If you don't know what these are, they are video consoles aimed at children, and from what I can tell must have a nice little market share (go check out the toy section at your local Wal-Mart or Toys R' Us. I also suspect that they are making a huge profit from their games. Here's why:

Game System = $100 or so (Ancient technology, so they probably make a profit on hardware).
All games pretty much retail at  $20.00
The game graphics look like they were made about 20 years ago, and I know you could whip out most of these games using XNA in under a week. So basically they've got really low development budgets (probably in the 10's of thousands versus millions for XBox 360 and most probably goes to paying for some IP like Mickey Mouse), but in the end, they may be able to sell only sell 20,000 copies of a game, but still get a good return on their money.

I'm just curious as to what happens if we start cranking out some decent children's games / learning material at $2-$8 a pop. A lot of Dad's already own the system, so they don't have to pay for a new system. I think the key may simply be to get some content created, and then spread the word to the Mommies, etc. If you can just get "Oprah" or the "Pioneer Woman" to pimp the community as a place to get cheap children's games, then the Mommies will be all over it.

Many folk have thought about this as a demographic in fact there was a request today for more family games http://forums.xbox.com/26587820/ShowPost.aspx#26587820

Couple of things to think about though

1. You would need some fantastic marketing skills. The Xbox download demographic isn't probably a good match even though there are plenty of folk who match. Good luck getting on Oprah ;-)
2. XBLCG games are all unrated so kids over a certain age can't be left alone in the space (under that age they won't really wander too much)
3. Writing a kids game is way harder than it looks. I went to a talk at GDC in 2008 by a woman who usability tests such things and I was quite amazed at things she said. Us adult developers simply don't have a clue what stimulates and keeps kids interested. I think this is her https://upload.cmpevents.com/GD09/a.asp?option=G&V=3&id=525644

 

I've thought about this after watching my daughter play countless kids games (ussually for about $20) which have horrible graphics and production values. Some of the core gameplay mechanics she really enjoys though (there is a Seasame Street one for instance that lets her make sentences and then shows a video, she really enjoys making sentences like "the boy sits on the dog").

My biggest holdback is the controller though.. my daughter is almost four and she can use a mouse just fine (sans doubleclicking) but she has a tough time playing anything on the Xbox... she can either control or she can press buttons but she has a tough time doing both (hence why she has not been a good playtester for my game). Most of those Leapster games come with smaller controllers designed for children, getting past this on the Xbox, at least for that young of a demo, may be difficult.

I might try it anyways... I'll be in touch and let you know how it goes if I do. There might be a niche market for this kind of thing... $2.50 is a small price to pay for a childrens game after all.

A large part of the Xbox demographic has small children. Think about young parents who now stay home most evenings as opposed to going out. I think that would do well if they were able to find the children's games. The Xbox is pushing into the family space to compete with the Wii.

Duffman:

I've thought about this after watching my daughter play countless kids games (ussually for about $20) which have horrible graphics and production values. Some of the core gameplay mechanics she really enjoys though (there is a Seasame Street one for instance that lets her make sentences and then shows a video, she really enjoys making sentences like "the boy sits on the dog").

My biggest holdback is the controller though.. my daughter is almost four and she can use a mouse just fine (sans doubleclicking) but she has a tough time playing anything on the Xbox... she can either control or she can press buttons but she has a tough time doing both (hence why she has not been a good playtester for my game). Most of those Leapster games come with smaller controllers designed for children, getting past this on the Xbox, at least for that young of a demo, may be difficult.

I might try it anyways... I'll be in touch and let you know how it goes if I do. There might be a niche market for this kind of thing... $2.50 is a small price to pay for a childrens game after all.

Yeah, I think this would be very hard without Microsoft releasing simplified, smaller controllers for small children and then marketing these controllers pretty heavily. It could be done without new controllers or 3rd party controllers, but your market would remain very small.

If done really well, it could in fact take a bit of sales away from the kiddie consoles, but plenty of folks who buy the kiddie consoles would never shell out the money for a nice fancy Xbox. But even taking 10% of the kiddie console market could allow a nice cluster of developers to do well financially making CGs for small children.

...Almost off topic...this makes me think that a gig as a developer for the kiddie consoles could be pretty profitable and low-stress, since standards are so low. As a game artist I try and stay skilled enough to make 'Gears of War' quality level of art assets, so making 'Freddies Frog Adventure' would be pretty darn mellow.

The ZMan:

Many folk have thought about this as a demographic in fact there was a request today for more family games http://forums.xbox.com/26587820/ShowPost.aspx#26587820

Couple of things to think about though

1. You would need some fantastic marketing skills. The Xbox download demographic isn't probably a good match even though there are plenty of folk who match. Good luck getting on Oprah ;-)
2. XBLCG games are all unrated so kids over a certain age can't be left alone in the space (under that age they won't really wander too much)
3. Writing a kids game is way harder than it looks. I went to a talk at GDC in 2008 by a woman who usability tests such things and I was quite amazed at things she said. Us adult developers simply don't have a clue what stimulates and keeps kids interested. I think this is her https://upload.cmpevents.com/GD09/a.asp?option=G&V=3&id=525644

1. I was just kind of exaggerating. That is the tough part.
2. That's a good point. I don't have 360 yet, so I'm not 100% familiar. I think the key in the end is to get the parents to do the purchasing. Maybe at some point MS has a separate safe area, but that's complicated. It wouldn't look good if some yahoo decides to put an adult-oriented Easter egg in an supposedly children's friendly game.
3. Yes, this is a difficult thing to understand, but I find it very interesting. My oldest daughter just turned 3, and I've been letting her play my GameCube, Nintendo64, and Sega Genesis for about 2 years now (at least in some form). It's amazing, the things that she finds interesting in the games. I always wondered how many kids really played through and enjoyed Banjo Kazooie. It's obviously marketed to kids, but in some ways the game seems a bit too complicated (control scheme) for kids.

