First off, thank you so much for holding this AMA, and thank you as well for all the wonderful work you've done in video games over the years. Though I'm sure you've heard this a lot, SoTN--and your other Igavanias, for that matter--have brought so much joy to me and millions of others across the globe. Personally, I wouldn't have made many of the friends I have now if it wasn't for your games. So I'm truly grateful to you for all that you've done, and I'm sure the rest of your fans feel the same way!
My question relates to something you said in this video:
From about 1 hour and 15 minutes in, you describe (through your excellent translator, Ben Judd) the challenges faced with the profit margins of handheld games. To summarize what he said, any game on a cartridge format had a relatively fixed cost of development, but the prices of cartridges at retailers like Wal-mart constantly dropped, resulting in constantly dropping profit margins no matter how much you tried to cut costs. I'm wondering, does digital distribution (like on Steam) have this problem, and if not, was the rise of digital distribution one reason you decided now was the right time to strike out on your own and make your own masterwork? :)
Gunlord50020 karma
Dear Mr. Igarashi,
First off, thank you so much for holding this AMA, and thank you as well for all the wonderful work you've done in video games over the years. Though I'm sure you've heard this a lot, SoTN--and your other Igavanias, for that matter--have brought so much joy to me and millions of others across the globe. Personally, I wouldn't have made many of the friends I have now if it wasn't for your games. So I'm truly grateful to you for all that you've done, and I'm sure the rest of your fans feel the same way!
My question relates to something you said in this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TzfM6QUs6A
From about 1 hour and 15 minutes in, you describe (through your excellent translator, Ben Judd) the challenges faced with the profit margins of handheld games. To summarize what he said, any game on a cartridge format had a relatively fixed cost of development, but the prices of cartridges at retailers like Wal-mart constantly dropped, resulting in constantly dropping profit margins no matter how much you tried to cut costs. I'm wondering, does digital distribution (like on Steam) have this problem, and if not, was the rise of digital distribution one reason you decided now was the right time to strike out on your own and make your own masterwork? :)
Once again, thank you so much for your time.
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