Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!apple!well!farren From: farren@well.sf.ca.us (Mike Farren) Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy Subject: Re: Platform Statistics Message-ID: <24372@well.sf.ca.us> Date: 23 Apr 91 08:58:29 GMT References: <4990@dftsrv.gsfc.nasa.gov> <1991Apr21.190034.7785@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG> Lines: 31 xanthian@zorch.SF-Bay.ORG (Kent Paul Dolan) writes: >With 40,000 unit sales a reasonable goal for a successful game, the Amiga >market, with 2 million installed base and rising rapidly, only needs a >2% market penetration for success. The Atari market is probably similar. The Atari market is much smaller, even in Europe, and dropping fast. SSI for example, will do no more Atari ST projects. >The Mac market, another poster notes, seems to have a dearth of _good_ >games, and (if 10% is accurate), an installed base of 5,000,000 units is >a juicy target. My only guess for why so few excellent games exist on >the Macs is the rumored difficulty of fighting ones way past the >operating system's barriers to successful code. It's a different world. The installed base of Macs is relatively large. The installed base of Macs which are a market for games is incredibly small - almost all Macs are being used for "serious" work, and their owners are not in the least bit interested in games. Mac games don't sell - Mac owners don't buy them. Simple as that. >On that basis the NeXT, with its rumored incredibly easy to program >applications interface, may be a market to watch for games programmers, >even with its current laughably small market share. Not a hope in hell. Small market share plus smaller percentage of machines devoted to (even partly) "recreational" use means truly miniscule market potential. -- Mike Farren farren@well.sf.ca.us