A not-so-niche market?
How much do you have to spend a month on your games? There are doubtless those of you that run several at once, but here at Massively we've just had a straw poll and most people run 2 or 3 games actively. World of Warcraft appeared on more than half of the lists - but perhaps surprisingly nowhere close to all of them.
Acclaim is building their appeal on the basis that everyone will have one game they're relatively faithful too (call it WoW for the sake of argument, they do!) and a number of other games that they will dip into. If you set up a system where you can choose from a multitude of games and pay a small fee for playing it now then you can make a living from this. Five million people paying 1c each day on average, is still $50,000 a day after all. There are other things this philosophy leads them to.
For example, you probably wouldn't micro-pay for WoW because you'll play it for long periods and the monthly subscription is reasonable. It is also incredibly complex. But, if you remember games like blackjack, they're actually easy to learn. I remember playing blackjack for hours at school, until bridge took took over. More complex, but you can still learn to play (badly) in a few minutes, and then learn to play acceptably well in a few hours. I can teach someone to play Go in 10 minutes, and that's all of the rules. Each game takes a few tens of minutes, but it is still compelling years after I started playing. How many hours do you spend learning to play WoW well? Why not play a game that you learn in five minutes, and play for half that time well, then another game? It might not be for you, but 5 million customers suggest it works for quite few folks.
It also lets them have games that appeal to all kinds of niche markets. A game about pony-riding aimed at pre-pubescent girls? Sure, go for it. If there's any market, we'll find it. Acclaim, with their wide range of games, have plenty of complex ones too, so head on over and have a look and see if the micropayment revolution might work for you too. Naturally, not everyone agrees, Press The Button thinks micropayments equals microfun.
