Slitherine

I was discussing the matter on another site, and I was given the link to VGchartz.com when I inquired if anyone knew of any quoted numbers of units sold for Panzer Tactics for the Nintendo DS.

VGchartz lists .02m units. my math is bad, but that's 20 thousand correct?

Anyway, in the search for understanding what is considered the norm, what is considered acceptable and what is considered good results, I'm just going to flat out ask the people of Slitherine, how many units of CEAW have effectively been made?
I'm not looking for profit, nor sales, I would just like to know how many units are out there both sold and available to be bought.

Not sure if it is possible to include sales over at Matrix Games. I presume Slitherine would have those numbers too, after all it's your game.

The reason for my interest is this. Was 20 thousand copies of Panzer Tactics a good thing? Does it count as a success? Is it a greater success than CEAW has achieved?

The point of all of this, is is there any reason for my interest in seeing more and more military theme titles for the Nintendo DS? Is it pointless?
If the DS is easily out marketing typical PC wargaming sales, should wargame makers try a little harder to get wargames on the DS?
20 thousand times 40 bucks is as you know 800 thousand (think my math is correct). Is that a reasonable response on investment (I have no way of knowing this).

Because in the end, there are a lot of wargames that have been made since 95, that logic would suggest could be easily modified to be played on the DS much like Panzer Tactics. And, as most of these old classics were long ago fleshed out, unbugged and play balanced to hell and back, it would seem the only work left is in porting them to the DS in perhaps a reduced form.

That would mean some savings wouldn't it?

Steel Panthers on the DS, ultra cool concept. Close Combat on the DS, also totally cool.
And they have yet to do anything real time strategy properly on the DS. Starcraft would do well I am sure.

So I am left to wonder, what's keeping it from happening?

My suspicion is that one of the biggest reasons why you don't see a lot of "specialty" titles for platforms like the DS is that the licensing fees for the proprietary software development tools and rights to release a title for that platform are more than the companies would expect to generate in sales, or at least more than a small developer could afford to put up front.

Developing a game for a PC requires a programming language and some graphics tools at minimum, nothing you can't buy "off the shelf" for "pocket change" (or maybe even free for a less-exotic solution). IBM or Microsoft won't sue you for writing it, and won't demand $100,000 or more for the privilege.

Also, when doing back-of-an-envelope cash calculations, bear in mind that only a fraction of that goes to the developer. If nothing else, 50%+ will be retail markup. Then there are lots of other people in the chain who want their cut!

Cheers

Pip

Productions costs are around 7 Euros a unit, price to retail is around 15 Euros. That leaves 8 Euros for the publisher. Developer usually gets around 30%, so say 2.5 Euros. So for 20,000 units youre talking 50,000 Euros fo the developer. Panzer Tactics costs hundreds of thousands to develop. You need to sell at least 100k to break even on a game like that.

dont forget, pc games are way easier to mod for us grunts. nothing worse that seeing wrong info in a ds game that cant be modded into the real of correctedness. I think that game companies/developers make more in the long run on pc games especially in this day of downloadable product...less overhead.

Dont mind me i'm babbling... three hours of sleep in 48 hrs. life is good

Downloadable content is still only a fraction on the market - it does provide some steady income, but even for strategy games (which tend to have longer legs than the latest FPS for example). Nonetheless, there are few developers who would agree with your assertion - PC games suffer from piracy, and from competing in a much more crowded market which is getting a lot less love from retail than consoles.

Modding on consoles has always been something which is less prevalent mainly because of the risk of mod data being hacked about to cause crashes or even viruses on these otherwise 'closed' systems.

Cheers

Pip

Well, im basing my assumption on the type of pc games i mostly play....war and sport management. Don't see too many at the local eb/gamestop. Last 5 sports management games i bought were download only types. 4 of 5 war were also dled with an extra 10 dollars or so for the box version to go with it. so to me its the majority of the market in the fields i like. Now I dont know what its like in the rest of the world but will find out in october when i travel to germany and poland and while my wife buys her junk i will be perusing pc game stores for titles that interest me and are unavailable in the states.....

But there is a risk of viruses and crashes when it comes to pc mods too. I would like to think that us pc types are of higher breeding

Phatguy wrote: I would like to think that us pc types are of higher breeding

Oh, hell yes! Not to mention taller, better-looking, more intelligent, more eloquent, inclined to better manners, and less subject to pimples

possum wrote:

Phatguy wrote: I would like to think that us pc types are of higher breeding

Oh, hell yes! Not to mention taller, better-looking, more intelligent, more eloquent, inclined to better manners, and less subject to pimples

Well, according to my wife and daughter, not inclined to better manners .....heh heh heh