"We forget the value of £40" – Sumo dev

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 21 July, 2011

"We're competing with sex with your gf."

The game industry often forgets how important £40 is to gamers, the developer behind racing game series Project Gotham Racing and Blur has said.

Ex-Bizarre Creations design manager Gareth Wilson, who is now chief games designer at Sheffield based Outrun Online Arcade developer Sumo Digital, said at the Develop conference this afternoon that one of the reasons launching new games in the current market is incredibly tough is because developers compete not just with games, but with non-gaming activities, such as playing football in the park and having sex.

"As we're in the industry and games are our life, we sometimes forget how important £40 is to someone," he said.

"£40 could get the shopping for a week. It could pay for petrol for work. It's two tickets to a gig. It's a couple of nights down the pub. It's going to the cinema three times in the week.

"What economists call this is product substitution. We're not just competing with other games. And we're always thinking, oh, no, we don't want to come out when Split/Second comes out, oh, we don't want to come out when Red Dead Redemption comes out.

"We're competing with all other forms of entertainment. We're competing with TV, cinema, with Facebook. We're competing with going to the park to play football. We're competing with having sex with your girlfriend. We are competing with all of these things."

As a result of competition with all these forms of entertainment, Wilson said, developers must ensure they create experiences gamers consider to be better.

"When someone is going to spend £40 on a game, they need to be pretty sure it's better than going to the pub for two nights," he said. "That's what you're up against. It's pretty tough."

Wilson saw how difficult a time new IP can have first hand with racing game Blur, which launched in May last year backed by a huge marketing campaign.

It failed to set tills alight, however, leading publisher Activision to close Bizarre down.

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (50) Latest comment 10 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • LazyDan #1 10 months ago

    Of course, as we're talking about gamers you should probably substitute 'sex with girlfriend' with 'price of a fleshlight'.

  • Sir_TimAlot #2 10 months ago

    I have tried, £40 didn't get me much sex, just an old fashioned

  • asphaltcowboy #3 10 months ago

    blur had a huge marketing campaign? Er...

  • Shinetop #4 10 months ago

    launching new games in the current market is incredibly tough because developers now compete with non-gaming activities, such as playing football in the park and having sex.

    Because sex and football weren't invented yet in the twentieth century?

  • barrylyndon #5 10 months ago

    I think £40 is a standard charge for a full service, but then again its over in 30 minutes.

  • rudderless #6 10 months ago

    I think he's trying to say that with the industry having expanded, it's selling not just to nerds who spend their entire lives playing games but people who play football, have sex AND play games.

    That, or he's looking for a memorable soundbite to sum up the current problems facing game development and hoping for a chuckle from his audience.

  • aidan1994 #7 10 months ago

    £30 is far more reasonable for games especially ones with short campaigns and/or no online/co-op

  • agparrot #8 10 months ago

    a) blur didn't have a huge marketing campaign
    b) Reviewers also suffer in the most part from this removal of what a game *costs* when they receive it free.

  • sfp_noodle #9 10 months ago

    Games could cost 40p and I still wouldn't choose them over sex.

  • Maximinn #10 10 months ago

    They need to create an experience gamers will consider to be better than sex.

    Talk about aiming high.

  • mr_bez #11 10 months ago

    Blur did have quite a big marketing campaign... It just wasn't very good. TV ads comparing it to a mocked up kart racer, but the ad made the kart races look more fun than Blur.

  • S0L #12 10 months ago

    Oh Gareth, what have you done :)

    ---
    S0L
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  • Cadence #13 10 months ago

    I would.

  • Dolly #14 10 months ago

    I guess Gamestation are like massage parlours now then, full of the roughest looking feckers you've ever seen for half the price.

  • TruSmiles #15 10 months ago

    I agree with his sentiments. Sometimes I don't buy games new because I can't justify the price for what the content is. Other games really are worth the price. A blockbuster title like Skyrim will be worth the £50 or however much I pay for the eventual collectors edition, whereas something like Mario Kart isn't worth as much to me based on the amount of time and joy I will get out of it, but that's due to my own personal requirements i.e I'll play Mario Kart for 5 minutes at the weekend but Skyrim will take my whole life away.

