Slitherine

quote:

ORIGINAL: marc420

Actually, I've never really found that much with wargames. At least that's not my impression.

I play a lot against the AI. And I'll play either side. As I get good at a game, I tend to take the weaker side for a challenge against the AI.

I've only played a few PBEM games over the years with various games. But I generally have not encountered many people who insist on playing only one nation.

If anything, I feel like I've run into players that are more comfortable playing Offense or Defense than I've encountered players who insist on playing a particular nation.

In general, I get the sense that most players play these games for the competition or problem-solving aspects than from any sort of nationalist point-of-view.

I haven't really paid much attention. Are many of SSG's or Matrix-published games translated to languages other than English?

quote:

ORIGINAL: Gregor_SSG

quote:

ORIGINAL: Adam Parker

quote:

ORIGINAL: JSS

Adam,

BiN's price is an incredible value for what you're getting. I really think it's worth more than US$100.

Gents once again when it comes to price many are failing to realize the key point.

The retail cost of a game reflects:

1. Development
2. Production - a) Disc, b) Box, c) Manual, d) Barcoding, e) Packaging, f) Production labor
3. Legals
4. Wholesaler mark-up
5. Transport - a) Warehousing, b) Delivery, c) Import/export, d) Currency conversions
6. Merchandising
7. Retailer mark-up

Nice theory of game publishing, but it fails to take into account the difference between the relative and the absolute. The employees of SSG need a certain amount of money each year, just to be able survive and to keep making wargames.

For the record, Korsun Pocket, despite winning awards and stellar reviews, failed this basic test. I was only able to keep working for SSG by subsidising my employment with money from a divorce settlement. This is not a sustainable basis for business!

We have to be realistic about how many copies we are going to sell and that dictates the price we have to charge. The poster who suggested we could sell 40,000 copies with the right pricing was definitely dreaming.

If the SSG website gets cluttered with pictures of our new Ferraris, (the traditional choice of game developers who have suddenly made bucketloads of money), then you would be entitled to cry foul, but I can assure you that its not going to happen.

Gregor

quote:

ORIGINAL: willgamer

I believe Matrix is doing an above average job bringing games to market in our capitalistic, market driven environment. An aspect that could be improved is the always tricky area of setting customer expections.

FWIW, I believe a possible overlooked profit opportunity is selling supplemental physical media such as game CDs, games boxes, maps, chart/tables, research notes, battlefield photos, related books (become an Osprey reseller?), etc. This could be one way to reduce the cost of the digital download maximizing customer buy-in while selling high margin experience enhancers to many of us who have the means to indulge our hobbies.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Gregor_SSG
Nice theory of game publishing, but it fails to take into account the difference between the relative and the absolute. The employees of SSG need a certain amount of money each year, just to be able survive and to keep making wargames.

For the record, Korsun Pocket, despite winning awards and stellar reviews, failed this basic test. I was only able to keep working for SSG by subsidising my employment with money from a divorce settlement. This is not a sustainable basis for business!

We have to be realistic about how many copies we are going to sell and that dictates the price we have to charge. The poster who suggested we could sell 40,000 copies with the right pricing was definitely dreaming.

If the SSG website gets cluttered with pictures of our new Ferraris, (the traditional choice of game developers who have suddenly made bucketloads of money), then you would be entitled to cry foul, but I can assure you that its not going to happen.

quote:

ORIGINAL: TheHellPatrol

quote:

ORIGINAL: TheHellPatrol

Silver tarnishes too quickly, maybe platinum? Today is wait for BiN day, that's for sure. I even had a dream about my first turn last night...so...close...