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Steam? Sales? No comments? - 3/8/2013 1:14:14 AM

junk2drive

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Hours ago I saw on facebook (and here)that Matrix is trying to Greenlight PC on Steam and in the news thread that over 200k copies have been sold.

Matrix never reveals sales numbers and has always said that Steam doesn't work out for them. I was shocked.

Can't believe that no one is commenting.

Post #: 1

RE: Steam? Sales? No comments? - 3/8/2013 1:29:04 AM

e_barkmann

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Good for them. Steam is a brilliant content provisioning system.

cheers.

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RE: Steam? Sales? No comments? - 3/8/2013 2:08:46 AM

Joe D.

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Chris Merchant

Good for them. Steam is a brilliant content provisioning system ...

That's the first time I've ever seen a positive comment about Steam.

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Post #: 3

RE: Steam? Sales? No comments? - 3/8/2013 4:21:40 AM

Hertston

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The thing I find most 'shocking' is that Panzer Corps should have to go through the farce that is Greenlight at all to be sold on Steam.

I would be interested to know how well the non-exclusive titles - particularly Unity of Command - did on Steam, and if that was a factor in the decision.

(in reply to Joe D.)

Post #: 4

RE: Steam? Sales? No comments? - 3/8/2013 6:17:55 AM

rodney727

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I'm all for it. Means a lot more money for them. Once it gets ported to the App Store it will have the possibility to reach another 250 million users .

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Post #: 5

RE: Steam? Sales? No comments? - 3/8/2013 10:15:08 AM

Josh

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Well if it attracts more players to the hex based wargames I'm all for it. There must be a zillion RTS players who don't even know the concept of turn based hex wargames, so maybe it can wet their appetite for more.
A bit strange that is has to go through Greenlight though

I know there are very few turn based games on Steam but nevertheless PC should make it straight for Steam. Maybe this says something about Steam too, unfamiliar territory for them.

(in reply to rodney727)

Post #: 6

RE: Steam? Sales? No comments? - 3/8/2013 10:40:39 AM

demyansk

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I talk to other gamers mostly about FPS titles and they have no clue that companies like this exist. I wonder how many of the gamers who use our favorite titles on Matrix are in the 18-25 age range? I'll bet most of us are over 30.

I like Steam b/c when you get another computer you don't have to worry about all the games and it works well for me with all my games.

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Post #: 7

RE: Steam? Sales? No comments? - 3/8/2013 12:29:26 PM

ComradeP

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I never had all that many problems with Steam, it does what I want it to do thus far. I've had far more problems with EA's system than with Steam.

quote:

I would be interested to know how well the non-exclusive titles - particularly Unity of Command - did on Steam, and if that was a factor in the decision.

Without giving exact figures, Steam sales were higher than they were through digital download websites in just a couple of months compared to the sales on the internet for about a year. However, we're nowhere near 200.000, a target which many wargame developers might be extremely lucky to reach 5%-10% or so of, but not much more.

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Post #: 8

RE: Steam? Sales? No comments? - 3/8/2013 12:56:51 PM

carnifex

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Steam works for me. I frequently work off different laptops and having all my games available on any platform I'm currently on is great.

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Post #: 9

RE: Steam? Sales? No comments? - 3/8/2013 12:57:48 PM

IainMcNeil

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We have had so many requests to add the games to Steam we decided to try it out. There is no submission process to Valve other than Greenlight, so every single game has to go via Greenlight unless you already have a deal in place with Steam. We think Steam is an interesting option for some games but certainly would not plan to take everything to steam. Panzer Corps is at a good place in its life cycle where we've had the bulk of sales that we are going to get direct without the additional visibility of something like Steam. That's not to say it doesn't still sell well ( we just had our best week since August last year), but we think this is the right time to look for a wider audience and introduce them to these type of games and once they get a taste for them, hopefully draw them in to the rest of the line up.

As stated elsewhere we have no plans to do anything exclusive with Steam. We were doing digital downloads long before Steam and plan to be doing them long after! :)

If possible we will be allowing users who bought from us to add their game to their Steam account but we don't know enough about the process to understand how that works yet. We will almost certainly be offering the DLC's on Steam as well.

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RE: Steam? Sales? No comments? - 3/8/2013 1:19:08 PM

vonRocko

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Iain McNeil

If possible we will be allowing users who bought from us to add their game to their Steam account but we don't know enough about the process to understand how that works yet. We will almost certainly be offering the DLC's on Steam as well.

That's fine as long as we are not "forced" to add it to steam!

(in reply to IainMcNeil)

Post #: 11

RE: Steam? Sales? No comments? - 3/8/2013 1:40:13 PM

wodin

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Iain remember Steam will be whacking out the game for buttons in their constant sales no doubt though. Which goes against your "price it low doesn't work once the game reaches a certain age" policy surely?