  • JayKwon #16 10 months ago

    I'm still having great fun with Blur. But I didn't and never intended to pay full price for the game. Games are indeed to compete for my €50, but if I can get better games for the same price I'll buy those. Why do all games, including shitty games always have to have the same price tag?! They should differ the prices of games on launch a lot more, me thinks. Making your games cheaper over time is no good when the hypemachine behind it has died.

  • someidiot #17 10 months ago

    The whole of Sumo is competing for sex with my girlfriend? Not buying any more of their games then. Bastards

  • wizlon #18 10 months ago

    What? He's competing for sex with my girlfriend.... he must be winning :(

  • butler` #19 10 months ago

    This is complete backwards-thinking.

    Focus on making good games. Focus on delivering a good product. Focus on providing value to your prospective customer. Price point is the last part of the mix any dev should be thinking about.

  • kinky_mong #20 10 months ago

    Computers games haven't had to compete with sex for me for a while :(

    "When someone is going to spend £40 on a game, they need to be pretty sure it's better than going to the pub for two nights

    Blur was definitely better than going to the pub for two nights. And I live in London so I'd be very lucky if £40 covers going to the pub for one night!

  • NorUraeus #21 10 months ago

    The advertisements for Blur sucked though, the idea was good, but it spent most of the time setting up its byline with those stupid mario karts advertisements, so apart from letting you know the game was not mario kart is was just confusing.

    It wasn't until a friend showed me the game a few Months later that I decided I wanted it and bought it.

  • DrStrangelove #22 10 months ago

    "£40 is a couple of nights down the pub"

    I don't get over a single night down the pub with that. Am I doing something wrong?

  • FogHeart #23 10 months ago

    So does that mean Zumba Fitness is competing with sex with me?

    "Hey babe, shut down that console. I'm more user friendly, have a faster response time and I'm pretty sure I'm virus-free."

  • carrotcake #24 10 months ago

    around here sex is £100 for 30 minutes or £200 at some places, I couldn't find cheaper girls when I was looking for that sort of thing. not good value. now I have a girlfriend who doesn't do sex so can't get it free either. £40 is great value for some very special games while even £5 is bad value for others.... xevious on the 3ds eshop today is £5.

  • arcam #25 10 months ago

    I don't get over a single night down the pub with that. Am I doing something wrong?

    £40 will buy you about 13-14 pints in my local. Is that not enough?

  • Fawad450 #26 10 months ago

    £40 will buy u 40 kilos of sainsburys basic onions.

  • Tryhard #27 10 months ago

    Get married,lifetime subscription fees.

  • DrStrangelove #28 10 months ago

    "£40 will buy you about 13-14 pints in my local. Is that not enough?"

    That's about enough, but man doesn't live by beer alone, not even in Germany. I mean, courtesy demands that you pay for some rounds of whisky for each other between the pints. At least over here, don't know.

    And then there's the cost for the cab, the cost for the cab's cleaning, and the bus ticket for the next day to get back to your car.

  • spongebob #29 10 months ago

    Hey, you're missing drugs!

  • StooMonster #30 10 months ago

    Gareth Wilson, "We're competing with having sex with your girlfriend."

    Apparently they don't have to compete with having sex with the wife though.

  • StooMonster #31 10 months ago

    carrot cake: now I have a girlfriend who doesn't do sex so can't get it free either.

    Still, at least you don't have a wife who doesn't do sex. ;)

  • Lucodeath #32 10 months ago

    Id rather spend £40 on a game instead of nookie with the Mrs. If u saw her you would understand. Im sure she says the same about me. I went for her money an she went after me for my looks, we were both very disappointed.
    Edited by Lucodeath at 21/07/11 @ 18:22

  • Lunatic4ever #33 10 months ago

    Its not really competing with anything because I always take my time for games. It simply competing with other games. Thats all.

  • AdamAsunder #34 10 months ago

    What is sex?

