Interesting. It looks like Rebellion has been broken Stardock sales records in it’s first month.
There’s some points in that press release that are interesting. I’ve heard Brad Wardell mention many times in the recent past that retail was still a very important segment for them, but perhaps that is changing.
From the press release:
Interesting stuff.
Yay! :)
Sins was released on Feb 2008.
Almost 4.5 years later, I think it’s normal the ratio between digital sales and retail sales has been flipped (even more if we are talking of USA). Maybe before it was 30:70 and not it’s 70:30.
Ah-hah! Island Dog, if you’re still here, what’s up with the “part 2” of the Rebellion balance patch? I haven’t been able to get any updates/news on it!
It’s just interesting because as recently as Elemental, Stardock was pretty clear about how important the retail space was for them. That was what… 2010? Personally, I’m not surprised about the shift itself, but it’s interesting to see how Stardock is pivoting, given their previous statements.
The difference in retail between 2010 and 2012 is night and day (especially for a mid-market PC game developer like Stardock). The channel changed right after the 2010 Christmas season, you may have noticed the shrinking space for PC games in many retailers. The question was in making that transition, and if digital in 2012 could be as successful as retail was prior to the switch.
That’s pretty cool. As someone who hasn’t bought a retail CD/DVD since 2007, I’m fully on board with the move away from retail. Was there anything in particular in 2010+ that shifted things over, or was it just a steady progress and that’s where the tipping point happened to be for you guys?
Someone send this to Matrix so they can put Distant Worlds on Steam.
Yeah, right…
/derail
In my opinion, the growth of digital passed the tipping point in 2010. After Christmas season 2010 many retailers dramatically cut the amount of shelf space they were giving to PC games because of this. Many also became very interested in digital sales of PC games at the same time (ie: Gamestop buys Impulse).
It’s not that retailers wouldn’t love to have Rebellion on their shelves, it was lined up. It’s that the business translation of “shrink our PC shelf space” means a dramatic increase in channel fees (order of magnitude type changes). So cutting retail meant less management hassle, a more flexible release schedule, and less channel fees. The big question was, would digital cover for the lost retail sales?
Its also worth noting that in 2010 Stardock wouldn’t have been on Steam. Moving onto Steam gave Stardock a bigger digital customer base and made the world of “digital only” a lot more appealing. (oddly getting out of the digital distribution business made digital distribution more viable).
I’ve noticed PC games space at retailers continuing to shrink this year. If I am any indication, the last game I bought retail was Fallout New Vegas, since then only steam.
And I am also tending to load up on steam sales. I now have enough backlog to carry me over until the Winter/Xmas sales.
I don’t think it being on Steam or not on Steam is really the problem with that game. . . .
Haven’t physically bought a PC game since… 2007 I believe.
Same here - last time I bought retail game was just before Xmas 2007.
Now, I dont even have optical drive in my PC (I install OS from flash disk).
If it was on steam then I’m pretty sure the price problem would be solved. Other than that I don’t see any downsides.
If that’s the case, then yes, Steam would resolve it. But then it is kind of a Catch-22. Steam would resolve the price problem, but they won’t put it on Steam because Steam won’t let them engage in their batshit nutty pricing.
I always understood that Steam does not force pricing or sales, but maybe I’m wrong in that. In any event, it is irrelevant, as if Steam does force reasonable pricing, it seems they will never put the game on Steam because of that.
The biggest surprise to me on the impact of Steam has been that lack of canibalizing. I assumed that Steam sales would simply take away direct sales. But the actual performance indicates that most of the people who would buy direct still buy direct and most (virtually all) Steam purchases are people who are new Stardock customers.
Brad, could you go tell the Matrix folks that, please? ;)
Seriously, really glad to read that. :)
Not surprised by the lack of cannibalizing. Most folks I talk to are Steam-only, and refuse to consider non-Steam versions of games. I do think going Steam only would hurt sales some, though that’s game-dependent.
The real question is whether Steam-only’s cost benefits outweigh the losses you would get, and there’s no definitive answer for that (I’m always a believer in failsafes though)
I’m a believer in the power of a Steam sale. I don’t think anybody on the planet notices when Best Buy is selling Sins for 25% off.
That’s true, and remember a place like BB doesn’t really do a great job at advertising sales. When Steam, GS, etc. have a sale, it’s blasted on social channels such as Twitter/Facebook, and gets word of mouth from there.