< Message edited by wodin -- 3/8/2013 1:42:55 PM >

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RE: Steam? Sales? No comments? - 3/8/2013 2:11:19 PM

DBeves

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Iain McNeil

We have had so many requests to add the games to Steam we decided to try it out. There is no submission process to Valve other than Greenlight, so every single game has to go via Greenlight unless you already have a deal in place with Steam. We think Steam is an interesting option for some games but certainly would not plan to take everything to steam. Panzer Corps is at a good place in its life cycle where we've had the bulk of sales that we are going to get direct without the additional visibility of something like Steam. That's not to say it doesn't still sell well ( we just had our best week since August last year), but we think this is the right time to look for a wider audience and introduce them to these type of games and once they get a taste for them, hopefully draw them in to the rest of the line up.

As stated elsewhere we have no plans to do anything exclusive with Steam. We were doing digital downloads long before Steam and plan to be doing them long after! :)

If possible we will be allowing users who bought from us to add their game to their Steam account but we don't know enough about the process to understand how that works yet. We will almost certainly be offering the DLC's on Steam as well.

Well, I can quite easily see PC being sold, and doing well on steam. It does highlight the stupidity of the current steam system though. Greelight is ok for greenfield projects but as the ONLY route in it is idiocy. If a game that has sold over 200k units doesnt have the necessary cahonas to be sold by them what has ? This is dumb for steam as they depend on fresh content to keep their profits up and they need to keep selling new stuff.

(in reply to IainMcNeil)

Post #: 13

RE: Steam? Sales? No comments? - 3/8/2013 2:37:44 PM

IainMcNeil

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No Steam do not set the prices - they just wont promote you unless you price drop. We'll just have to settle for not being promoted :)

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RE: Steam? Sales? No comments? - 3/8/2013 2:58:18 PM

Missouri_Rebel

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I think Battle Academy might also be a good STEAM offering.

Then again, I don't know anything of the business side of it. I do, however, applaud the forward thinking steps that may result in a wider audience and, quite possibly, the new blood that may be born.

I wish you all the luck.

mo reb

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RE: Steam? Sales? No comments? - 3/8/2013 3:14:20 PM

Erik Rutins

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As Iain said, we are exploring this as another distribution option. We are not planning to do anything that would create an inconvenience for our customers or tie ourselves to Steam. Feedback from our customers tells us they are very happy with the system we have now to sell game and the simple serial number check instead of any restrictive DRM. Nothing will change there, but we also have a lot of feedback that suggests we could reach other customers by also making some games available on Steam.

Regards,

- Erik

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Post #: 16

RE: Steam? Sales? No comments? - 3/8/2013 3:23:28 PM

junk2drive

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I don't use Steam. I signed up a while ago to vote for another game. I was told I couldn't vote unless I buy something first. Just FYI.

I do like Desura because they were dealing in Linux games when I was dabbling with Ubuntu Linux. Now that Steam has made the effort to have an Ubuntu version, and possibly a future Linux console, will S/M look at making Linux versions of the popular games?

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Post #: 17

RE: Steam? Sales? No comments? - 3/8/2013 3:30:46 PM

Ranger33

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I usually just lurk around here but I wanted to say I'm excited to see you guys branching out to Steam a bit. I had never bought anything from Matrix until about a year ago when I saw some discussion about TOAW somewhere and thought I would try it out. I barely knew Matrix Games was a thing, much less that you guys had literally oodles of awesome titles just waiting to be discovered. Since then a lot of my gaming purchases have been from here. I would buy just about everything if I had the money.

I'm 25, just for reference. PC is for sure a game I would check out if I saw it pop up on Steam, and I think a lot of other gamers will be interested as well. Best of luck!

(in reply to Erik Rutins)

Post #: 18

RE: Steam? Sales? No comments? - 3/8/2013 4:43:29 PM

meskary

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Future of Complex War Games:

If there are say 1500 die hard wargamers (whatever the number is here) that get our games here or HPS, opening them up to say the "masses" on steam can only help by getting more involved and liking the challenge...buying more games, more money for the company and maybe more titles...

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Post #: 19

RE: Steam? Sales? No comments? - 3/9/2013 10:45:40 PM

DJflamethrower

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there's a steam gift card here that you might be able to get for free

< Message edited by DJflamethrower -- 3/9/2013 10:49:22 PM >

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RE: Steam? Sales? No comments? - 3/9/2013 11:01:35 PM

Terminus

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This is the part where nobody believes you're not a spammer.