  • Tryhard #35 10 months ago

    "What is sex?'

    You've been married to long,or play too many mmo's.

  • metalangel #36 10 months ago

    The games are for after the sex, when she goes to sleep/shower/smoke/cry/back in her gimp box.

  • paulf #37 10 months ago

    Does anyone else view it as a case of £ per hours of entertainment? For example Mass Effect 2 cost me 40 quid but I played it for over 40 hours so a quid an hour seems pretty good value to me.

    Could be way so many people play cod, as that through the multiplayer provides a lot of hours per pound (Don't tell Bobby I said that)

  • sabbede #38 10 months ago

    What do I need sex for? I have videogames!

  • silversun #39 10 months ago

    If games where £29.99 instead of £39.99 -online prices i know some games are £49.99 they would sell alot better.
    The ps 2 in its last years the games went down to this price and the games i think sold like crazy.
    At the moment handheld games are selling at that price and console games higher.
    Bring prices in line with pc games.

    I know there an issue with how much each part retailer, dev and publisher get , but sort that out and maybe more games sales .
    If not £ 10 down then start by selling £5 cheaper and give it test , it may not work but who knows.
    Not every game is going sell like call of duty.

    Another option would be to reward buyer of your games , maybe set up a rewards program like when you buy the next game from us you can get the dlc free. They just need set up a site that you can register your games, kinda like nintendo star catalog for example.
    Edited by silversun at 21/07/11 @ 19:54

  • wanksta10 #40 10 months ago

    If you're going to create a game that will provide a better experience than the first time i shagged (all 20 seconds of it) then fuck me that would be one hell of a game

  • BonzoBanana #41 10 months ago

    Dare I say Blur was sort of blured into the huge pile of similar racers. On the face of it it looked pretty similar to about 5 other games. It was professionally coded but needed a new twist or feature that made it unique and desirable. Many gamers have collections of games not just for this generation but the last generation too. I've probably got access to about 15 racers.

    Not only are they competing with girlfriends, cinema, pubs and weekly shopping but also similar games that have already had their big sales and are now heavily discounted.

  • Kaminari #42 10 months ago

    "We're competing with having sex with your girlfriend."

    Which one?

  • Sid-Nice #43 10 months ago

    "£40 could get the shopping for a week. It could pay for petrol for work. It's two tickets to a gig. It's a couple of nights down the pub. It's going to the cinema three times in the week.

    This guy must live on egg and chips, goes to see unknown bands and doesn't drink much, or he's living in the 80's.

  • jumpdeveraux #44 10 months ago

    40 notes for sex with the other half .... hmmmm maybe I should do a Ubisoft and charge half the neighbourhood 7.99 for a go on her when I'm done then I would have more money to go to the pub and cinema! Result!

  • wez_316 #45 10 months ago

    @Sid Nice

    I understand (though would never spend) over £40 for two nights at the pub and definitely two gigs would be over £40 in many cases but living on egg and chips? A £40 food shop is a crazy amount to spend for one person. If I spend even £20 I have more food than I know what to do with and I eat 4 full size meals a day.

  • Bluetooth #46 10 months ago

    Get yourself a malleable mail order bride and she can give you blowjobs and ride you on top whilst you game.
    Edited by Bluetooth at 22/07/11 @ 05:32

  • Gumersindo #47 10 months ago

    Do you know what is better than sex?
    Sex and Daytona & Scud Race (so get back to work NOW!)

  • Zomeguy #48 10 months ago

    @wez_316: You are not eating "4 full size meals a day" and only spending £20 a week

  • Madder-Max #49 10 months ago

    "Hey, you're missing drugs"

    They go hand in hand with gaming dont they? At least....did with the PS2........for me ........I think.......cant quite remember.

  • Sir_STRESSHEaD #50 10 months ago

    Haha, speak for yourself LazyDan ;o) I married a gamerchick, so I get guilt free xbox time and go to bed with a beautiful woman (albeit really late) every night! the only downside is all the shite she puts on our rental list!