Hi Michael, I'm not sure about actual figures on how many blind people there are in the USA that are interested in games since that kind of information often gets excluded from surveys. Plus since a lot of blind computer users in the US often get their computers through government sponsored state agencies many of them are afraid to install games and other recreational software on their PC. I've met my fair share of blind computer users who were specifically told by their counselor that their computer was a tool for work, school, etc and not to install games and other software on it. Since they are afraid of getting in trouble even though they might want games they won't risk it. So one thing we face as game developers is the paradigm that computers are only to be used for work and they can happily be used for both regardless of what some state agency says.
As for making money of accessible games the issue isn't that one can not make money off it. Obviously, ESP, Draconis, GMA, BSC Games, and others all made money off of making accessible games for the blind. The issue is one can't making a living wage off of developing games for the blind full time. They have to find some other way to make money to supplement the income from the games, because making and selling accessible games aren't enough in of itself. You mentioned ESP. At the time all the ESP games were originally created they were developed by a man named James North. Unlike most audio game developers James North was sighted and had a regular 9 to 5 job. He wrote games like Alien Outback, Monkey Business, DynaMan, and ESP Pinball in his spare time and made money off of them. While I'm sure James made a few thousand off those games it wasn't enough to quit his daytime job and make games full time. So to get to the point yes a lot of the more successful game developers like ESP had lots of money to start with. Although, they did make some money off of the games the funding for the games didn't all come through sales. Like any other business it took a fair amount of personal startup capital to get going. Cheers! On 12/18/14, Michael Gauler <michael.gau...@gmx.de> wrote: > That's actually sad in so many levels. > First is of course the problems with the high unemployment rates you > mentioned. > But what I'd like to know is if there is an actual estimation on how many > blind or visually impaired people are actually in the USA and how many of > them are interested in games and not how many of them could afford them. > > On the other hand, ESP Soft and later Draconis made more than one paid > title. > Either the people behind said games had lots of money or they earned lots of > > it through their sales. > If their games were not a success on the small market, we wouldn't have seen > > more games from them and I think that Monkey Business was their most complex > > game so far. > It seems that however small the market might be, that you still can make > money through it, if not, all paid games wouldn't be here anymore. > > > --- > Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org > If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to > gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. > You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at > http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. > All messages are archived and can be searched and read at > http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. > If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, > please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org. > --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
