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Besides the reasons mentioned, another point I've heard from talented artist friends is that specific art assets have a tiny market -- Most games require the art to be customized a non-trivial amount to suit their game's atmosphere, theme, color schemes, etc -- Even generic things like zombies, fighter jets, rocket launchers, medkits, etc. So stock art assets tend to only be used in prototyping phases, and after that an artist is contracted to finalize the asset. Since this is the usage of their products (early prototypes), artists can't charge the premium they deserve for the quality of the product. The only way they can is they create super-specific but very cliche/popular artwork, like planet earth, Eiffel Tower, Statue of Liberty, iPhone, Desert Eagle, etc, which can actually be sold for a premium because they can be used as-is in polished final games. And then, only the best one or two of each item rise to the top of the marketplace and obviously noone needs the rest. The Unity Asset store is a good place to look to get an idea for the economics of free/for-sale art assets. There are very few models/art assets that can be used in production, and the most usable/popular items are either tools, customizable assets like shaders, particle effects and materials, prototyping asset packs, or the specific items like I mentioned. And none of them can sell for very much. From Unity devs I've heard the tools category makes the most money. |