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STEAM | March 2016 - This thread is badass
- Thread starter MRORANGE
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Stumpokapow
listen to the mad man
I opened YouTube and searched That Dragon, Cancer Let's Play. I sorted by views. The number one stream by far (2.5 million views) was jacksepticeye, who links the game above the YouTube description fold. The next most popular stream is 250k views, which also links the game in the YouTube description. The next most popular stream has 25k views and does not--but again, the streams that have 110 times the views of this stream do. I went down through the 10 or 12 other Let's Plays (mostly <10k views) and about 2/3rds of them had links to the game. I stopped when I got to videos with <500 views. I would estimate that well over 95% of the streaming views were on streams that directed viewers to buy the game.
Given that this is demonstably not an actual problem, do you think the dev's plea might be misplaced anger?
Chairmanchuck
Member
Sadly the game, while it looks unique, doesnt look unique enough that I would want to spend 15 on it, especially considering it seems to be about 2-3 hours long, when I could get other games that are far longer than that.
And its a "walking simulator", which Steam now has "thousands" after the success of Dear Esther, Gone Home etc.
Steam isnt the platform anymore where, whatever you release, it sells bazillions. That hasnt been the case for 4-5 years. I mean even that Pewdiepie game, thats 8$ and has a fanbase of millions sold 30.000 yet...
And its a "walking simulator", which Steam now has "thousands" after the success of Dear Esther, Gone Home etc.
Steam isnt the platform anymore where, whatever you release, it sells bazillions. That hasnt been the case for 4-5 years. I mean even that Pewdiepie game, thats 8$ and has a fanbase of millions sold 30.000 yet...
Do you frequently buy from Steam on your primary account? If so, the next time you're planning on buying something, do it from your sibling's account and buy it as a gift, which you'll send to your primary account. It's what I did with my sisters' account to lift the $5 block.
To be honest, $5 is a small price to way for what it's meant to avoid. Whether or not it succeeds in doing it, I don't know, but I didn't particularly mind.
SSPssp
Member
Alt-Enter worked for me for when cutscenes start, but when the cutscene ends it black-screens again and alt-enter doesn't work. I had to restart after waiting for a couple of minutes. I'm going to wait for a fix.
Most people are able to just use alt-enter to get in and out of cutscenes so hopefully that works for you.
LurkerPrime
Member
Great post, Stump.
Yeah... I was expecting a story about publishers running away with the money or something like that, a la Spintires.
About the article in general, the content ID stuff in it sounds really bad to me. Content IDing because certain music is playing in the background (when it is in no way the focus of the video) is a terrible abuse of the feature. And even if it's a straight rip of the song, I'd still wager that song rips sell more songs than they would otherwise; as Stump touched on, it's coverage and promotion that gets the content into more people's hands.
Yeah... I was expecting a story about publishers running away with the money or something like that, a la Spintires.
About the article in general, the content ID stuff in it sounds really bad to me. Content IDing because certain music is playing in the background (when it is in no way the focus of the video) is a terrible abuse of the feature. And even if it's a straight rip of the song, I'd still wager that song rips sell more songs than they would otherwise; as Stump touched on, it's coverage and promotion that gets the content into more people's hands.
I guess I got a different tone from the article. It didn't seem so much anger as just a way to address what can certainly be an issue for a smaller developer while asking creators to be thoughtful about how they use their content. Having a link is good, I'm glad that's there, but to me it seems right and just for the streamer to be thoughtful about pointing it out and encouraging people to think about supporting the developers, whether through a donation or a purchase of the game or seemingly just sharing their stories somewhere out there. Hopefully that's what the popular YouTube and Twitch personalities did.
Mostly I think this is made to look worse than it is because of the "we haven't seen a dollar" quote being bandied about when I imagine it wasn't meant in the tone it's being presented in.
Chairmanchuck
Member
The thing is, that I think that the people who were interested in the game are not the same who watch those LetsPlays.
Conisdering Dark Souls is a dirty port i think you are justified (we are talking DS1 right?)
Stumpokapow
listen to the mad man
I see this as a developer making an observation (sales less than they could be, game popular on streams), incorrectly concluding it's a problem, and then trying to find a solution. I don't believe there's a problem and I don't believe all problems have solutions.
I just don't believe that absent YouTube this is a game that would have done better, nor do I believe there's an untapped audience out there watching the Let's Plays who would buy the game, want to buy the game, but simply haven't been nagged enough.
I'm not saying the developers are going ballistic or anything, an interview is just an interview and a blog post is just a blog post. Although using ContentID as a weapon to strike back at what you believe to be a problem is pretty bad, but I'm glad they voluntarily gave that up under pressure from streamers. I also wouldn't leave my comments on their site because I know they're currently being subjected to virulent abuse (for at least two reasons: first, because angry athiests seem very mad that the game has a religious message; second, because anyone making empathy/emotional interactive experiences gets bombarded by people angry because they aren't making "games" in the narrow sense the commenters want). I'm just saying as part of the public conversation about expectations, I think the attitudes expressed are pretty trivially wrong and not a good way of reflecting on game development.
did the kickstarter fail then?
Oh, the barrier has definitely worked. It's been a long time since I've received a friend request from an account with the name "[unassigned]". The unwanted requests I'm inundated with these days are from CS:GO players who want my Operation Bloodhound passes.
