Matrix Games Forums

Posted: **Thu Mar 07, 2013 11:14 pm**

Hours ago I saw on facebook (and here)that Matrix is trying to Greenlight PC on Steam and in the news thread that over 200k copies have been sold.

Matrix never reveals sales numbers and has always said that Steam doesn't work out for them. I was shocked.

Can't believe that no one is commenting.

Posted: **Thu Mar 07, 2013 11:29 pm**

Good for them. Steam is a brilliant content provisioning system.

cheers.

Posted: **Fri Mar 08, 2013 12:08 am**

ORIGINAL: Chris Merchant

Good for them. Steam is a brilliant content provisioning system ...

That's the first time I've ever seen a positive comment about Steam.

Posted: **Fri Mar 08, 2013 2:21 am**

The thing I find most 'shocking' is that Panzer Corps should have to go through the farce that is Greenlight at all to be sold on Steam.

I would be interested to know how well the non-exclusive titles - particularly Unity of Command - did on Steam, and if that was a factor in the decision.

Posted: **Fri Mar 08, 2013 4:17 am**

I'm all for it. Means a lot more money for them. Once it gets ported to the App Store it will have the possibility to reach another 250 million users .

Posted: **Fri Mar 08, 2013 8:15 am**

Well if it attracts more players to the hex based wargames I'm all for it. There must be a zillion RTS players who don't even know the concept of turn based hex wargames, so maybe it can wet their appetite for more.
A bit strange that is has to go through Greenlight though [&:] I know there are very few turn based games on Steam but nevertheless PC should make it straight for Steam. Maybe this says something about Steam too, unfamiliar territory for them.

Posted: **Fri Mar 08, 2013 8:40 am**

I talk to other gamers mostly about FPS titles and they have no clue that companies like this exist. I wonder how many of the gamers who use our favorite titles on Matrix are in the 18-25 age range? I'll bet most of us are over 30.

I like Steam b/c when you get another computer you don't have to worry about all the games and it works well for me with all my games.

Posted: **Fri Mar 08, 2013 10:29 am**

I never had all that many problems with Steam, it does what I want it to do thus far. I've had far more problems with EA's system than with Steam.

I would be interested to know how well the non-exclusive titles - particularly Unity of Command - did on Steam, and if that was a factor in the decision.

Without giving exact figures, Steam sales were higher than they were through digital download websites in just a couple of months compared to the sales on the internet for about a year. However, we're nowhere near 200.000, a target which many wargame developers might be extremely lucky to reach 5%-10% or so of, but not much more.

Posted: **Fri Mar 08, 2013 10:56 am**

Steam works for me. I frequently work off different laptops and having all my games available on any platform I'm currently on is great.

Posted: **Fri Mar 08, 2013 10:57 am**

We have had so many requests to add the games to Steam we decided to try it out. There is no submission process to Valve other than Greenlight, so every single game has to go via Greenlight unless you already have a deal in place with Steam. We think Steam is an interesting option for some games but certainly would not plan to take everything to steam. Panzer Corps is at a good place in its life cycle where we've had the bulk of sales that we are going to get direct without the additional visibility of something like Steam. That's not to say it doesn't still sell well ( we just had our best week since August last year), but we think this is the right time to look for a wider audience and introduce them to these type of games and once they get a taste for them, hopefully draw them in to the rest of the line up.

As stated elsewhere we have no plans to do anything exclusive with Steam. We were doing digital downloads long before Steam and plan to be doing them long after!

If possible we will be allowing users who bought from us to add their game to their Steam account but we don't know enough about the process to understand how that works yet. We will almost certainly be offering the DLC's on Steam as well.

Posted: **Fri Mar 08, 2013 11:19 am**

ORIGINAL: Iain McNeil

If possible we will be allowing users who bought from us to add their game to their Steam account but we don't know enough about the process to understand how that works yet. We will almost certainly be offering the DLC's on Steam as well.

That's fine as long as we are not "forced" to add it to steam!

Posted: **Fri Mar 08, 2013 11:40 am**

Iain remember Steam will be whacking out the game for buttons in their constant sales no doubt though. Which goes against your "price it low doesn't work once the game reaches a certain age" policy surely?

