

Our most successful game is also our least profitable - blowski
http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/YannSeznec/20130820/198453/Gentlemen_Or_how_our_most_successful_game_is_also_our_least_profitable.php

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Jach
This is blogospam. The Gamasutra article it references
([http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/YannSeznec/20130820/198453/Ge...](http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/YannSeznec/20130820/198453/Gentlemen_Or_how_our_most_successful_game_is_also_our_least_profitable.php))
written by the actual developer involved, is much better. He mentions that
because they used Unity, supporting Android in addition to iOS meant an extra
few days of work, so even lackluster Android sales can easily get to the break
even point. They also aren't too upset with the situation:

"Many people assumed that we were really upset about this statistic. In
retrospect, talking about the piracy numbers on twitter probably implies that
we were unhappy, but in reality the number of pirates just confirmed to us
that we made a game that people love to play! The people who are pirating our
game are also playing a surprising amount, with really great engagement -
these are no casual pirates just downloading because they can. So this
confirmed to us that our game design is solid, and that we’ve made a super fun
game that people enjoy. To be honest, that is really great. It’s unlikely that
any of these pirates would have bought the game anyway, so we’re just glad
that people are playing. Android makes piracy very easy, and thanks to that
Gentlemen! is being played by more people around the world than all of our
previous games combined."

And understanding of the problem that how would Chinese people pay for it
anyway?

"This was our first Android release. We probably could have done more to avoid
the massive piracy of our game - or, even better, convert pirate users into
paid users. I think that Android apps are definitely going to get pirated no
matter what...I can only dimly imagine the level of piracy that a truly
successful paid app has. However if we had anticipated this situation we
probably would have included some sort of in app purchase, perhaps to unlock
extra levels or game modes. At least then the pirates would have the
opportunity to pay us a little something if they were enjoying it so much -
the main problem is that most of these pirates probably exist in a commercial
ecosystem where the Google Play store does not even exist, and it doesn’t
occur to them to buy any games from there at all."

------
Steko
The Gamasutra article this blogspams is much more interesting:

[http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/YannSeznec/20130820/198453/Ge...](http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/YannSeznec/20130820/198453/Gentlemen_Or_how_our_most_successful_game_is_also_our_least_profitable.php)

Target for sales was 2,000:

 _So far we have sold 1,114 copies on iPad, and 144 copies on Android._

Excellent reviews:

 _8 /10 on Edge, 4.5 stars on Touch Arcade, and a 9/10 Gold Award on
PocketGamer._

Android statistics:

 _144 copies sold, 50,030 copies pirated_

Built with Unity, Android version only took 2 days of additional work so still
worth it.

------
MichaelGG
It's a bit light on details. I know from personal pirating that the vast
majority of things I downloaded I never touched or only opened once.
Especially as a teen, with slow modems and BBSes, it was more of a status/fun
thing to hoard as much as you could get.

I'd like to know if they have telemetrics installed that show how many game
sessions are being played on unique installs. The article also admits it's
titled Gentlemen, which is a hit song. So maybe some hacked up version of
Google Play provides universal search, this gets to the top, downloaded,
opened, then closed and forgotten about as the user tries to figure out why
the song didn't start...

~~~
NoodleIncident
The real Gamasutra article, written by the developers, points out the unusual
levels of engagement of their pirates. Even if they got it by accident, they
still like it at least.

------
revelation
_Some people will pirate anything just because it 's available_

So they wouldn't have bought it anyway? Whats the fuss about then?

~~~
orik
Are you kidding me?

~~~
ihsw
A pirated copy isn't a lost sale.

Software/music/movie pirates usually fall into very few categories:

* never willing to pay for it

* willing to pay, not willing to put up with current and known barriers

The first category should never be assumed to be a lost sale, however the
second _could_ be assumed a lost sale.

~~~
orik
I don't think it's a very safe assumption that most of the people are in the
first category.

~~~
ihsw
You're right, also I never made such an assumption.

------
aclevernickname
So, because it had the same name of a popular PSY song, it was near-impossible
to find in searches, and sold 114 copies.

But let's not focus on the fact that it was marketed poorly, nobody reviewed
it on any game blogs, or the fact that there actually _is_ a market for this
game (remember that Gabe Newell said that "Pirates are just Underserved
Customers"). No. Let's focus on how 50,000 chinese and russian pirates, who
can't use the Apple App Store, have somehow destroyed this developer.

How about the truth? _A poorly-marketed and budgeted game with a forgettable
name found an untapped /blue-ocean market in China and Russia_. Kotaku
probably can't get as many clicks with that tagline, though.

------
nsxwolf
Another reason not to make games. For the first time we have the ability to
quantify the sales generated by the "free advertising" of piracy, and it
doesn't amount to any real sales.

~~~
Jare
I don't think that rule is meant to apply to places where 95% (?) of software
is pirated. Can you even buy the game in China?

~~~
nsxwolf
I'd like to see the breakdown. It only said that "much" of the pirated
downloads came from China and Russia.

------
dromidas
While this is an interesting idea, I find it a lot more fun to not have 2
people holding something you're playing with.

I wouldn't even have bothered to pirate it :P They're lucky they got 50k
people to look at it imo. This method of playing went out... um... shit...
with um... Crossfire? Hungry Hungry Hippos?

------
devx
By people who would've never bought it in China, either because they can't (no
access to Play Store) or won't (too little money to pay for "apps").

~~~
redeemedfadi
That doesn't make it ok.

~~~
JabavuAdams
This argument doesn't make any sense. They cannot buy it.

The smart thing to do would be to treat that as free advertising, and to milk
the outrage to get good PR in markets that can buy it.

Also, try going freemium, with ads.

I.e. you can't really control what other people do, but you can accept reality
and look for a way to turn it to your advantage.

------
pessimizer
If you stop making games, pirates will have nothing to pirate except the 40
billion games that came out before yours, and nothing of value will have been
lost.

------
jcromartie
They are equating critical praise with success instead of sales. I think
that's pretty unusual, and I wonder why they would say that it is a success.

------
pnathan
This is why I chose to make my game 100% login based; no access without a
connection and an authentication.

Piracy is simply too rampant.

~~~
DavidBradbury
I bet it doesn't feel great for the people who don't have a connection
available and are getting punished because of other people's actions.

~~~
pnathan
Yep.

I intend to sell this game - no ads - and provide regular updates and
improvements, along with "in-app purchases" (It's going to be a
browser/FireFoxOS game). I have no desire to have this work leeched, and I
want the user community to feel comfortable knowing that they are all
generally people who pay for things rather than copying them without
recompense.

------
bluedino
How many more sales would you get if the price were $1 or $2, instead of $5?
That's quite a leap to make.

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nfoz
Someone made a game expecting it to be monetizable on the basis of selling and
retaining a monopoly on "copies"?

lol. Except for the outrage that they expect to control what I can or cannot
do with my computer and its data. Seems they made a poor choice for them.

~~~
krelian
Do you feel the same about say, the NSA snooping your data? After all, you
never lost access to your data, they just made a meaningless copy of it.

