News:

Printed Amstrad Addict magazine announced, check it out here!

Main Menu
avatar_TFM

Commercial games...

Started by TFM, 03:26, 18 November 11

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

TFM

Hi all,

We know that Orion Prime did sell very well, not surprising :-)


But does anybody know how much copies of other games have been sold? (I mean games, released in the last 10 years of so, NOT in the 90ies).


TFM of FutureSoft
Also visit the CPC and Plus users favorite OS: FutureOS - The Revolution on CPC6128 and 6128Plus

Bryce

Are you sure this thread should be in Hardware??

Bryce.

MacDeath

Germans have no word for "Soft", they know only "HARD" and "Ware..."

:laugh:


Joke appart...

Sold Well ?

Like... 200 units ? perhaps 300 ?


Well, provided the guys produced and sold them directly, even a 1 or 2 €uro margin would still make an interesting payback.



That the main point behing a proper Cartridge product for PLUS.

Not sure it may sell as well... but hey, if it runs on GX4000... as there are a lot of "console collectionners" who own a GX4000 just because it is a "rare" console...

Those guys may be eager to buy a new game for 50 or even 60€uros I guess...


Guess what, this can still be something like 10€uro margin per unit...
Just need the game to be good and stable, working on every PLUS configs, and having a good casing too.

So someone would have to finance the pre-production, which may start to be expensive for more than 50 units or more...


In a sense, Doing this on a 3"1/2 disk is by far easier... or even on a 3" disk....

Octoate

Well, I don't know the selling numbers of new CPC games, but I can speak for me, that I will buy any new game if it is available, because I think it is worth to show the developers that there is an interest an interest in their work :).

Sometime I think about crowdfunding... This concept seems to work for a lot of projects, so if someone wants to develop a cartridge game (to keep MacDeaths example), you would use e.g. http://www.kickstarter.com to show your concept and that you will work on this project if enough people would fund it. Well, it would be interesting to see if this would work with a CPC project, too.
--

Devilmarkus

Quote from: Bryce on 09:10, 18 November 11
Are you sure this thread should be in Hardware??

Sorry: Denglish:
QuoteWenn 'Er' mal wieder Hardware....
When you put your ear on a hot stove, you can smell how stupid you are ...

Amstrad CPC games in your webbrowser

JavaCPC Desktop Full Release

TFM

Commerial games can be touched (they are in a box!), so they are hard - hardware.

Non-commercail games come as download, so they are software.


Well, a lousy excuse for a late night and Irish Whisky called Jameson  8)
TFM of FutureSoft
Also visit the CPC and Plus users favorite OS: FutureOS - The Revolution on CPC6128 and 6128Plus

TFM

Quote from: Octoate on 17:38, 18 November 11
Well, I don't know the selling numbers of new CPC games, but I can speak for me, that I will buy any new game if it is available, because I think it is worth to show the developers that there is an interest an interest in their work :) .

Sometime I think about crowdfunding... This concept seems to work for a lot of projects, so if someone wants to develop a cartridge game (to keep MacDeaths example), you would use e.g. http://www.kickstarter.com to show your concept and that you will work on this project if enough people would fund it. Well, it would be interesting to see if this would work with a CPC project, too.

Cool idea! But the problem actually is to get shells for Plus cartridges...
TFM of FutureSoft
Also visit the CPC and Plus users favorite OS: FutureOS - The Revolution on CPC6128 and 6128Plus

TFM

Does anybody know how often Star Sabre or other games were sold?
TFM of FutureSoft
Also visit the CPC and Plus users favorite OS: FutureOS - The Revolution on CPC6128 and 6128Plus

TomEtJerry

Hello,

Well, you should ask to Axelay, but I don't think they have been sold a million :-). That's a pity because Psytronik does a great job with there packaging, very professionnal looking.

T&J/GPA

TFM

Quote from: TomEtJerry on 23:27, 28 November 11
Hello,

Well, you should ask to Axelay, but I don't think they have been sold a million :-). That's a pity because Psytronik does a great job with there packaging, very professionnal looking.

T&J/GPA

Good idea :-) Axeley are you reading? Any comments?
TFM of FutureSoft
Also visit the CPC and Plus users favorite OS: FutureOS - The Revolution on CPC6128 and 6128Plus

Axelay

Sub Hunter around 40, 2/3 of those on disk.  Star Sabre 128k not quite 20.  Dead on Time about 15.  Just a few shy of making that 'they sold a million' compilation then.  :laugh:

Gryzor

Well, two games from now we can have a compilation titled "They sold a hundred" :D

A shame, I would have thought quite a bit more... but, they'll probably fetch more on eBay in a few years' time. Better start buying double copies!

