Update from the Grunt household... Minecraft is out now, it's Terraria now. Similar game with mining and crafting but it's a 2D sidescroller ala Duke Nukem! Once again the kids heard about from friends which supports Pip's argument.
Also, lots of Youtube vids, mods, upgrades etc which gamers like.
It just goes to show,
1 - new games like TV shows will copy and build on successful ones. It may be unimaginative, but it is good business.
2 - Microsoft will always buy something at an outrageous price just as it begins to wane in popularity!
3 - Rush will never die, it will survive the coming holocaust, especially 2112.
[:D] Yep! However, #2 is actually a bit of a mystery. Maybe even a market-forces example of the Heisenberg's uncertainty principle?
Does MS always buy stuff just as its popularity begins to wane; or does MS buying stuff precipitate its waning popularity?
I'll just point out that Terraria itself had already peaked and waned in popularity at least a year or two ago, and spawned all sorts of derivative clones since then, for whatever that's worth. The kids are certainly fickle (and yes I include myself in that group). I think Minecraft is still at the top of the pack overall.
Having had a glimpse at Terraria, I'm quite confident I'd much rather eat tacks than play that. A bit of vapid insipidity I can handle. A never ending conveyor belt of it, stretching off into the misty infinite distance . . . no.
ORIGINAL: Ranger33
I was a bit shocked by this to be honest, but I was so hung up on commenting about Minecraft I didn't say anything. Certainly puts to rest recent suggestions by another wargame dev that Matrix is only transitioning a lot of games to Steam because their sales numbers are "very unimpressive."
It's fair to say that we know our numbers better than anyone and if others are commenting on them, it's based on either very fragmentary knowledge or no knowledge at all, which usually suggests a motive other than purely to inform the community.
Also we were doing fine sales-wise before adding Steam as an additional distributor and had put up some very large numbers before then. Steam is a great additional market to go to both for wargamers who already use it and would like to have our games there as well as to try to get some more mainstream strategy gamers on board, but it is not a substitute for the strong community we have here or the type of customer service and development philosophy we've built our company around. As we said when we started releasing some of our games on Steam as well - adding Steam on has not and will not change how we sell our games here or how we support our community.
The community (all of you) is the most important thing, the rest is just different methods of getting them the games they want.
Once upon a time (not so long ago really) I was one of those suspicious tinfoil hat "anti-Steam" rabble-rousers. It seriously pissed me off when I found out Skyrim _AND_ Fallout New Vegas were going to be availalble ONLY through Steam.
It has been a long time since I read the Steam EULA, and who knows maybe it has changed. It is one of the most non-committal "not our problem" EULA's I've ever read. Basically, when you install Steam you are accepting that they owe you absolutely nothing. Steam goes bellyup, or they decide "Meh, lets just close up shop [an unthinkable proposition I know, but hypothetically, could happen]," Valve owes us nothing. You paid for EULAs and digital access only for as long as Valve decides to provide it. Not too many consumer goods distributors have terms of service that are that advantageous to the distributor.
That said, obviously the risks that we get shafted because of that EULA would, at this point, seem to be pretty miniscule. Even if something unbelievable happened and Steam evaporated (GET It! STEAM EVAPORATED!?! [:'(]) it would seem likely someone would step up and acquire the fragments and do their best to fill in the gaps.
I think Steam was a bit intrusive, laggy, buggy, technically problematic early on, but I can tell you without hesitation it is as close to flawless as I need today. It is also incredibly convenient, quick, handy and useful. Once I took the Steam plunge, I have found that my experiences have rolled from satisfied to very satisfied to deeply appreciative. At this point, I'd say I "love" Steam, and I wish that ALL of my games (including older Matrix titles) were on the Steam cloud. Heck, if you'd give license owners a bit of a discount, I'd buy second copies of all my Matrix games, just for the convenience of having them on there, readily accessible to install on any machine on which I choose to do so.
The other thing about them that impressed: I was buying one of the Skyrim expansions, and somehow I accidentally purchased a whole "TES Ultimate pack." Basically, the "Next" button and the "Buy" button for two windows were in the exact same screen coordinates and I inadvertently bought something I didn't mean to buy. I sent them a note explaining, "Hey, I already own Oblivion and Morrowind on CD and I didn't mean to buy this." They actually refunded the transaction and took the thing out of my library.
Speaking of DRM (sort of) I saw an interesting news report this morning.
Apparently lot's of people are complaining about the new Keurig Coffee Makers.
Kuerig uses a DRM [X(] on their official K-cups. If you don't use an official K-cup it doesn't brew your coffee. People aren't happy can no longer make their own cups or buy non-Kuerig registered coffee that is on the market usable in the older machines. Having read about much love for DRM's on this forum about computer games I found the story interesting. Hmmmm, how many products will start some form of DRM in the future [&:] how devious or useful will that be?
Speaking of DRM (sort of) I saw an interesting news report this morning.
Apparently lot's of people are complaining about the new Keurig Coffee Makers.
Kuerig uses a DRM [X(] on their official K-cups. If you don't use an official K-cup it doesn't brew your coffee. People aren't happy can no longer make their own cups or buy non-Kuerig registered coffee that is on the market usable in the older machines. Having read about much love for DRM's on this forum about computer games I found the story interesting. Hmmmm, how many products will start some form of DRM in the future [&:] how devious or useful will that be?
I can see both sides. Piracy/counterfeiting is a real issue. But at the same time you have to find ways of combating it without overly inconveniencing your legit customers.
As for Keurig, I have one of their brewers and maybe I live a sheltered life, but I have never actually seen a generic K-Cup.
And when it comes to food, I guess maybe I like non counterfeit?
I do like technology, but when I have the time I still go to my French Press for the best cup of coffee I can make.
