blog: developer blog #15

Aug 03, 2009 Derek Smart

We’re Steam’ed

Yes, you read that correctly. We’re coming to Steam. In a BIG way. And its happening TODAY!!

We’ve been working on various digital distribution deals in the past few months since the All Aspect Warfare was “Release Ready” back in June. Steam was one of those that we were working on. By the time the dust settled, in addition to pre-existing long time partners such as Direct2Drive, Digital River etc, we had new partner sites such as Steam and GameStreamers. We are working on closing two other major ones in the coming days because as gamers we love nothing more than the word “choice”.

Starting later today, you will be able to pre-order one or both games from Steam. And if you haven’t played the demos (The first Angle Of Attack demo releases today!), you can download those directly from your Steam account as well.

UPDATE @ 2:45PM

We’re now live on Steam!!

Product Package Page
News Post (This’ll also be on Facebook soon too!)

Both games will be available for sale on August 10th worldwide. So check your favorite online distribution sites for whatever deals they are offering on the games.

Since both games play differently (well, AOA is just a pure aerial combat action game with its own unique scenarios, features etc), you probably want to get the bundle. But thats just me. ;)

Post-Release Plans

With both games releasing next week we are going to continue to work towards building our community around them, creating DLC (additional scenarios, assets such as weapons, vehicles, aircrafts, maps etc).

Our initial post-release patch plans include implementing various Steamworks features such as stats tracking, achievements, leaderboards, built-in voice chat etc. You will of course need a Steam ID to experience any of these, but regardless of where you buy (e.g. Direct2Drive vs Steam) the game, you will still have all these features.

While we realize that we stand the chance of losing some of our hardcore space-combat fans, my suggestion is to still get on board with these games if you ever hope to see another space combat game from us again. No seriously. If these games fail to meet sales expectations, why would I invest in another space combat game – a genre with a drastically smaller and with a rapidly dwindling install base? Won’t happen. Unless it is an MMO – which with proper execution and planning, can be self-sustaining.

Even KnightBlade – our upcoming space commander simulation – will go back on hold while we try something else as we have just done with these two new games these past two years. Then you won’t be able to play a game which gives you the added scope of being inside your own ship – in first person mode – issuing commands to and mingling with your crew – while hurtling through space at light speeds. Most of the elements of our previous space combat games will be there, but this time around, you are really in charge and no 2D interface is going to get in the way! Don’t say Star Trek Bridge Commander because while that was in fact a good game and decent attempt, they’re not even in the same league.

And of course there is Galactic Command Online, an all encompassing space & planetary combat MMO and our final (no more two year song and dance to release a new game) game. A game which takes all our previous space combat experiences, new technologies, features, ease of use etc – all derived from these new games and KnightBlade – and creates a seamless experience. No level grind, caps or any of that rubbish.

Digital Distribution – The Bandwagon

Contrary to popular [gamer] belief, getting on these online distribution portals is not as simple as it may seem. As with signing with a publisher, distributor or even a retailer, there are specific procedures in place.

If they don’t like your game, they’re not going to sign it.

If they don’t think that your game will do well on their service, they’re not going to sign it.

Sure some sites will sign up just about anything – usually in a bid to acquire as much content as possible, regardless of potential. And that is no different from the likes of EA pushing out a thousand SKUs and in which only a handful make any money – and thus pay for the others. Yet still post a loss. Gotta love them suits.

Also, just because you can doesn’t mean that you should. You simply cannot partner with sites that don’t cater to your demographic, even if those distributors want your game. e.g. why try to put a hardcore fps game on a predominantly casual site? Even if they agree to take the product? What do you gain by doing that?

In the world of online distribution – which is rapidly progressing as the de facto standard for our beloved PC platform – the players are already being segmented in much the same say that you have a handful of top tier gaming retailers such as Walmart, Target, Best Buy, GameStop and then everyone else.

The key then is to get your games on the top tier sites at any and all costs. Then work on the other sites since after all they too have clients. So the goal is not to get on all sites if you don’t need to because it makes no sense if you only sell five copies a month on those sites.

According to recent tracking estimates, the predominant online distribution sites are segmented as follows:

  • Valve’s Steam (40%)
  • Metaboli / GameTap (+15%) <--- They have White Label partners
  • Digital River (12%) <--- They have White Label partners and also host EA's stores
  • Real Networks Trymedia (+9%) <--- They have White Label partners e.g. GameStop, Yahoo Games etc
  • IGN’s Direct2Drive (9%)
  • GamesGate (3.5%)
  • Everyone else (Stardock’s Impulse, Boonty/Nexway, GameStreamers, Ztorm, Gamesload etc): 11.5% <--- some have White Label partners

Of course you have to make sure that you sign with sites that actually pay royalties. You’d be surprised at just how many either are not paying on time or at all. Sound familiar? Yep, just like some retail publishers some of these online distribution sites are up to the same tricks.

