PoE Sales Analysis Thread

[Xeon]

Thank you!

 

[tuluse]

The term "AAA game" wasn't really in use back then.

Baldur's Gate was a fairly big seller, but IIRC the mainstream didn't know quite what to make of it at the time. The PC gaming scene at the time was centered around catering to the competitive multiplayer shooter and RTS scenes, and Half-Life was considered the future of gaming. BG was kind of a throwback.

It was described pretty frequently as Myth with more detailed characters. I have no idea how well sold.

Roguey
Where did you get the timeframe for PST sales?

 

[Space Satan]

I doubt PoE will beat Skylines. Too niche of a game.

Also, geography.

Spoiler

 

[Roguey]

Roguey
Where did you get the timeframe for PST sales?

http://www.quartertothree.com/game-...-No-One-Played&p=117970&viewfull=1#post117970

Figured he was using the last known numbers.

 

[Zeronet]

It creeped back into the top ten again.

 

[Abu Antar]

It creeped back into the top ten again.

Would you say its sales are balanced?

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

Its been bouncing up a lot after Angry Joe review.

 

[Perkel]

I think people forget how long legs have RPGs.

Just for comparison BG Saga is still sold in Poland in most of shops with PC games. Cheap but still sells.

 

[AwesomeButton]

I saw steamspy at 308 000 today. This is a nice moment to remember the following words of wisdom:
http://forum.bioware.com/topic/5337...p-10-best-selling-of-nov/page-3#entry18059466

Hi guys - obviously it's a drag not to see DAI on that top 10 list for November. I can't really give any figures of course...However, from what I know about the sales numbers (a) DAI is doing great and well ahead of it's predecessors, and a significant percentage of sales of DAI are digital and not tracked by NPD. If anything, I'm more worried about the weird signals this chart sends to the market about DAI, as opposed to the reality of our unit sales

(Yes I know a lot bigger titles were competing with dragon age in November but I still like the analogy)

 

[uaciaut]

Is it safe to say they've made around 5 mil off of this after they've paid Steam/GoG and Paradox their share?

Because for a game they didn't spend a cent for and for which they're getting like almost the entirety of the sell price as profit that's pretty fucking good.

 

[Xeon]

Darren (Dev) said that they spent a lot of their own money on PoE too, Tuluse said they spent around 1m.

 

[Space Satan]

Was it Obsidian who said they burned around 1 mil per month?

 

[Perkel]

Darren (Dev) said that they spent a lot of their own money on PoE too, Tuluse said they spent around 1m.

That is what we call investing in future. They got huge meta 91 and praise from all sides. Now their slamdunk aka PoE2 will sell a lot more than PoE1

 

[Abu Antar]

Was it Obsidian who said they burned around 1 mil per month?

I have heard that somewhere else before, so I think this is correct.

 

[Arkeus]

Is it safe to say they've made around 5 mil off of this after they've paid Steam/GoG and Paradox their share?

I'd say so. If they have sold 300K copies (and they probably sold a lot more, as the 300K+ on steam only have 50K backer copies) and we make the safe assumption they get half the money after Steam/GOG/Paradox, then they should have gotten at least 6 millions by now.

I expect more 7-8.

Because for a game they didn't spend a cent for and for which they're getting like almost the entirety of the sell price as profit that's pretty fucking good.

Well, they did spend a bit, but I don't think enough to offset the huge profit they are making.

 

[Abu Antar]

It will also be something that they can earn money on in the future. There's an upcoming card game or something that another studio will develop or Kickstart. They'll get money off of that. They are selling guides and other stuff. They will make decent profit from the game.

 

[Xeon]

GameSpot: Do you think it's getting easier or harder to make it as an independent studio these days?
Feargus Urquhart: I think it depends on your perspective. I think originally you could be an indie developer and not really have to be a business man. And I wouldn't say that I'm a business man, but I have some of the traits that go along with that. And I have had to learn a lot of things about accounting, and taxes, and other things to a point. I think in the past, it was possible to be effective without being really focused on business because the teams were much smaller. If you were eight guys and you made a bunch of money on your previous product, you can go six months without signing a deal. Our burn rate is $1 million a month, so we have to have games all the time. I am not independently wealthy, so I think a lot of it is harder now if you don't understand that you really have to focus on the business side.

Source from Watch

I am pretty sure I saw it here in the news linked by Infinitron or Bee but couldn't find it.

 

[Athelas]

I am not independently wealthy

This is about to change.

 

[Curious_Tongue]

Its been bouncing up a lot after Angry Joe review.

I have mixed feelings about this.

 

[Blackguard]

Is it safe to say they've made around 5 mil off of this after they've paid Steam/GoG and Paradox their share?

I'd say so. If they have sold 300K copies (and they probably sold a lot more, as the 300K+ on steam only have 50K backer copies)

You can't really base how many backer copies there are on the achievement alone. I got 5 copies of PoE from backing the game, but only the royal edition one came with the backer achievement. The 4 hero editions only came with pre-order bonuses. Every tier from 65 dollars came with at least one extra copy of the game, and right until release you could buy extra 3 copies for $60 from the backer site.

Also did slacker backers get the achievement? According to Feargus there were 25-40k of them.

 

[Infinitron]

Also did slacker backers get the achievement? According to Feargus there were 25-40k of them.

I was a slacker backer and still got that sweet achievement.

I was a slacker backer but didn't get the achievement, for what it's worth.

Also, Brother None (Kickstarter backer) tells me he hasn't gotten it either. I think that achievement might have some issues.

 

[Alpinia]

I was a slacker backer and I got the achievement. The slacker backer version is decribed as "Pillars of Eternity - Kickstarter Hero Edition," so I assume you're supposed to get it, and not getting it is a bug.

 

[Morality Games]

Its been bouncing up a lot after Angry Joe review.

I have mixed feelings about this.

You have to let new blood in to preserve the hobby in the long term. Well conceived and executed cRPGs shouldn't just be a toy that exists for a group of gamers who were most active from the late 80s to the early 90s.

 

[IHaveHugeNick]

Yeah. We can bitch about Pillars being appealing to newcomers all we want, but the reality is, the genre can't sustain itself forever just on the vets from the 80s and 90s. Fuck, the old school audience not being able to sustain it, is why the genre died in a first place.

 

[Sensuki]

Steam sales also include retail sales as all retail copies are steam.

PE is on the middle of page 2 of GOG Bestseller list which is lower than SRR and Div:OS but higher than WL2 and SRD

Does GOG count a backer's pre-paid copy as a sale, I do not know. I got a second free D:OS and WL2 key which I redeemed on GOG because of locked into steam issues.