I remember seeing a GameCube controller that was about 70% as large as the standard one, but I can't remember what it was called. I think MadCatz made it? (wild guess) I wonder if something like that would work for the Xbox...

Polychrome:

Yeah, I think this would be very hard without Microsoft releasing simplified, smaller controllers for small children and then marketing these controllers pretty heavily. It could be done without new controllers or 3rd party controllers, but your market would remain very small.

If done really well, it could in fact take a bit of sales away from the kiddie consoles, but plenty of folks who buy the kiddie consoles would never shell out the money for a nice fancy Xbox. But even taking 10% of the kiddie console market could allow a nice cluster of developers to do well financially making CGs for small children.

...Almost off topic...this makes me think that a gig as a developer for the kiddie consoles could be pretty profitable and low-stress, since standards are so low. As a game artist I try and stay skilled enough to make 'Gears of War' quality level of art assets, so making 'Freddies Frog Adventure' would be pretty darn mellow.

1. You would definitely have to wrap up the control scheme (of the current controller) some how and make it simpler. Maybe you can do some things we haven't yet thought of.
2. You may be wrong here. I think that a lot of the people buying these systems are not the parents themselves, but instead Aunts, Uncles, GrandParents, etc. People keep trying to buy me kids Leapster stuff, etc, and I keep trying to explain to them that my kids already have an N64 and GameCube for which I there are plenty of used kids titles on Ebay for $5. I don't need another separate system that costs me $20 a game.
3. This is very true. But if you love making bigger games, don't give that up completely. I think if you can make some income off some smaller games, then you won't be as pressured to do things with your bigger game just to "make money". It might free you up to make the game that you really want to make.

UberGeekGames:

I remember seeing a GameCube controller that was about 70% as large as the standard one, but I can't remember what it was called. I think MadCatz made it? (wild guess) I wonder if something like that would work for the Xbox...

• Yes MadCatz, and that was one crappy controller. I used 2 or three of them, and it was guaranteed that at least one button would stick 25% of the time. I only use first party controllers now.
• Without big support from MS, I would personally only want to do something that relies on just the standard controller, otherwise you heavily segment your target market.
• In the end, the real money is made if you can hook kids in not just on your game, but on the intellectual property itself. That's not easy, but Community Games might have potential as a test bed for new IPs. I think Baby Einsteins started in someones home, and it's huge. Also, with kids stuff, people seem more likely to buy digital content and not just steal it (DVD's, CDs etc.).

I think there is a market for kids games on the Xbox. But it will take a push from MS to get it to happen.

If something like the Mr Men was bought to the Xbox it would do well, and who ever got the rights would have about 100 games they could make.

Duffman:

My biggest holdback is the controller though.. my daughter is almost four and she can use a mouse just fine (sans doubleclicking) but she has a tough time playing anything on the Xbox... she can either control or she can press buttons but she has a tough time doing both (hence why she has not been a good playtester for my game). Most of those Leapster games come with smaller controllers designed for children, getting past this on the Xbox, at least for that young of a demo, may be difficult.

Here's a thought:

Who says the kid has to be able to control the game. A lot of the time my daughter wants to pick out the game, but then just sit in my lap and have me control the game, but with her telling me where to go and what to do. So I guess you could create a game that you play with the kid. Kind of like reading a book to your kid, but they get to help decide what happens.

If the control system was simplified enough to only use, say the left thumbstick and one or two face buttons, I would think most kids could get it. Just a wild guess, I mean, I've seen kids that couldn't be more than 4 or 5 in shopping malls and grocery stores playing GameBoys or DSs. Probably a lot of button prompts, and more importantly verbal prompts would also help.

Polychrome:

...Almost off topic...this makes me think that a gig as a developer for the kiddie consoles could be pretty profitable and low-stress, since standards are so low. As a game artist I try and stay skilled enough to make 'Gears of War' quality level of art assets, so making 'Freddies Frog Adventure' would be pretty darn mellow.

might be true, especially from an artist's point of view, but not necessarily if you're a programmer.  yeah, you probably won't need to worry about post-processing effects and soft shadows, but the hardware is not nearly as advanced as the xbox, ps3, etc.  i can't imagine their SDKs are that great either, so you may end up having to write really low-level code and watching every byte of memory.  of course, i'm guessing, but it may not be as low stress as one might think.

also, there is something extremely gratifying about watching your own code draw a bad guy go up in a glorious ball of fire.  seeing the frog successfully land on the lillipad might not be quite as fulfilling :)

RetroGamer79:

Here's a thought:

Who says the kid has to be able to control the game. A lot of the time my daughter wants to pick out the game, but then just sit in my lap and have me control the game, but with her telling me where to go and what to do. So I guess you could create a game that you play with the kid. Kind of like reading a book to your kid, but they get to help decide what happens.

Well, I am mostly considering this in terms of what my daughter would like/enjoy/tollerate. She knows how to push the buttons and move the joystick... there is no way she'd just sit and watch while I did that (yes, I've tried and she throws a fit about it). In theory that's not a bad idea... in practice, it's not going to work for me.

Most of the time my daughter doesn't really care what's going on... she's happy to press buttons and move the character as long as at the end, I tell her she won (whether she did or not is irrelevant).