And they’ve all started with the same nonsense and shenanigans related to contracts, royalty splits, payment schedules etc.

e.g. why can one site afford to pay royalties using the standard Net-30 terms while another insists on Net-90? Simple. Cash flow. They would rather hang on to your money for as long as possible. It doesn’t cost them anything to pay you Net-30 – after all they’ve already made the sale and received the money. The standard Net-30 term is for all sales during the previous month, you are paid by the end of the next month. e.g. Aug 1st – Aug 31st means that you should expect to get paid by Sept 30th. For some sites, this is not the case. You’d have to wait for 30 days from the end of the previous quarter to see a dime. Which means you’re waiting for a total of 135 days to see any money from 90 days worth of sales.

If you come across such a deal, you can of course just say no and walk away.

You can always put up your own shopping cart and sign up with the likes of Digital River, RegNow, Yahoo, Amazon, eJunkie, FastSpring etc and call it a day. But then you have to source out your own traffic.

Then there is the royalty split. These range from the 70% high end to the 30% low end. Getting 70% per unit royalties is the standard and is a good thing. So for a $40 game, you make $28 in royalties. No deductions.

Where you start getting into lower royalties is sites that are “pass through” or which have so-called White Label (e.g. sites which they host stores for, provide content to etc. e.g. broadband ISP sites) partners. Or sites which just want to give you less instead of more – because they can.

For sites with White Label partners, you end up with a percentage of a percentage because they get a cut from the White Label sales and you get a percentage of their percentage.

Signing with such sites is a toss up. You either do it or you don’t. If they can justify the lower royalties (e.g. they have White Label partners with major traffic and thus more gamer eyeballs) then there is no reason not to. Especially if you just regard them as “derivative income”. i.e. that site is not your primary revenue source. If you are lucky – and have a decent product – you will find that you end up with 30% of 1500 units as opposed to 70% of 500.

The PC Retail Shindig

In three words: It STILL sucks.

It used to be that getting a PC game into retail was horrendous. Now its just a nightmare of epic proportions.

Even the smaller retail publishers – a species on the verge of rapid extinction – are getting into some really crazy deals and concessions to even get into some retail stores. Even so, most of them who aren’t distributors themselves – and thus can’t go directly to retail – are getting the shaft from their own distributors. So they pass it on down the line to you the developer.

And God help you if you have a PC only game with no console version and try to get it into retail.

When you as a developer give your titles to one of these smaller publishers – especially in International territories – don’t expect to see a penny. Ever. Don’t believe me? Just ask around. As I type this, I personally have over $87K in outstanding account receivables – some going as far back as 2007. I have developer friends who haven’t seen a single dime from games given to some publishers – most of which are either out of business or in the process of going out of business.

And if you rely on these royalty payments to keep your company going, pay your team, contractors etc well thats the difference between going out of business and taking out a loan – if you can in this current economic climate.

So the retail space – at least for the PC – is now just for the big boys (EA, Activision, Take Two, UBisoft etc) who can just have the PC versions ride on the goodwill of their console counterparts. For them, getting a multi-console title into retail is a no-brainer. Heck, for the most part the PC version is just derivative income that just ends up paying for itself. Whether it turns a profit or not is irrelevant because those losses and gains are reconciled and amortized across the other console versions – if any.

If you come across a PC retail deal that doesn’t have high royalties and an advance, take my advice and just walk away. Especially in International territories where you are better off doing single lump sum deals rather than relying on periodic royalties. Myself and a bunch of my developer counterparts have said this time and time again, and I simply cannot stress this enough.

After several months of putting up with the retail publishing and distribution related crap above, I just said screw it.

Thats our world. Welcome to it.

Until next time!

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13 Comments »

  1. Magnus says:

    My reaction to the begining of this blog entry was and I quote “Holy —-” and then massive glee. I now really need to find an excuse to grab this before I hit the terrible college no-money blues.

    The main reason I love Steam and am so happy at this move is mainly how its delievered. I find the Steam client and its system better then any other system out there. It just works, and when it comes down to it – thats what I want. Glad that I won’t have to grab your games on other distribution systems now. :)

    Posted on August 3, 2009 @ 1:17 pm

  2. Nathan Lands says:

    Interesting take on everything. Glad we’re one of your partners to help get your game in front of millions of eyeballs.

