http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/740/740214p1.html
IGN: What do you think people's reactions are going to be when they see the core game -- and all these additional packs? Are you worried that people will feel they're getting charged too much? Or that they're going to complain that all these packs should be put into one game?
Tetsuya Mizuguchi: (Long pause.)
IGN: I realize that's a very forward question, and to be honest, with Lumines, I'm not sure how I feel about it. I mean, will I feel perfectly happy buying five different packs, or will I feel ripped off? Personally I just want to play the game, but micro-transactions are a nickel and die model, and a lot of people might not like the idea at all.
Tetsuya Mizuguchi: So, there are a lot of components to the answer, but yes, it's a bold move. But it's actually just taking the next step to a challenge and we believe this is the way of the future. With regard to the pricing, yes, there will be users that are optimistic, but it's really more about the business and the platform. The way we're providing content to users is changing. The easiest way to compare things is the way we buy music now. We went from cassettes and albums and CDs to downloading games on iPod. We're talking about games, but if you look at the last time you went to Amoeba or Tower Records and bought 10 CDs, versus when you're at the airport or at home or wherever you download music and downloaded songs, you're really only going to buy the songs you want. You're only going to purchase maybe two songs out of the whole album. So, it's really up to you, the user, the gamer, the listener, what you want to buy, play, or listen to. It's up to you as to what you're comfortable with spending.
So yes, Lumines has this image. It was a successful launch title on PSP and it came in a package, it came on a UMD. And now it's not. So now people are worried. And maybe even upset that they can't even get the full pack in one software product. But really, it's just changing the way we provide the content. So, Q Entertainment is trying to take advantage of the way the XBLA model works. So, in our eyes, the game doesn't have to come in a package. We just feel like we're shifting our audience and we're starting to deal with different people. That's not to imply the PSP and Xbox Live users are that much different, but naturally, the way we are accepting media, goods, music, and games, we ourselves are changing our attitudes. So we're trying to follow a new path. So at the same time the audience is changing, we're changing along with it. We think this is the way of the future.
There is another analogy, and it's not perfect, but in Japan there was a year that bubble gum sales dropped dramatically. There was a research company that went out and studied why sales of gum dropped so dramatically. They learned that the rival for gum was cell phones. It's true. It was done by an independent company and it was legitimate research. But at least in Japan cell phones actually replaced the human desire or need to pulling out a piece of gum. People pulled out their cell phones instead. The story illustrates how groups of people are changing in their desires and buying patterns. So, if you step back and look at the whole industry and see how things are changing, then this move with Lumines isn't such a big deal.
For a while, and we're already started seeing this, I feel there will eventually be a tug of war between users owning or purchasing a software packaged item versus those who are getting used to buying downloadable content. We have seen a little of this and we're going to see even more in the future. So, it's almost to a point where those two groups are going to have a, well, not a fight, but a tug or war. That leads into general entertainment, and games, depending on whom you speak with, are generally considered mass entertainment. Just having an internal tug of war within our own industry is interesting. But we may even come to a point where, movies, and TV and music aren't the games rival. We may even discover that there is something else that's a big challenge to us. So, Q Entertainment is a game studio, but it's always on the forefront of our minds to provide a new experience to the user, something that's the way of the future. We constantly think about that, and we want to fulfill the desire of the user in that perspective.
IGN: What do you think people's reactions are going to be when they see the core game -- and all these additional packs? Are you worried that people will feel they're getting charged too much? Or that they're going to complain that all these packs should be put into one game?
Tetsuya Mizuguchi: (Long pause.)
IGN: I realize that's a very forward question, and to be honest, with Lumines, I'm not sure how I feel about it. I mean, will I feel perfectly happy buying five different packs, or will I feel ripped off? Personally I just want to play the game, but micro-transactions are a nickel and die model, and a lot of people might not like the idea at all.
Tetsuya Mizuguchi: So, there are a lot of components to the answer, but yes, it's a bold move. But it's actually just taking the next step to a challenge and we believe this is the way of the future. With regard to the pricing, yes, there will be users that are optimistic, but it's really more about the business and the platform. The way we're providing content to users is changing. The easiest way to compare things is the way we buy music now. We went from cassettes and albums and CDs to downloading games on iPod. We're talking about games, but if you look at the last time you went to Amoeba or Tower Records and bought 10 CDs, versus when you're at the airport or at home or wherever you download music and downloaded songs, you're really only going to buy the songs you want. You're only going to purchase maybe two songs out of the whole album. So, it's really up to you, the user, the gamer, the listener, what you want to buy, play, or listen to. It's up to you as to what you're comfortable with spending.
So yes, Lumines has this image. It was a successful launch title on PSP and it came in a package, it came on a UMD. And now it's not. So now people are worried. And maybe even upset that they can't even get the full pack in one software product. But really, it's just changing the way we provide the content. So, Q Entertainment is trying to take advantage of the way the XBLA model works. So, in our eyes, the game doesn't have to come in a package. We just feel like we're shifting our audience and we're starting to deal with different people. That's not to imply the PSP and Xbox Live users are that much different, but naturally, the way we are accepting media, goods, music, and games, we ourselves are changing our attitudes. So we're trying to follow a new path. So at the same time the audience is changing, we're changing along with it. We think this is the way of the future.
There is another analogy, and it's not perfect, but in Japan there was a year that bubble gum sales dropped dramatically. There was a research company that went out and studied why sales of gum dropped so dramatically. They learned that the rival for gum was cell phones. It's true. It was done by an independent company and it was legitimate research. But at least in Japan cell phones actually replaced the human desire or need to pulling out a piece of gum. People pulled out their cell phones instead. The story illustrates how groups of people are changing in their desires and buying patterns. So, if you step back and look at the whole industry and see how things are changing, then this move with Lumines isn't such a big deal.
For a while, and we're already started seeing this, I feel there will eventually be a tug of war between users owning or purchasing a software packaged item versus those who are getting used to buying downloadable content. We have seen a little of this and we're going to see even more in the future. So, it's almost to a point where those two groups are going to have a, well, not a fight, but a tug or war. That leads into general entertainment, and games, depending on whom you speak with, are generally considered mass entertainment. Just having an internal tug of war within our own industry is interesting. But we may even come to a point where, movies, and TV and music aren't the games rival. We may even discover that there is something else that's a big challenge to us. So, Q Entertainment is a game studio, but it's always on the forefront of our minds to provide a new experience to the user, something that's the way of the future. We constantly think about that, and we want to fulfill the desire of the user in that perspective.