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Kyle Pittman From Minor Key Games Talks About Low Linux Sales, And More

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Kyle Pittman From Minor Key Games who created Super Win The Game has done a blog post on Gamasutra about their games, and it shows more poor reception from Linux gamers.

QuoteI’ve sold about fifty copies on Linux, which is a drop in the bucket next to what it cost me financially and emotionally to support that platform.


They also only sold 694 in the first week on Steam, and that's very low. It seems the main problem has been press, and the lack of it for SWtG. Press is very important of course, but not always the deciding factor.

SWtG was quite unique too, as it used some interested visual effects to make the game really feel like it was from a different time. Of course there lies the problem, a retro-styled game like SWtG is hitting a very niche market, so it wasn't exactly positioned to sell millions.

I was a gamer back in the days of the Amiga, and I loved it back then, but it doesn't mean I want to go back to those games with their awkward controls and funny looking screens. Not to say SWtG is awkward, but it's very much like all those games I played before my teens.
The game is interesting for the use of screen-effects, but when you get down to it, the graphics and gameplay are very simplistic.

It might be right up your street though, it just isn't my cup.

See the full post here.

I hope the developer manages to do better with their next game. If you wish, you can check out Super Win the Game on Steam or buy it directly with the humble widget.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GSMutcLaiU Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Editorial
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flesk Nov 16, 2014
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Quoting: stssLinux users only make up about 2% of steam overall. So 2% Linux sales is the baseline for "normal" reception from Linux gamers.
You should only question that if your sales are below 2%, and if your sales are above 2% you should be thanking Linux users, not taking a dump on them.

This makes me feel no sympathy for them whatsoever. To blame the group of gamers that had a higher ratio of supporters within its own playerbase than the other OS which they didn't even mention is inexcusable.

Again, this is not what the developer is doing in the Gamasutra article at all. He's simply stating that those 50 sales didn't even come close to covering the cost of porting his engine to Linux.

And I just noticed this part from the article:

Quoting: liamdaweI was a gamer back in the days of the Amiga, and I loved it back then, but it doesn't mean I want to go back to those games with their awkward controls and funny looking screens. Not to say SWtG is awkward, but it's very much like all those games I played before my teens.

SWtG is actually nothing like those Amiga games, or the NES games it draws inspiration from, in terms of controls. Both it and its free predecessor You Have to Win the Game have extremely tight controls and are a joy to play for any platformer enthusiast.
Liam Dawe Nov 16, 2014
Quoting: SkiskiIf they had only sold 2 copies, 1 on windows and 1 on linux, that would be 50% for linux, which is huge, but only 1 sale is just horrible. Percentage only matters if the sampling is big enough. 900 sales are not really representative compared to the millions of steam users.

Glad someone else sees it from my point of view.
Metallinatus Nov 16, 2014
Wait what? Didn't that game was released on Steam some time ago FREE?
I am pretty sure it was o.õ
sub Nov 16, 2014
Quoting: MetallinatusWait what? Didn't that game was released on Steam some time ago FREE?
I am pretty sure it was o.õ

That was its predecessor "You Have to Win the Game".
scotsman9999 Nov 16, 2014
I have this game on my want list, but I admit 15 bucks is steep considering what it is. If he had priced this more like 7.99 it would have felt like an easier purchase.
Imants Nov 16, 2014
I think steam already has too much retro games so It is tight market and I do not think that too many people like them. I grow playing NES and Sega. But I do not like most of retro games on steam
sub Nov 16, 2014
Quoting: scotsman9999I have this game on my want list, but I admit 15 bucks is steep considering what it is. If he had priced this more like 7.99 it would have felt like an easier purchase.

IMHO that game is great. While it looks like many other retro-themed platformers, it manages to catch the NES feeling in many detailed and subtle ways. Still, I agree that the price tag is bit too high.

Apart from that, the fact that it is a commercial failure shows once more how difficult it got in the indie business to sell your stuff without excessive and professional promotion.
Metallinatus Nov 16, 2014
Quoting: sub
Quoting: MetallinatusWait what? Didn't that game was released on Steam some time ago FREE?
I am pretty sure it was o.õ
That was its predecessor "You Have to Win the Game".

Ohhhhh true, that was the name of the one I played!!
I didn't even know (or didn't remember) it has a sequel.... and honestly, now that I know.... I will still not buy it.
26 "reais" is just waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much for a game like this one....
flesk Nov 16, 2014
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It's of course impossible to compare hours played to the worth of a game, as it also depends on how much you enjoyed the time you put into a game. I however got 12 hours of game time out of a game I paid 13.49€ for and for me that's definitely worth it. If I were to compare that to Borderlands 2, which I paid 16.50€ for and only played for half an hour, SWtG definitely isn't the overpriced one in my book. ;)
stss Nov 16, 2014
Quoting: SkiskiIf they had only sold 2 copies, 1 on windows and 1 on linux, that would be 50% for linux, which is huge, but only 1 sale is just horrible. Percentage only matters if the sampling is big enough. 900 sales are not really representative compared to the millions of steam users.

But this argument doesn't really say much. Even if statistics are uncertain, and they are abused for their uncertainty, that abuse of the statistics would point at windows users not doing their part.

But we are more reasonable than that, of course that's not the case. But I fail to see how an improved statistic (even an uncertain one) is cause to say that we did worse somehow than the windows users.

The problem is simply that sales were bad across the board. Linux upheld it's expected share of the sales and then some. There is nothing to any of these numbers or statistics that justifies them singling out Linux users.

As in your example, with 2 sales 1 being Linux that's not much of a statistic, but it's also sure as hell not justification for them to put the blame on Linux.
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