    To Magnus:
    We are working on building a client better than Steam’s, not there yet but don’t be surprised if in 6 months you’re using a different client:)

    Posted on August 3, 2009 @ 5:46 pm

  3. Derek Smart says:

    Hi Nathan*,

    Fancy seeing you in this neck of the woods :)

    And yes, we’re glad to have partnered with you guys. As always, we’ll do our best to help our partners sell more of our games. PC retail is dead.

    * For the purposes of disclosure, Nathan is from GameStreamer – a new and upcoming digital distribution site. Check it out!

    Posted on August 3, 2009 @ 5:55 pm

  4. Gaming PC Web » PC Games, steam, valve | 3000AD comes to Steam with two upcoming action games says:

    [...] normal price. If you decide to order both you get 20 percent off the total bundle price. In his new developer blog, Smart states that they plans to do updates for the games after their release to include Steamworks [...]

    Posted on August 3, 2009 @ 6:03 pm

  5. oritpro says:

    Interesting read Derek, I admire your candor and am sorry to hear that it’s so difficult getting your products into the hands of consumers these days. It sounds a lot like the music industry where the musicians are usually last on the food chain when it comes to getting paid and receive the least–if at all.

    Some new space sim titles would be most welcome. The genre is sorely lacking on the PC platform and I look forward to test driving your latest releases. As a matter of fact, I’ll check out the demo(s) and go from there.

    Posted on August 3, 2009 @ 7:50 pm

  6. Shawn says:

    Derek,

    Are there any plans on releasing on star dock?

    With how star dock treats its people and the over-all awesome community I think it would be beneficial to pop over that way.

    Posted on August 5, 2009 @ 9:04 pm

  7. Shawn says:

    Sorry I mean Impulse!

    Posted on August 5, 2009 @ 9:05 pm

  8. Derek Smart says:

    Brad and I are – apparently – not on speaking terms anymore. Dunno what thats about, but I suspect that its because I was part of large number of industry folks engaging in “not nice” debates about GPG’s disastrous launch of Demigods.

    At least thats wot I think because right around that time, he stopped speaking to me. heh. Weird that.

    It doesn’t matter anyway because Impulse – like their first failed portal Totalgaming.net – is not even a bleep on the digital distribution radar for non-Stardock games. We’re on all the top – relevant – sites now anyway, so I don’t care about Impulse anymore really.

    My guess is that with the behemoth that is Steam, anyone on Impulse who wants our games, can get it either on Steam or any number of places. Its not like Impulse has that many games anyway, so of course gamers are getting games from other sources.

    In other words, sorry none of our games will be coming to Impulse. And we don’t care anymore.

    Posted on August 5, 2009 @ 9:19 pm

  9. Shawn says:

    Ah I see, that’s a pity about Brad ( I think? I’ve never met the guy, I’ve only read what hes said in the past)

    I’ve long since dropped out of the software industry so I don’t know who the big players are anymore or whose behind them. And truthfully I’m glad. The pressure to push products because of antsy investors or short deadlines is to much. ( Not to say what I’m doing now,tech support, is any better)

    It’s hard for people to understand the sheer effort it takes to code games like this, but I don’t think it’s the consumers to blame 100%. Game companies like EA who push paid beta tests onto consumers are causing people to feel used and abused. Who is to blame for piracy? I think it’s EA.

    Posted on August 5, 2009 @ 9:46 pm

  10. [REB]theButcher says:

    So I dl the demo for Angel of Attack from Steam, already to play, but allas it tells me the game is not available and to try back later, bummer. With all this talk of “launching” I did not…
    ltr

    Posted on August 5, 2009 @ 10:36 pm

  11. Derek Smart says:

    Yeah, Brad is the head honcho there. Here is a choice post on the Impulse forums about the Demigod outcry. Thats Brad.

    So I dl the demo for Angel of Attack from Steam, already to play, but allas it tells me the game is not available and to try back later, bummer. With all this talk of “launching” I did not…

    You are missing some Microsoft updates. Try that and see if it works. If not, post on that Steam forum and someone will help if I’m not around.

    Posted on August 6, 2009 @ 6:39 am

  12. [REB]theButcher says:

    Ha blame it on MSFT. I am updated every Tuesday. thx anyway.

    Posted on August 6, 2009 @ 1:43 pm

  13. Derek Smart says:

    Irrelevant. Those two Visual Studio runtime updates – like DirectX runtimes – are not part of any mandatory MSFT updates.

    Posted on August 6, 2009 @ 3:16 pm

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