Think & Play
Thoughtplay is the creative team behind various popular websites and other projects. At this blog we give away bright ideas regularly, and comment on interesting trends both online and off. The thought channel is for more business-related trends, play looks at entertainment and leisure, and thoughtplay introduces our own creative ideas, as well as news about our projects.
Are things becoming more perplexing? | 110207
The hunt for the 'The Receda Cube' is over, with the prized object being dug out of the Nothamptonshire mud last week.
The cube - an 'artefact' 'stolen' from the alternate reality game (ARG) Perplex City - has been hunted for by more than 50,000 players around the world over the last two years. Clues to the location of the cube were revealed in the solutions to problems on 256 puzzle cards, hints within the the game and real-world events and media.
What makes Perplex City interesting is the financial model adopted by Mind Candy, the company behind the game. Rather than relying upon a subscription based model, the revenue required to run the game is generated through the sale of the essential cards and to a lesser extent generic merchandise. Could this be the next big thing for gaming? Index Ventures (an investor in Skype amongst others) are sufficiently convinced to have invested $3m in Mind Candy. At Thoughtplay, we have our doubts that this type of game will really gain a mainstream profile. Even though we are inveterate puzzle solvers and games inventors, we believe that the population of fellow travellers is orders of magnitude less than the market for Facebook or YouTube. We would however be happy to be proved wrong.
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