[games_access] Judge Tosses Blind Gamer's Suit vs. Sony

[John Bannick]

Chuck,

As an independent developer of games that are accessible, I "feel your 
pain."
We've (7-128 Software) been offering games that are accessible to blind, 
motion-impaired, or deaf gamers for several years now.
We do sell some.
But not a lot.

Our blind colleagues over on audyssey.org report the same results.
Some sales. But not a lot.

That being said, I think it's due to our weak marketing.
Something we're working on this year.

As to purchases of your game:

1. This SIG has relatively few, though influential, members.
Industry studies indicate that it takes about 100 "contacts" to generate 
1 sale.

2. Despite your connection with EA (congrats, by the way) we've never 
heard of you.
No offense meant. Just a fact.
And that's right after completing our annual survey of Web sites for 
gamers who have special needs.
I just now Googled "accessible computer games"
We came up on page 1. We're tiny.
DanZ came up on page 1. He's out of business.
You didn't come up in the 1st 10 pages.
I never saw your review on Mark's site. (Sorry, Mark)
Nor your ad in Parenting.
Nor your review in AT News.
Again, no diss meant. Just the facts.

3. Not everyone plays sports games.
Me for instance.
(I like mystery games.)

It seems unreasonable to expect sales to a small group of people who 
likely have never heard of your game, and may or may not play sports games.

However, your frustration is understandable, and shared by us indie 
developers of games that are accessible.
My personal response to that frustration is to try to do a better job of 
marketing and to support groups such as this SIG and sites like Mark's 
and Barrie's, and individual efforts like Robert's and Sandra's to make 
people aware of the issue.

To that end, we're adding your Web site to our Top 25 Web Sites for 
Gamers who are Motion Impaired - 2010, as a Site to Watch.
Not a fantastic help, but we do distribute it to MI-related groups and 
publicity never hurts.

John Bannick
CTO
www.7128.com