Posted: **Fri Mar 08, 2013 12:11 pm**

ORIGINAL: Iain McNeil

We have had so many requests to add the games to Steam we decided to try it out. There is no submission process to Valve other than Greenlight, so every single game has to go via Greenlight unless you already have a deal in place with Steam. We think Steam is an interesting option for some games but certainly would not plan to take everything to steam. Panzer Corps is at a good place in its life cycle where we've had the bulk of sales that we are going to get direct without the additional visibility of something like Steam. That's not to say it doesn't still sell well ( we just had our best week since August last year), but we think this is the right time to look for a wider audience and introduce them to these type of games and once they get a taste for them, hopefully draw them in to the rest of the line up.

As stated elsewhere we have no plans to do anything exclusive with Steam. We were doing digital downloads long before Steam and plan to be doing them long after!

If possible we will be allowing users who bought from us to add their game to their Steam account but we don't know enough about the process to understand how that works yet. We will almost certainly be offering the DLC's on Steam as well.

Well, I can quite easily see PC being sold, and doing well on steam. It does highlight the stupidity of the current steam system though. Greelight is ok for greenfield projects but as the ONLY route in it is idiocy. If a game that has sold over 200k units doesnt have the necessary cahonas to be sold by them what has ? This is dumb for steam as they depend on fresh content to keep their profits up and they need to keep selling new stuff.

Posted: **Fri Mar 08, 2013 12:37 pm**

No Steam do not set the prices - they just wont promote you unless you price drop. We'll just have to settle for not being promoted

Posted: **Fri Mar 08, 2013 12:58 pm**

I think Battle Academy might also be a good STEAM offering.

Then again, I don't know anything of the business side of it. I do, however, applaud the forward thinking steps that may result in a wider audience and, quite possibly, the new blood that may be born.

I wish you all the luck.

mo reb

Posted: **Fri Mar 08, 2013 1:14 pm**

As Iain said, we are exploring this as another distribution option. We are not planning to do anything that would create an inconvenience for our customers or tie ourselves to Steam. Feedback from our customers tells us they are very happy with the system we have now to sell game and the simple serial number check instead of any restrictive DRM. Nothing will change there, but we also have a lot of feedback that suggests we could reach other customers by also making some games available on Steam.

Regards,

- Erik

Posted: **Fri Mar 08, 2013 1:23 pm**

I don't use Steam. I signed up a while ago to vote for another game. I was told I couldn't vote unless I buy something first. Just FYI.

I do like Desura because they were dealing in Linux games when I was dabbling with Ubuntu Linux. Now that Steam has made the effort to have an Ubuntu version, and possibly a future Linux console, will S/M look at making Linux versions of the popular games?

Posted: **Fri Mar 08, 2013 1:30 pm**

I usually just lurk around here but I wanted to say I'm excited to see you guys branching out to Steam a bit. I had never bought anything from Matrix until about a year ago when I saw some discussion about TOAW somewhere and thought I would try it out. I barely knew Matrix Games was a thing, much less that you guys had literally oodles of awesome titles just waiting to be discovered. Since then a lot of my gaming purchases have been from here. I would buy just about everything if I had the money.

I'm 25, just for reference. PC is for sure a game I would check out if I saw it pop up on Steam, and I think a lot of other gamers will be interested as well. Best of luck!

Posted: **Fri Mar 08, 2013 2:43 pm**

Future of Complex War Games:

If there are say 1500 die hard wargamers (whatever the number is here) that get our games here or HPS, opening them up to say the "masses" on steam can only help by getting more involved and liking the challenge...buying more games, more money for the company and maybe more titles...

Posted: **Sat Mar 09, 2013 8:45 pm**

there's a steam gift card here that you might be able to get for free

Matrix Games Forums

Steam? Sales? No comments?

Steam? Sales? No comments?

RE: Steam? Sales? No comments?

RE: Steam? Sales? No comments?

RE: Steam? Sales? No comments?

RE: Steam? Sales? No comments?

RE: Steam? Sales? No comments?

RE: Steam? Sales? No comments?

RE: Steam? Sales? No comments?

RE: Steam? Sales? No comments?

RE: Steam? Sales? No comments?

RE: Steam? Sales? No comments?

RE: Steam? Sales? No comments?

RE: Steam? Sales? No comments?

RE: Steam? Sales? No comments?

RE: Steam? Sales? No comments?

RE: Steam? Sales? No comments?

RE: Steam? Sales? No comments?

RE: Steam? Sales? No comments?

RE: Steam? Sales? No comments?

RE: Steam? Sales? No comments?