"A lot of times we judge the success of a game -- and predict its sales -- by looking at its launch day numbers. Steam sales have made that delightfully impossible."
- Amir Rao of Bastion developer Supergiant Games reflects on the impact of Valve's major Steam Sales.
Supergiant was just one of the developers featured in the recent 2012 Steam summer sale, and Rao says that these promotions have proven so lucrative that they've completely overshadowed Bastion's healthy launch day sales.
"Our launch day [for Bastion], which we viewed as very strong, is only our fifth best day of sales ever on Steam due to the power of the promotions we've had the opportunity to participate in."
Rao and other developers will have plenty more to say about Steam sales in our full article tomorrow morning. But until then, the question remains: Can the positive effects of these Steam sales really last? Are developers putting themselves at risk by selling games for a fraction of their full price?
They still face the fundamental issue of having actually made a good game. Too many people continuously buy too many bad and cheap games, because those people wouldn't know a good game if it slapped them in the face. To support the good developers, their good games need a fair support structure. Is Valve is providing a service with "fair trade" values, or "less unfair trade" values?
Surely if you need telling you're enjoying a bad game, it isn't a bad game for the person enjoying it?
While I haven't bought any turkeys in the last ten years I remember as a schoolgirl, buying a few SNES games my friends didn't like, which i adored.
Dark Messiah of Might and Magic is my lowest scoring game on steam (judging by metacritic) unyet i played through that game 5 times since I purchased it and thoroughly enjoyed every second. Obviously it wasn't popular enough with the masses to garner a sequel but to me, it was a great game, regardless of what other people thought.
My grandparents bought me a Scooby-Doo SNES game, back in the 90s. It was nowhere near as well-crafted as other games I had played, but I still had fun going through it. I feel that the game taught me about the secondary nature of polished control mechanics; even if the related factors of such mechanics do not feel "organic" in practice, they can still be entertaining to use.
On the topic of unknown/not critically well received games, one online game I've played, Phantasy Star Universe, was about as mechanically repetitive as possible. You literally only needed to push 2 buttons for all assigned actions in combat. Most people probably would have considered that game to be torture, but I felt comfortable playing through it.
However, this game had one unique aspect- a "rural" online community. Because the dedicated parts of the community eventually became only a few people, if you played long enough, you started playing with the same people every time you logged in, creating a similar social dynamic as is present in a small, rural community.
So, it's possible to find hidden treasures of experience in unlikely places!
Let's say Half Life 3 came out. "Yo Steve if you just wait 6 months to play Half Life 3, Valve will actually GIVE YOU $60" "No get out of my way I am gonna buy the f**k out of this right now"
So. As a developer, I'm not really concerned about this.
This is not too different from the used games market. If you are willing to wait 6 or so months to play new games, you can typically find them for $30 or less on eBay. Steam is just undercutting that market now - and the developers are getting money instead of people that sell used games! It's great for developers! And consumers.
This works two ways some people are just flat out cheapskates, while others get a chance to obtain a title that may be out of thier extra money ballpark. I can't imagine a rational developer who has a truely good game being worried about giving more people a chance to know the franchies & developer along with making some money to. Word of mouth is the best (if your game is good) and cheapest advertising avalible!
"This works two ways some people are just flat out cheapskates, while others get a chance to obtain a title that may be out of thier extra money ballpark."
I think there are 3 ways. The 3rd being---I would probably never have bought this game...EVER....but now that it is only $15, I'll give it a chance. Lowering the risk is huge in pulling in new customers. The risk being $60 vs $15. At that rate, can buy 4 games that I may not have played for the price of one brand new game.
I think it's important to recognise, some consumers will never buy your game at the price you think it's worth. So a steam sale doesn't target people who think your game is worth full price, it targets people who had no intention of giving you any money at all....and now suddenly they are, and they may even buy your sequel too.
A good example of your point: I have a friend who normally does not even glance at classic games, yet during the latest Steam Summer sale, he took notice of the game Beyond Good and Evil! Normally, I would not expect him to be a "gem explorer", but Valve did some good "excavating" to take the effort out of finding some! Hopefully, more people are anticipating the work-in-progress sequel, now...
I can't imagine why a studio wouldn't want to be part of a steam sale.
While I haven't bought any turkeys in the last ten years I remember as a schoolgirl, buying a few SNES games my friends didn't like, which i adored.
Dark Messiah of Might and Magic is my lowest scoring game on steam (judging by metacritic) unyet i played through that game 5 times since I purchased it and thoroughly enjoyed every second. Obviously it wasn't popular enough with the masses to garner a sequel but to me, it was a great game, regardless of what other people thought.
My grandparents bought me a Scooby-Doo SNES game, back in the 90s. It was nowhere near as well-crafted as other games I had played, but I still had fun going through it. I feel that the game taught me about the secondary nature of polished control mechanics; even if the related factors of such mechanics do not feel "organic" in practice, they can still be entertaining to use.
On the topic of unknown/not critically well received games, one online game I've played, Phantasy Star Universe, was about as mechanically repetitive as possible. You literally only needed to push 2 buttons for all assigned actions in combat. Most people probably would have considered that game to be torture, but I felt comfortable playing through it.
However, this game had one unique aspect- a "rural" online community. Because the dedicated parts of the community eventually became only a few people, if you played long enough, you started playing with the same people every time you logged in, creating a similar social dynamic as is present in a small, rural community.
So, it's possible to find hidden treasures of experience in unlikely places!
So. As a developer, I'm not really concerned about this.
I think there are 3 ways. The 3rd being---I would probably never have bought this game...EVER....but now that it is only $15, I'll give it a chance. Lowering the risk is huge in pulling in new customers. The risk being $60 vs $15. At that rate, can buy 4 games that I may not have played for the price of one brand new game.
It creates customers where there were none.