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70% of games never recover costs, says Deering

Speaking at the Edinburgh Interactive Festival today, ex-SCEE man Chris Deering claimed that on 30 percent of games ever made the development money back.

"Traditional revenue sources will not be sufficient to fund games development," he said. "If you look at the very narrow definition of the gaming market, people are saying the software business will be down 20 percent by 2011 versus this year.

"Something is going to have to be there to make up the difference and take us beyond that threshold.

"My guess and analysis shows that less than three out of 10 games recover their development and marketing costs with boxed goods sales. So what's going to have to happen? Creative use of hybrid online and offline advertising revenues, online offline transactions with consumers - these business models must be explored."

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Patrick Garratt

Founder & Publisher (Former)

Patrick Garratt is a games media legend - and not just by reputation. He was named as such in the UK's 'Games Media Awards', the equivalent of a lifetime achievement award. After garnering experience on countless gaming magazines, he joined Eurogamer and later split from that brand to create VG247, putting the site on the map with fast, 24-hour a day coverage, and assembling the site's earliest editorial teams. He retired from VG247, and the games industry, in 2017.

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