sequels and licenses in the game industry

a little number crunching, courtesy of someone in the biz:

90 titles were released in November of 2003 (not including multi-SKUs). Of those, 36 (40%) were "original" (not an affiliated brand or sequel) titles. However, to date (as of Jan. '03), those titles account for just below 19% of total units sold (of those aforementioned 90 titles).

publishers like sequels and licensed games because people actually buy them. obviously there are other factors, and i don't think you can just handwave the possibility that there are differences in marketing and distribution that contribute to the sales results. it is almost certainly a self-reinforcing situation. just like the other entertainment sub-industries.

here was my reaction to the greg costikyan rants:

i want to agree more with what he says, but there's too much of an undercurrent of "everyone else is an idiot and i'm an underfunded genius -- give me money".

(there is undoubtedly a measure of projection in this response. i've found that many things that people say about other people are directed largely at themselves.)