Even so, development costs account for only 2 of the shelf price, with the rest going on marketing, packaging, distribution, and retailing. Which led Holmwood to wonder how you could go about charging the customer just 2 instead of 40. The internet is the answer. Given the opportunity to play free games without any purchase necessary, the temptation to the average internet and PC user would be undeniable. The website is due to launch in mid-May and aims to remove barriers to a very sizeable mass market.
Investors seem to like the idea.
Pure Entertainment's flotation on the London Stock Exchange's Alternative Investment Market raised 11m and the company claims this share value now stands at 36m. Spending the cash is no problem. Freeloader runs on 2000 servers and that will be 6000 by the end of the year. There's creating the website, buying licences for games, and marketing at end of May through radio and outdoor ads plus some national press. This will mean another round of fund-raising later this year because we have to get into the States in a big way.