TFM

Quote from: Axelay on 12:11, 30 November 11
Sub Hunter around 40, 2/3 of those on disk.  Star Sabre 128k not quite 20.  Dead on Time about 15.  Just a few shy of making that 'they sold a million' compilation then.  :laugh:

Well, all the three mentioned games are really HIGH CLASS and technically a dream! Better than 99% of all that commercial stuff of the 80ies and even 90ies. So I really expected higher numbers.
I guess that CPCusers today just wait for the release of the commercial game in the web to save their money. A pity. Thanks' a lot for your information though. That helps me planning ahead ;-)
TFM of FutureSoft
Also visit the CPC and Plus users favorite OS: FutureOS - The Revolution on CPC6128 and 6128Plus

Gryzor

I wonder - maybe  those games that are published this way shouldn't be distributed for free? At least for a long time?

TFM

In addition I ask myself: What motivates people to buy an original game instead of getting a copy from a friend?
TFM of FutureSoft
Also visit the CPC and Plus users favorite OS: FutureOS - The Revolution on CPC6128 and 6128Plus

Gryzor

You mean for games on old machines or new ones?

TFM

Quote from: Gryzor on 18:20, 01 December 11
You mean for games on old machines or new ones?

Games released for both (CPC & PC).
TFM of FutureSoft
Also visit the CPC and Plus users favorite OS: FutureOS - The Revolution on CPC6128 and 6128Plus

steve

In my case it is convenience, I have bought games off ebay but finding the address of a publisher and sending a cheque is more effort than I am prepared to exert.
Quote from: TFM/FS on 17:33, 01 December 11
In addition I ask myself: What motivates people to buy an original game instead of getting a copy from a friend?


TomEtJerry

Hello,

Quote from: steve on 03:50, 02 December 11
In my case it is convenience, I have bought games off ebay but finding the address of a publisher and sending a cheque is more effort than I am prepared to exert.

Well, about Psytronik releases, they have a website where it's easy to buy their software with Paypal, so that's not a good reason...

Axelay

Quote from: Gryzor on 12:36, 01 December 11
I wonder - maybe  those games that are published this way shouldn't be distributed for free? At least for a long time?


Not sure about a 'long time', but I had thought about trying to do something similar to Orion Prime with both Dead on Time and Sub Hunter, having the physical release come out first so people who bought it could play it first on original hardware, and then have the freely downloadable version become available a month later or something.  On both occasions though, by the time I actually completed them I was just too keen to get the finished game "out there"!   :)  Maybe next time I'll try that approach.

steve

Maybe this site could have pictures of the current cassette/disks for sale which anyone can simply click on to buy, the site would get a commission on each sale to support the site and everyone would have easy way to find and buy the latest software.

Gryzor

This could actually be a really good idea, Steve. Maybe a special section on the front page with all commercial pages... I think I'll do it. Can people start posting here links to commercial games?

Also, of course no commission is necessary :D But maybe we could strike a deal with publishers for a slight discount, if that's ever possible...

TFM

Ok, so it's all about... "Make it easy". Thanks' to all for the interesting insights.
TFM of FutureSoft
Also visit the CPC and Plus users favorite OS: FutureOS - The Revolution on CPC6128 and 6128Plus

TMR

For 8-bit games at least, offering a game for download at the same time it's on sale doesn't really seem to harm sales, if anything it acts like advertising and attracts a few more buyers (that's certainly the case of Edge Grinder on the C64 which shifted twice as many units as i expected despite the entire game and source being downloadable).

Remember that things can backfire if your marketing or pricing isn't spot on and that can sometimes leave the publisher looking like they're only in it for the money regardless of if that's the case or not. In most cases including those giving their games away, promotion is probably one of the most important factors, for Rassilon's sake don't spam the hell out of every site going because that'll just nark people off, but do make sure you post a few teasers beforehand and preferably ship review copies in advance to people who can get the word out - and that includes folks outside the Amstrad community, even C64 lovers like me. =-)

And yes, if you're charging money keep the ordering process as simple as possible and make sure you're at least reasonably professional; i've recently had dealings with someone who sells hardware and, after taking my money and then keeping me waiting over three months longer than he advertised on his site, i only got a reply to one of the five or six emails i sent and he basically lied in it. What i've found from talking to folks about this is that they won't mind being kept waiting for a few weeks as long as the reason for that wait is explained to them, if the discs run out and they take a week to arrive just email waiting customers to tell them that.

Gryzor

Interesting points there...

For my part, I'm trying to find a way to boldly advertise new releases (like R-Type of Bubble Bobble) on the wiki...

Powered by SMFPacks Menu Editor Mod