What The New Linux Game Publishing Will Look Like

[Qaridarium]

Several AAA titles are pirated soon after gold master is out, but i personally don't see the large number of lost sales. Only very few ppl could afford buying everything they get this way, also some see it just as full functional demo. The "funny" thing is that the copies are without drm hassle and the official ones are restricted, you pay for copy protection that is usually broken since day 1. At least for multiplayer games online verification of serial numbers are a simple but mostly working way to stop pirates playing on official servers. Usually a game thats not pirated is a flop, call it what you want, the interest is just too low to break the drm. The real question is if you dont use drm at all do you sell more or less copies? For singleplayer it could be really hard to guess, but it always has to do who many ppl you can attract. When you look at lgp games, those are often years (sometimes a decade) too late. When the same title for 10 bucks or less is available for Win which might already run fine with wine, why should Linux users buy the native game for the full price (and might already own the win version). Due to the huge price diff i can understand that only very few copies will be sold and when you see the game for free on certain sites you could get really angry as Linux gaming company. But using drm is definitely not the solution, reaching the mass market with low price (or pay what you want) is certainly better. When the price is so low that it does not justify the afford to get it from a "bad" place you sell much more. Maybe bundle some games, make a LGP bundle or whatever.

yes you are right and in fact: i don't buy because: DRM/copy-protection.

[gbudny]

But using drm is definitely not the solution, reaching the mass market with low price (or pay what you want) is certainly better. When the price is so low that it does not justify the afford to get it from a "bad" place you sell much more. Maybe bundle some games, make a LGP bundle or whatever.

Here is problem:

"The sale, and the results
Now that some time has gone by, and the numbers have been looked at, we have reached a conclusion about the sale.

The thing is, a one day sale can never give us useful information. The one day sale was a HUGE success. We turned over more stock in one day than we usually do in 6 months. The problem is, we made less than we would usually make in a month.

But that sale was never part of the calculations. The real test came after.

We looked at the sales figures from resellers. These sales figures spanned a number of weeks, and gave us a much better idea of how sales long term would go, when prices were lower.

The first week of sales was, as expected, higher than usual. Week two, sales dropped back to the same sales levels as we were getting before the sale was announced. Week three, sales levels stayed flat, at around the level of before the sale was announced.

This was the important test. What happens over an extended period of time, and the result was, the same number of sales, less profit per sale.

And so, I think we can say that we gave it a shot, we gave a fair ear to the people that demanded lower prices, and the result was, it is not economical for us to do so. Sales spike, obviously, but then go back to normal. A person coming to the site seems no more or less likely to make a purchase based on the lower prices.

On the plus side for those that wanted lower prices, we now have the rental scheme in place and at least one reseller implementing it, and so, some games are now available at the lowest prices ever!"

http://blog.linuxgamepublishing.com/...d-the-results/

Kano I think this is interesting news:

31 January 2012

"Due to the current events surrounding Linux Game Publishing , I have decided to temporarily offer their games massively cheaper (while at camp). For 14 days every LGP games, which I have in stock are 66% cheaper .

First, I want to celebrate it with LGP are finally signs of life. Secondly, I expect and hope that prices will fall and lose my goods anyway so its value is.

Those who advance as Holarse users to contact me gets a little like getting a better deal. A loss of business it is anyway. "

http://www.holarse-linuxgaming.de/ne...g%C3%BCnstiger

Fun4tux:

http://fun4tux.ch/

[Kano]

Well it is not enough to make games cheaper, you have to promote your offeres. All about the humblebundle success is widespread promotion. It can be the best offer but nobody notices it. When you look at steam, you get every week another special offers, maybe try that way too. But do not sell Linux only games for more than the "official" price you would pay for crossplattform packages, thats weird (look at Postal 2).

[Qaridarium]

Here is problem:

do you calculate the people like me: i don't buy LPG games because of the DRM/Copy-Protection.

[gbudny]

do you calculate the people like me: i don't buy LPG games because of the DRM/Copy-Protection.

Yes.

Currently, LGP has published eight games that contain their DRM technology:

Ballistics (r2)
Jets'n'Guns
Majesty Gold (r2)
Sacred
Shadowgrounds
Shadowgrounds Survivor
X2: The Threat (r2)
X3: Reunion"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux_Game_Publishing

[Kano]

Both Shadowgrounds games have been already inside hib without drm. Why should you buy it with drm?

[gbudny]

Both Shadowgrounds games have been already inside hib without drm. Why should you buy it with drm?

Yes. I know about this, but I buyed Shadowgrounds games two years ago.

[gbudny]

But do not sell Linux only games for more than the "official" price you would pay for crossplattform packages, thats weird (look at Postal 2).

Seriously? You should look at officai Id software store:

http://www.idsoftware.com/store/

Wolfenstein 3D: 15 $ ( Only MS-DOS 5.0 or higher)

Quake: 20 $ ( Only MS-DOS 5.0 or Windows 95/98)

etc.

[Kano]

http://www.postalgames.com/servlet/t...Running/Detail

[gbudny]

http://www.postalgames.com/servlet/t...Running/Detail

This is better version of Postal game, if you use other operating systems:

http://www.postalgames.com/servlet/t...n-vince/Detail

I use Linux and Mac OS X, but I play in games only on Linux. Sometimes I buy games for Mac, if I can 't buy version for Linux for example

"You will need the PC version: either the 3 CD set, the single DVD Collector's Edition, or a normal installed copy of the game, such as you'd download via Steam. You will need a valid and unique CD key in any case. The Mac version's install disc has not been tested, and the XBox 360 version will not work. "

http://icculus.org/prey/

However Mac version of Prey works with Linux installer.