Bittersweet episode... again. One thing that could work in Double Fine's favour is that Steam Sales seem to do wonders to games sales numbers, and that historical long tail of Tim's games sales will bring more positive numbers at the end for sure. But I sure was expecting more.
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Broken Age |OT| A Double Fine Adventure! [iPad/Ouya Act One out now]
- Thread starter Vert boil
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Another great and bittersweet episode, though I'd have imagined that there would have been more anger than frustration over the launch/embargo issues and I'd have liked some further discussion about how the sales are faring at the end of the video.
The team looked really tired at drinks though, and understandably so. It's not the end yet, but that's the adventure we've partaken.
The team looked really tired at drinks though, and understandably so. It's not the end yet, but that's the adventure we've partaken.
There was a bit of "Broken Age has made X number of money to date" text at the end. I want to say it was like 1.7 million or so.
After watching this, I think the whole embargo thing would have been avoided if they stressed that the early backer release was an actual beta, which it was pretty apparent it was based on the technical problems at first. You would have gotten far less large review sites wanting to run a review of a game based on a beta if it was clear that was what it was.
Aarglefarg
Member
70,947 units sold and $1,674,082 gross by March 29th.
This episode was kind of heartbreaking. While I always felt they were having too big expectations, the first day sales were kind of shocking. And it really made me wonder how much better they would have done if the embargo thing hadn't happened. I do remember by the time the game was actually released to the public the hype had died down significantly.
I guess in the end they should have just used the money they made from the kickstarter to fund the game and none of this 2 act stuff. That probably hurt the sales quite a bit too.
I guess in the end they should have just used the money they made from the kickstarter to fund the game and none of this 2 act stuff. That probably hurt the sales quite a bit too.
Haunted
Member
Act 2 will be all of it, but it's not out yet. Supposedly some time later this year.
I think that the embargo didn't affect the sales that much. The Act I/Act II split and the delays did though. But that's impossible to quantify today.
I think they just forgot to market the game. I'm not sure if we ever got "official" direct feed pictures of the game. For the longest time the only images of the game we had(and couldn't share publicly) were off-screen in development shots of the game from the documentary.
The Act split and the beta/review controversies really hurt them though, but outside of backers I don't feel like they drummed up enough hype and interest.
The Act split and the beta/review controversies really hurt them though, but outside of backers I don't feel like they drummed up enough hype and interest.
Haunted
Member
It's the first big new game they've self-published. For every other game, they either had a publisher who did all the PR and marketing stuff, or could bank on an already existing fanbase carrying the game via word of mouth (like when they gained the rights to Psychonauts and re-published that on their own).
The 2PP documentary has been a tremendous marketing tool... that they couldn't really take advantage of outside of the circle of 80k backers.
It's not really a great marketing tool when you're only 'marketing' to the people that have already bought the game..
It was a mistake to make it all private, and Tim's admitted as such.
petethepanda
Member
Finally watching the latest episode. That embargo situation really was a clusterfuck. Having tons of coverage about the embargo rather than the game itself, having reviews go up before readers had the ability to say "hey this sounds cool" and open up Steam to impulse buy the game, etc. Based on some of the posts earlier in here I thought the game had wound up being a disaster sales-wise or something so I'm glad to see that wasn't the case.
It'll be interesting to see how the game does on iOS whenever that hits down the line. Could definitely see it being the type of game that stays at the top for a while if it's able to climb up there.
It'll be interesting to see how the game does on iOS whenever that hits down the line. Could definitely see it being the type of game that stays at the top for a while if it's able to climb up there.
chrominance
Member
Even mentions this in the new 2PP episode (also, are we actually allowed as backers to talk about details in the doc?).
Ultimadrago
Member
Finally got around to finishing Act 1.
It was pleasant and simple. The light-hearted dialogue (which is to be expected) and character interaction was largely what I wanted. It looks great, sounds great and is delightfully written. The "puzzles" were easy, but I really don't mind that sort of thing.
I will say it felt too short. I'm aware it's only one part, but it's reported that the second half will be notably shorter than the first, correct? My main gripe is that I wanted more of it! Depending on who you ask that could stand as more of a positive for the game, but it left me a little disgruntled. (Call me greedy.)
Anyhow, Part 2 can't come soon enough.
I have to chime in and agree with this. While I enjoyed the episode, Vella does come off too nonchalant in regards to all situations for my tastes. There are some opportunities for her to exude real energy, but instead she gives off the same "mostly neutral" tone.
It was pleasant and simple. The light-hearted dialogue (which is to be expected) and character interaction was largely what I wanted. It looks great, sounds great and is delightfully written. The "puzzles" were easy, but I really don't mind that sort of thing.
I will say it felt too short. I'm aware it's only one part, but it's reported that the second half will be notably shorter than the first, correct? My main gripe is that I wanted more of it! Depending on who you ask that could stand as more of a positive for the game, but it left me a little disgruntled. (Call me greedy.)
Anyhow, Part 2 can't come soon enough.
I have to chime in and agree with this. While I enjoyed the episode, Vella does come off too nonchalant in regards to all situations for my tastes. There are some opportunities for her to exude real energy, but instead she gives off the same "mostly neutral" tone.
Vert boil
Member
Act One is available on Ouya now. People that backed the game (Double fine email didn't state at what backing level) get a free Ouya code, check your humble bundle page.