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RE: Steam? Sales? No comments? - 3/9/2013 11:04:23 PM

NavalNewZ

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"..We are not planning to do anything that would create an inconvenience for our customers or tie ourselves to Steam. Feedback from our customers tells us they are very happy with the system we have now to sell game and the simple serial number check instead of any restrictive DRM. Nothing will change there..." - THIS is all I care about. I tried using Steam twice. The second time I ended up formatting my harddrive due to the various problems it created. So long as I can continue to purchase software off Matrix with the current serial system, I don't mind what they do with Steam.

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RE: Steam? Sales? No comments? - 3/10/2013 12:19:21 AM

Shark7

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quote:

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

As Iain said, we are exploring this as another distribution option. We are not planning to do anything that would create an inconvenience for our customers or tie ourselves to Steam. Feedback from our customers tells us they are very happy with the system we have now to sell game and the simple serial number check instead of any restrictive DRM. Nothing will change there, but we also have a lot of feedback that suggests we could reach other customers by also making some games available on Steam.

Regards,

- Erik

I've got no problems with you selling titles on Steam, so long as you continue to offer me the ability to buy through the Matrix online store. I much prefer dealing with Matrix than Steam.

Nothing wrong with multiple avenues to sell your products. But you can certainly count me as one of those customers who are quite happy with the current Matrix serial number check system.

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RE: Steam? Sales? No comments? - 3/10/2013 4:31:56 AM

Erik Rutins

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I'll emphasize it again - this is just an additional distribution option. We are not changing how our store works, how our DRM works, etc. Our online store will be our primary store, we are just exploring Steam as an additional distribution option for titles where it makes sense. Even if all goes wonderfully with that, what you expect from us here in our store will remain the same and all our titles will be released here.

Regards,

- Erik

< Message edited by Erik Rutins -- 3/10/2013 4:33:26 AM >

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RE: Steam? Sales? No comments? - 3/11/2013 3:58:11 AM

Rtwfreak

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quote:

ORIGINAL: wodin

Iain remember Steam will be whacking out the game for buttons in their constant sales no doubt though. Which goes against your "price it low doesn't work once the game reaches a certain age" policy surely?

< Message edited by Rtwfreak -- 3/11/2013 4:00:01 AM >

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Post #: 25

RE: Steam? Sales? No comments? - 3/11/2013 8:57:52 AM

JFalk68

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Steam has been great for me, anytime I want to clean up my HD of games I haven't touched in over a year I can safely remove them and I can always reinstall easily from my Steam library. No problems what so ever with Steam, it's a wonderful platform to play games.

Anytime I can purchase a game on Steam vs having a hard copy, I go with Steam.

Here is a RL example of why I like Steam: Took a short mini vacation to Great Wolf Lodge, brought wife's laptop along to play "Faster Then Light" (great indie strategy game) in the late evening. I downloaded Steam on her PC, logged in to my account via her laptop. After email verification, that it was indeed me using this unrecognized PC for Steam, I was allowed to access my entire library of games and download them to her PC.

I was up and playing FTL in no time

Short story, I love Steam :)

(in reply to Rtwfreak)

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RE: Steam? Sales? No comments? - 3/12/2013 12:59:46 AM

Arkblade

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i hope to see Distant Worlds(with expansion) in steam in future.
but It may also be recognized as a copy of Star Drive

many users does not know the game if that is not in the steam ...

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RE: Steam? Sales? No comments? - 3/12/2013 2:51:51 AM

Rtwfreak

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I just read where they are going to do away with Greenlite and do something else to streamline the process. Something that was in a recent interview of such.

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RE: Steam? Sales? No comments? - 3/12/2013 7:04:03 AM

Shark7

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quote:

ORIGINAL: JFalk68

Steam has been great for me, anytime I want to clean up my HD of games I haven't touched in over a year I can safely remove them and I can always reinstall easily from my Steam library. No problems what so ever with Steam, it's a wonderful platform to play games.

Anytime I can purchase a game on Steam vs having a hard copy, I go with Steam.

Here is a RL example of why I like Steam: Took a short mini vacation to Great Wolf Lodge, brought wife's laptop along to play "Faster Then Light" (great indie strategy game) in the late evening. I downloaded Steam on her PC, logged in to my account via her laptop. After email verification, that it was indeed me using this unrecognized PC for Steam, I was allowed to access my entire library of games and download them to her PC.

I was up and playing FTL in no time

Short story, I love Steam :)

Where I am just the opposite. I always want to have a physical copy of my games. Its a case of to each his own. If you are comfortable using Steam, then use it. Personally I'm not comfortable using services such as Steam.

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RE: Steam? Sales? No comments? - 3/12/2013 9:25:13 AM

wodin

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Distant Worlds is a obvious choice for Steam and one that will do amazing.

quote:

ORIGINAL: Arkblade

i hope to see Distant Worlds(with expansion) in steam in future.
but It may also be recognized as a copy of Star Drive
many users does not know the game if that is not in the steam ...

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Post #: 30