Steam (or impulse i suppose) ?

[nrich61]

I have been doing alot of reading on this game, but i dont like buying digital except from steam and occasionally impulse, (dont like having to worry about managing a ton of different systems). Plus your guys "extended download" add-on and all it entails is retarded.....

Are you planning on selling this through steam? not that it matters, but if its offered through steam or impulse i WILL be purchasing, otherwise ill wait to see it on a store shelf, though ive never seen one of your games here in the seattle area for sale.

[lordxorn]

Just some FYI, It has been stated by Matrix that their games are lifetime downloadable as long as thy are in business. They are just required to offer the extended ownload.

[nrich61]

quote that from anywhere?

It would just be smart for them to offer it on steam, they would get significantly more exposure just by it being on there. I hope their whole deal with not offering it on steam is because they have there own digital distribution company, cause that would just be a bad business call......

[CTB123]

From Erik of Matrix Games earlier today:

We've sent a few previous releases to those resellers just to test the waters and they are simply not that impressive in terms of incremental sales results. We were doing digital downloads and direct sales through our online store before they existed and we can still get much stronger sales and more direct support for the developer this way than by sending our games out to other sites. Keep in mind that each of these other resellers also wants their "cut" which ends up diluting the income to us and the developer, especially if the sales on those sites are not really incremental but instead replacements for sales we would have gotten in our store anyway. If in the future that changes, we would obviously also reconsider as our goal is to get the best results for our games and our developers.

< Message edited by Erik Rutins -- 5/21/2010 1:17:40 PM

[CTB123]

For what it's worth, you can save the download to a CD or DVD, along with your serial # in a text file or the like. There is no online activation.

[lordxorn]

ORIGINAL: nrich61

quote that from anywhere?

Please reference this thread from Erik Rutins of Matrix Games
tm.asp?m=2418152&mpage=1&key=download&#2418168

Here is the direct quote for ease, "Digital River requires us to add that in, it goes to cover their re-download costs. It would make things right with them if we were ever not around, but as long as we are around, re-downloads will not be a problem. We have customers still re-downloading games from 7 years ago without that. "

[nrich61]

the titles i saw that they sent over didnt look or sound to be as strong of a game as distant worlds looks to be..... so of course they didnt sell all that well.....

[Ocid]

ORIGINAL: CTB123

From Erik of Matrix Games earlier today:

We've sent a few previous releases to those resellers just to test the waters and they are simply not that impressive in terms of incremental sales results. We were doing digital downloads and direct sales through our online store before they existed and we can still get much stronger sales and more direct support for the developer this way than by sending our games out to other sites. Keep in mind that each of these other resellers also wants their "cut" which ends up diluting the income to us and the developer, especially if the sales on those sites are not really incremental but instead replacements for sales we would have gotten in our store anyway. If in the future that changes, we would obviously also reconsider as our goal is to get the best results for our games and our developers.

< Message edited by Erik Rutins -- 5/21/2010 1:17:40 PM

I find that hard to believe.

[Widell]

Well, that's what the offical Matrix standpoint is, so I guess we can believe what we want [;)]

[mbar]

Downloading from Matrix is not the same as Steam or Impulse. With those you need client software loaded to download and install the game. With Matrix/Digital River you download an executable that installs the game. You just need to give the activation key you received during your order and by email. That's it. No fuss no muss. I was hesitant too, but I got over it.

[ceyan]

I find that hard to believe.

Actually its pretty easy to believe. I was writing out this long post to explain why until I realized I was basicly detailing Economics 101 with regards to publishing and distribution costs, go read up about it.

Edit:
Or, at the very least, go lookup the sales figures that Valve has made public, that should shed a little bit of light on the subject.

Downloading from Matrix is not the same as Steam or Impulse. With those you need client software loaded to download and install the game. With Matrix/Digital River you download an executable that installs the game. You just need to give the activation key you received during your order and by email. That's it. No fuss no muss. I was hesitant too, but I got over it.

That's why I like Matrix best. Even GamersGate requires you to use their down-loader, although I appreciate that it isn't a separate application to install and you can keep the setup files for later use.

[Widell]

Now, we´re just waiting for this to turn into the usual "I hate"/"I love" Steam debate that we have seen so many times recently in the main forum. It's actually pretty boring, and since Matrix has made their call, at least for now, it wont lead anywhere.... this time either.

[Ocid]

ORIGINAL: ceyan

I find that hard to believe.

Actually its pretty easy to believe. I was writing out this long post to explain why until I realized I was basicly detailing Economics 101 with regards to publishing and distribution costs, go read up about it.

Edit:
Or, at the very least, go lookup the sales figures that Valve has made public, that should shed a little bit of light on the subject.

Downloading from Matrix is not the same as Steam or Impulse. With those you need client software loaded to download and install the game. With Matrix/Digital River you download an executable that installs the game. You just need to give the activation key you received during your order and by email. That's it. No fuss no muss. I was hesitant too, but I got over it.

That's why I like Matrix best. Even GamersGate requires you to use their down-loader, although I appreciate that it isn't a separate application to install and you can keep the setup files for later use.

Well since there aren't any public sales figures for Steam its a little hard to do that.
What i was meaning by saying i find it hard to believe was that adding their products to other DD sites resulted in sales so poor it wasn't even worth the effort. Exactly what distrubution costs are involved in delivering content digitally besides the bandwidth cost.

I could honestly careless about having a client to download some stuff. What i do have a problem with however is a company that says i have a set period of time in which to download something i paid for and if i want longer than a month to download it i have to pay extra.

[lordxorn]

ORIGINAL: Ocid

I could honestly careless about having a client to download some stuff. What i do have a problem with however is a company that says i have a set period of time in which to download something i paid for and if i want longer than a month to download it i have to pay extra.

I already touched on this, and even referenced the thread where Eric said your time is not limited. As long as Matrix is around, you will be able to re-download the game. End of discussion.

[ceyan]

ORIGINAL: Ocid
Well since there aren't any public sales figures for Steam its a little hard to do that.
What i was meaning by saying i find it hard to believe was that adding their products to other DD sites resulted in sales so poor it wasn't even worth the effort. Exactly what distrubution costs are involved in delivering content digitally besides the bandwidth cost.

I could honestly careless about having a client to download some stuff. What i do have a problem with however is a company that says i have a set period of time in which to download something i paid for and if i want longer than a month to download it i have to pay extra.

There are plenty of sales figures form Steam, just none from Valve. A good place to look is independent game developers who post up their data or quarterly/annual financial reports from the bigger developers. Not everyone does it, but plenty have.

Furthermore, I said "Publishing" and "Distribution", meaning (as Erik pointed out) you get other costs involved such as a cut to Valve as the hosting service. It doesn't seem like that much, but there was a interesting presentation at the GDC (can't remember which one specifically) about the various platforms distribution methods and expectations for people selling their games through them. The report was general, but stated you could expect to lose 30-50% of your potential growth from sales on services like Steam to those costs. I'm not sure how that scales based on price, so it might not be quite so much of a hit for a full price game, but its still not a small amount. And you tack on a lot of baggage for that in some cases, and it doesn't do a whole lot of good if your primary sales via (for example) Steam are all done via 50/75% sales they do.

I wasn't kidding when this is all Economics 101. Its entirely possible, and likely, that Matrix could make money off of publishing to other services, but there are numerous things which throw a grey spin to those black and white financial reports.