The iPad version should be out in a few weeks.
New sidequest.
Quote the post to grab a free Ouya code. .
The iPad version should be out in a few weeks.
New sidequest.
Quote the post to grab a free Ouya code. .
Vert boil
Member
D
Deleted member 22576
Unconfirmed Member
Hmm, my Steam copy is updating with a 220meg update.
Any word on what this is?
Any word on what this is?
Extra Sauce
Member
There is now a computer in Marek's control room where you can play Costume Quest.
None of this is true I'm so sorry.
ok, i backed this game on KS and just now decided to play it, i have to be in the mood to play certain games, is it normal that this game hovers between 35 and 42 frames all the time? i have a decent PC and it seems weird for me, i did a google search but nothing came up so if anyone knows about this ill appreciate some info on the matter
Just beat act 1. Disappointing. Doesn't feel like a Schafer game at all. It's not even remotely funny. It's good to look at, but repeated animations in short conversations and very dull dialogue options mean if it wasn't from Double Fine I wouldn't even download act 2 when it comes out.
bigwinnerx
Member
So don't?
Vert boil
Member
Not sure why this hasnt happened yet either. Especially since they're working with Sony on Grim now.
CecilRousso
Member
Because such things take time and costs me. Their priority is to the backers for the formats they have promised. Can't see anything shocking with that.
in the latest ep they mention they're doing the ports internally instead of outsourcing them, in order to keep the code clean for future use. this was said in relation to the ipad port, but I guess could apply to the lack of console releases
I haven't watched the episode yet, but I can't imagine how they could be included in those numbers. They had 80,000+ backers totaling 3+ million dollars.
Obviously, the sales probably aren't as high as they had hoped, but they did manage to self fund the game. Also, I imagine that Broken Age could have a pretty long tail.
CecilRousso
Member
It's excluding backer copies.
It's basically right on target with their conservative projections. And the numbers don't include the backer copies.
The disappointment is they thought because of the Kickstarter and all the good PR that it would magically be a huge hit and sell a lot more copies than most adventure games do. That would give Double Fine the freedom to do whatever they want, but it obviously hasn't turned out that way.
They have themselves to blame for part of that with the delays, splitting the game up (and the bad PR from that), botching the review embargo thing, not being as responsive to backers as they could be, overpromising on interactivity with the team, etc. They've screwed up quite a bit on this project even though the game still ended up good.
The documentary has them also being depressed since they think they've already made the majority of the money that they're going to make off the game. Personally I think they're going to get a nice spike in sales once Act 2 comes out and if they ever port it to consoles. Then you have sales & bundles, offering it as a PS+/Xbox Live Gold free game, etc.. I guess they have numbers from "The Cave" v.s. how the PC version did to compare to.
Labrynian Rebel
Member
The problem is that they didn't advertise to those who don't follow the video game news. Adventure gamers all know about Broken Age and the ones who wanted it got it. The problem with myself is that I've held off recommending it to people I know because they're quite casual and won't remember a video game's story if there's a couple month gap in the middle. So I only plan to gift/recommend once the game's done.
Freedom = $1.05
Banned
Some people were also turned off by the game being split. Personally, if I didn't get the game for a bargain I would've waited for it to be complete before buying it. Those are not bad sales considering that only half of the game is out right now.
The last few eps have been kinda down. Like really down. DFA could potentially end up costing DF money, too many wrong decisions were made on the business-end of things it seems. Broken Age really should be coming on consoles at the same time as Act 2 hits on PC. That one guy in the latest ep wasn't wrong at all, they need to re-envision Act 2 as a re-launch for the entire project. The business guy says they aren't gonna spend anything on marketing this time, but it seems like they never spent anything on marketing at all. Those iPad sales are sad, I thought they were talking about 150k copies at first, but it was $150k in revenue they made. They really need this game on consoles, probably partner up with Sony again on it. That'll get 'em much more exposure.
Yeah seemingly thinking Kickstarter goodwill was going to carry the brunt work of marketing was a grave mistake. They released I think two trailers in total and never really released media of the game, like images and so on. DFA was pretty much treated as a small backers-only game for so long despite turning into a bigger game and burning through the KS money rather quickly. They took forever to even figure out a name for it. It's easy (and assholish) to say these things in hindsight but the ship can be course-corrected yet.
Yeah seemingly thinking Kickstarter goodwill was going to carry the brunt work of marketing was a grave mistake. They released I think two trailers in total and never really released media of the game, like images and so on. DFA was pretty much treated as a small backers-only game for so long despite turning into a bigger game and burning through the KS money rather quickly. They took forever to even figure out a name for it. It's easy (and assholish) to say these things in hindsight but the ship can be course-corrected yet.
I'm not quite sure why they would have thought that though, wasn't it obvious that those 90K backers were the people with the biggest interest in adventure games, basically meaning 90K less potential buyers later on? Considering what adventure games usually sell these days, 225K total on PC so far seems pretty huge actually.
NoPiece
Member
Indie games like Papers Please have sold 500k, Gone Home sold 250k as of February, so with the kickstarter attention, and generally higher profile, I can see where they were hoping to do better. The game is really good, but the documentary is amazing. It is a little depressing at the moment, but I'm holding out for a happy ending.
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