Changes To Piko Interactive

[mmbe]

Just got this via email but it's also on their website.

 

http://pikointeractive.com/blog/

[fiddlepaddle]

Never heard of a company dropping a product because of too much demand...I think this really translates into focus on economics. The take-away: get 'em while you can.

[AtariLeaf]

I'm glad I grabbed Classic Kong for the SNES when it came out. It's really good. I think they had to change it to a viking motif but that looks like it's been dropped as well.

[Tanooki]

Never heard of a company dropping a product because of too much demand...I think this really translates into focus on economics. The take-away: get 'em while you can.

I didn't read it that way. They said they were dropping amateur effort homebrew level stuff and focusing on commercial grade product. This seems to translate to lost finished and unfinished gems they can polish off to completion, also things that came to one region and not another like that Noah's Ark NES platformer or The Humans on SNES both just PAL titles. I think given the tiny size of the company it makes more financial sense if you can handle only so much to whittle out the more quality stuff and let the small stuff go to bootleg reproduction makers.

[CatPix]

Yeah, I read it more in that way.

It make sense, too. Catering to small-volume production is good for small companies because there is no competition. But you can't expect to make a larger company live from one-off products selling low volumes slowly.

[Metal Jesus]

" We no longer will publish small scale games or homebrew titles, and will concentrate only on commercial quality content."

 

I am happy to see this. I did a video on many of their products for my YouTube channel...it got a ton of views...but the biggest complaint was about the low quality of the games they put out. No longer can you stand above the dozens of other small retro publishers by putting out C-grade games. This is definitely a step in the right direction!

[StopDrop&Retro]

I see Tyrannosaurus Tex is available for preorder.

[Bill Loguidice]

It's a good strategy in my opinion. If they have unique access to unreleased/unfinished games that were previously targeted for commercial release, it would be silly not to put all of their resources behind that. Of course, if a homebrew were commercial quality, it would make sense to release that as well, but otherwise the cartridge production cost is probably not worth the risk.

[godslabrat]

I always want to support homebrewers and homebrew efforts. I appreciate the labor of love that keeps my favorite systems alive.

 

That said, most systems now have a vibrant homebrew community, and homebrew games are being released faster than we players can keep up with them. With all due respect for the efforts of the small-time programmer, you don't get points just for showing up anymore. The community has matured to the point where we really expect top-quality games, even from single developers. This is a sign of that progression.

[carlsson]

Also with the abundance of flashcarts, memory card based devices etc, those developers who only want a way to run their homebrews on real hardware have options previously not available. Only those whose childhood dream is to have a physical release for sale with box and manual will need assistance of a homebrew publisher.

 

I pay more attention to the fact that Piko sets an upper price limit on their games at $55, which to me seems quite a bit lower than most other homebrew publishers are charging. If they only offer top commercial quality games at $55, others charging $70 for reasonable but not excellent homebrew games will be subject for comparison by customers looking at the price tags.

[CatPix]

What I apprecaite too is packaging.

Someone made a decent game for the Vectrex recently - Big Blue

The game come in a cardbod box, with a professionnaly, original looking Vectrex overlay, a foam filling to hold the cart and avoid box crushing, a notice, AND a box protector.

For a mere 60€.

The game isn't ground breaking, but it's really polished on the packaging too.

And that's where I grow tired of homebrew - why should I pay 60 to 90€ to get just a cart like I got that game in a garage sale? Especially when you see AtariAge releases and that Big Blue game that come complete for 50/60€.

And I have a gripe for AA that offer boxes on only a few games and only in limited sales - so I only own ONE AtariAge game. Because yeah, I do'nt look everyday for the homebrew s and I usually miss the boxed versions.

Edited October 10, 2017 by CatPix

[PikoInteractive]

Wow... Responses here make me smile. Definitely did the right choice. And with a new programmer that Joined the team, Our Original stuff would be commercial (although indie) quality content too. It pains me as I mentioned, but is not fair to expect consumers to buy every single homebrew released out there. There are many games coming out too fast (thus why we do a one wave a year, with a minor release earlier on the year here or there).

 

Also is MUCH easier to sell commercial content carts wholesale to stores or distributors. And At the end of the day, I would love to just get 500-1000 stores world wide that carry retro games buy a batch of a new title wholesale at release. It is not impossible, but content has to be top notch.

 

would love to see more opinions and pick brains.

 

Cheers!

Edited October 10, 2017 by PikoInteractive

[Mayhem]

And I have a gripe for AA that offer boxes on only a few games and only in limited sales - so I only own ONE AtariAge game. Because yeah, I do'nt look everyday for the homebrew s and I usually miss the boxed versions.

 

A lot of the boxes are made by Marc Oberhauser (Freelancer Games) so you could just directly contact him.

[+Charlie Cat]

Wow... Responses here make me smile. Definitely did the right choice. And with a new programmer that Joined the team, Our Original stuff would be commercial (although indie) quality content too. It pains me as I mentioned, but is not fair to expect consumers to buy every single homebrew released out there. There are many games coming out too fast (thus why we do a one wave a year, with a minor release earlier on the year here or there).

 

Also is MUCH easier to sell commercial content carts wholesale to stores or distributors. And At the end of the day, I would love to just get 500-1000 stores world wide that carry retro games buy a batch of a new title wholesale at release. It is not impossible, but content has to be top notch.

 

would love to see more opinions and pick brains.

 

Cheers!

I really enjoyed your NES game Snakky in which you introduced as your own black box/label title similar to Nintendo's when they launch here in the country. I can't wait to see the next game you have in mind in the near future with the series.

 

Anthony..

[Tanooki]

Well Eli it goes kind of to show what I had said to you over the years about what you were attempting to do, that in time things would progress to a better level. This is definitely what I was talking about then on various forums/facebook too. As you started grabbing up the rights to peddle licensed goods and then even bought some up I figured it would be the good way about it. It's not repeating the same B-D tier stuff you can get off the internet and anyone with a cheapo writer (INL, etc) could just do on their own. You've got lost games found, if not found, by rep kind of brought to you and if they're not done they're being made done like Dorke and Imp. This is a unique level of workmanship and output no one else can match without just stealing your IP and peddling modern warez because the data in enough cases just doesn't exist, or in the complete format you're making it into.

 

It was a fun ride from the early moments with Wisdom Tree helping with that old mail, to all the talks over time just bs'n online, to also getting together some of those intended mini reviews for various projects you had going a few years back. I never really buy or touch homebrew, it just isn't my thing. But the level of quality in the last couple years now is being brought to the table where it's commercial levels of awesomeness. Lost projects to the incomplete to also the resurrected (like Legend-SNES.) Along with the great unique enough stuff the build quality has continually improved too with the carts, boards, stickers, and the paper end too for the complete buyer types too. Even if it wasn't all that successful due to unique circumstances like the DSP powered Hind Strike, some really fantastic stuff has been brought to bare.