It's not over yet, but its barely at 1/3 of the money it needs.
LurkerPrime
Member
I was going to use Contradiction as an example of a game where video LP coverage helped, but then learned that it's only sold 17k copies. Huh.
The dev, Tim Follin, does talk of a sequel though, so I guess it did OK regardless.
RB4 PC port is on FIG and it's not going to make it. (500k of 1.5m goal; 11 days left.)
The dev, Tim Follin, does talk of a sequel though, so I guess it did OK regardless.
RB4 PC port is on FIG and it's not going to make it. (500k of 1.5m goal; 11 days left.)
I am starting to make a real dent in my backlog. Alan Wake is so good, I am playing it for the first time. I am really enjoying the combat, Nightmare mode seems to be the ideal difficulty level for a very tense survival horror experience. Oh and I made the jump to the 980 TI ship a while back, the game is gorgeous in 4K.
jaundicejuice
Member
That is such an ass-backwards view to have about Youtube and Let's Play videos, especially when you're talking about independent developer with a game that probably won't get the time of day from the standard enthusiast press, be it print or online. By turning on youtubers, you're turning on your best advocates and advertisers.
It's likely the only way they can direct their frustration outward, otherwise they might have to take the blame themselves because they ultimately made a game that not a lot of people wanted to buy.
Stumpokapow
listen to the mad man
Many of those copies were also bundled. But it's also worth noting that Contradiction was supported by Kickstarter, and that it was a VERY low budget project.
uncredited male
Member
I cannot find my umbrella and it is pissing me off.
It is a Kiki's Delivery Service umbrella. You cannot imagine how cool I was because I sported a Kiki's Delivery Service umbrella.
Fuck.
I have decided to get Diablo 3 btw. I am feeling some fresh type of co-op.
It is a Kiki's Delivery Service umbrella. You cannot imagine how cool I was because I sported a Kiki's Delivery Service umbrella.
Fuck.
I have decided to get Diablo 3 btw. I am feeling some fresh type of co-op.
Last Baron
Member
I'm down to idling for my very last card after a backlog of 100+, what do I do with my life now?
BoosterDuck
Banned
Honestly I'd wait for the first patches to fix the issues on PC since it's a Namco game meaning it'll be $40 in 3 weeksDark Souls 3 + season pass 68 on GMG with the SPRING20 voucher.
Hm.
Heroin?
LurkerPrime
Member
Right. I assumed the bundles would've boosted it waaay higher than that, which is part of my shock.
Still blows my mind that such a competent product had such a low budget.
Buy more games to idle obviously.
freshVeggie
Member
That feel when you watched 4,5hrs in one day by starting and finishing an anime show (13eps) and the only thing you got out of it are 4,5hrs wasted and frustration how squandered it was.
Spending +40hrs in the Steam Exploration Queue was pure entertainment bliss compared to that.
Spending +40hrs in the Steam Exploration Queue was pure entertainment bliss compared to that.
Jawmuncher
Member
Confirmed it has no day one patch yet, should be fine after.
confirmed its 2 and half weeks away from release
laserlaser
Member
Streamers shouldn't be showing the entire playthrough. Why is that an acceptable thing?
LurkerPrime
Member
It's nice that Dead Space and Darksiders both died so that Dark Souls could have its acronym back.
But DS3 had a day 1 patch for reviewers, just not a presumed "launch day patch." Giant Bomb mentioned this in their video.
Keep that refund window open is my suggestion.
But DS3 had a day 1 patch for reviewers, just not a presumed "launch day patch." Giant Bomb mentioned this in their video.
Keep that refund window open is my suggestion.
jaundicejuice
Member
It's a two-hour long game.
So what, do we come up with an arbitrary percentage of the game that's allowed to be shown? 25%? But then the 25% mark for each game differs, will that then mean youtubers won't bother with shorter games at all then?
but the game ran great on the giantbomb stream, it just crashed (a lot apparently), Its not a port problem
uncredited male
Member
Breaking in the new mouse. Got to wear down that clicker resistance.
There are not a lot of moving parts in PCs. HDDs and fans seem most common. Get the utility for your HDD manuactuer and run its diagnostics.
And open up and peek in your machine if it is still rattling.
There are not a lot of moving parts in PCs. HDDs and fans seem most common. Get the utility for your HDD manuactuer and run its diagnostics.
And open up and peek in your machine if it is still rattling.
also, if a game is coming out on all platforms at the same time, its not a port, its just... a version. Pet peeve but still.
Wasnt there some news of Shadow Complex coming to steam? when was that happening again?
Wasnt there some news of Shadow Complex coming to steam? when was that happening again?
1.18 - M̱̱᷉i̱̱͚̱̚s̱̞̱ṯ̱̓e̱͏̱ṟ̫̱Glitch: » New Post on FreeGamesOnSteam by gianvelox: [STEAM] (Game) Somolitoik: https://gleam.io/TGpBh/somolitoik-instant-giveaway
Some free game, might be easier to buy than join groups unless you're already in lol
Some free game, might be easier to buy than join groups unless you're already in lol
May along with PS4 version.
well shit. Ty sir
LurkerPrime
Member
I wouldn't classify repeatable crashes as running great, but I see what you mean. They have some time to fix it.
pantsattack
Member
What game is this? I can't find it?
corrosivefrost
Member
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