Box Score: The Podcast 012 Parts 1 and 2

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The business of sports games is more complicated than you'd expect...

The business of sports video games is changing, and more rapidly than anyone would have expected just a couple of years ago. Franchises are disappearing, business models are in a state of flux, mobile platforms are causing havoc, and the hardest of the hardcore fans feel as if their needs are not getting met. These are challenging times. To help sort them out, Rich speaks to Peter Skerritt, AKA The Armchair Analyst, and the two dive deeply into all the issues affecting the games we love.

In Part 1, Rich and Peter talk about the current landscape of the business, diving into the challenges of annual sports game development cycles, the difficult economics of the genre, mobile sports games, FIFA’s remarkable performance, the current baseball debacle, and much more.

In Part 2, Rich and Peter discuss the upcoming head-to-head basketball competition between 2K and EA, the struggles of THQ’s sports franchises, what EA will do with the UFC license, why so few companies make sports games, the current state of motion controls, how the $60 price point may change in the future in lieu of free-to-play, and plenty more.

INFO BOX:

Post Date: 7/5/2012

Podcast length: Part 1 49:53 | Part 2 46:54

Follow Richard Grisham on: Twitter (@richgrisham)