are still living. We all grieve in our own ways and I got nuthin' against that but throwing the composer under the bus is bullshit. He either did a work for hire and got paid or he's profit-sharing in which case singling him out is cowardice. Either way, the amount of revenue being "lost" to Let's Plays is low enough that this whole thing is tacky.
I don't even know how to feel about commercial display of grief. Eric Clapton's Tears In Heaven always made me feel icky. I followed this games development a bit. At times it seemed laudable time like right now it seems taudry. From the outside it looks like they are trying to monetize their kids death. Dragon isn't a tour de force, it doesn't need a documentary but they can sell a documentary. I'll easily pay 15 dollars for a two hour game. I don't have much gaming time if I'm taking care of myself right and a good two hour experience is fantastic. I enjoyed The Stanley Parable and Gone Home more than most films. $15 isn't all that much for a few hours of entertainment.
Demo's have been replaced by Let's Play. If they had a made a great game people would buy it. This is a niche game that really isn't going to be most people's cup of tea at $15. Similar games with a wider appeal have done quite well despite the existence of Let's Play. Dragon just isn't a compelling product at this price point for most consumers. I liked Dear Esther, The Stanley Parable and Gone Home which all shared a rail road narrative style. Good games that are priced right do better for Lets Play. There are so many games competing for attention and sales Lets Play is a great way to figure out what's worth my time and money. I just picked up Caves of Qud when it went on sale after watching a few Let's Plays and I'm loving it.
I've seen this title a lot on the Let's Play channels I watch. I'm not a gamer, but if I were I'd consider getting The Stanley Parable and The Beginner's Guide, even having seen most of it on Let's Plays. I don't think that having the game spoiled on Let's Plays deters people from getting it. Although I haven't watched any of it, the word cancer in the title tells me that it's probably morbid. Some people might like their entertainment to be sad and difficult to watch, but I'm not one of them. The developers might consider that their subject might not appeal to everyone.