Unigine OilRush Barely Does 800 Sales To Date

[binstream]

So here's my proposal to the developers and flamers: You make good games for Linux (i.e. Minecraft, Humble Indie Bundle), and I'll give you my money for them. Make quality games in the genres that I like and I'll throw cash at you. But don't, whatever you do, presume to guilt trip me for not buying something I don't want.

OK, wait until the release. We have our own quality level (take a look at Heaven benchmark, for example) so I would better prove that the game worth attention by a good release rather than words.

[binstream]

I plan to try the game, but I have no reference if the game runs on anything other than ATI Catalyst drivers on Linux. I use the open source Radeon driver.

Where's the supported driver page?

Open source drivers aren't supported, you will need a proprietary one. Here are the system requirements: http://oilrush-game.com/info/

[laaapin]

Is this a joke? There is no steam and maybe there will never be Steam for Linux. Almost one year after http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?pag...uncement&num=1 there is only one official statement http://www.blogsdna.com/11891/its-of...g-to-linux.htm
It's very sad, but it's true!

The game also runs on Windows and soon OSX... and maybe it's the type of game that will make Steam consider publishing their linux version ?

[cruiseoveride]

I think its just their marketing that sucks. None of the big gaming websites has any reviews or anything about this game. And it definitely deserves to be among the A list titles in my opinion. Get it on IGN and you'll start making some dough.

[snuwoods]

certainly, I would agree that the success of the game will depend on marketing. something like steam would help sales tremendously, as far as exposure is concerned.

[deanjo]

With a stupid and boring name like "OilRush" what did they expect?

Gotta agree with you there. Immediate thing that comes to mind I think for a lot of people is that "Oil" isn't a very exciting topic when it comes to gaming. The most excitement oil brings is how people get ticked off enough at the pump with the artificially inflated prices.

There are other factors as well like no freely available demo, lack of presence on gaming sites and magazines, a poor way of purchasing the product, a new developer to the gaming scene with no real reputation, lack of end user editor, etc.

[yesterday]

As othets have said marketing is a huge factor for a game's success.

You should really try to get the guys from rockpapetshotgun to do a preview. Unlike the IGN and Gamespot they have a history of supporting games from indie and smaller devs studios

[sabriah]

As othets have said marketing is a huge factor for a game's success.

You should really try to get the guys from rockpapetshotgun to do a preview. Unlike the IGN and Gamespot they have a history of supporting games from indie and smaller devs studios

And, what hits my eyes, immediately. A huge Dragon Age II wallpaper ad...

[elanthis]

Marketing costs three times more than the development...

It's on average more like 30% for small startups and independents.

Still, 30% of development is a shitload more than $0, which is all Unigine has spent on marketing so far from what I can tell.

Easy formula:

Sales = X * Exposure

where X <= 1.0 and is a function of the effectiveness of the marketing to the target demographic

On top that, their X is pretty weak. So they have near zero Exposure, and most people who've seen it aren't interested in it. RTS. Yawn. Why the hell woudl anyone buy another one of those so soon after Starcraft 2? In fact, why would anyone _make_ one of those and expect to release it anytime remotely close to Starcraft 2's release? There's a very important reason why the established companies stagger their game releases against their competitors' releases, especially for titles that are going to compete against obvious juggernaughts. You don't release a shooter the same time as a Halo or Call of Duty game, you don't release an RPG anywhere close to the release of a Bioware title, and you don't release an MMO or RTS anytime even remotely close to a move by Blizzard.

Even if there wasn't another big popular RTS still making strong sales right now, RTS's are difficult to get right and easy to make bland and mediocre. A shooter would have probably done better, especially for a company that makes pretty graphics engines (and maybe or maybe not good game engines; there's zero useful information about the Unigine architecture on their site, which is just poor marketing to the developer community), because a shooter is a lot less sensitive to game design. An RTS doesn't need pretty graphics. If anything, overly pretty graphics make the game worse, and you really want a strategy game to focus on information efficiency rather than realistic visuals (there's a reason that tactical displays for ships and fighter jets still use simple dots and arrows and vectors rather than realistic 3D rendering despite the technology being available for many years). An RTS is something you want to see done by an established and veteran game designer. It's not something you want to see done by a team solely focused on graphics to date. Again, maybe it's a fantastic RTS, but what little marketing info is available doesn't tell me that. It just says LOOK AT THE SCREENSHOTS THEY ARE SO PRETTY! Meh.

[sabriah]

I found this 12 minute video of it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iS1foDdsBO8

It looks nice!