RC Rampage sales analysis: "Vita market very healthy"

SolidGame_basic · 2014-12-18 02:29:01

Retro City Rampage Sales Analysis from 2012 - 2014After revealing that Retro City Rampage had sold over 400,000 paid units (and an additional 270,000 PS+ units) a little while back, I've received many requests for more detailed information... so here it is! PC/STEAMSteam has become a discount-driven ecosystem. However, despite a devaluation of game prices, revenue is still high. The ecosystem is still at risk if developers continue to do deeper and deeper discounts, but at the moment it's still healthy. A stark contrast shown in the chart above: the revenue is lower than PlayStation but the actual units significantly higher, clearly demonstrating just how much of a discount-driven market it is.Steam composes the bulk of PC sales followed by direct sales (Humble Widget), then GOG and Humble Store which are comparable. Humble Store is already comparable to GOG despite its modest storefront.GOG sales relative to Steam seem to vary widely for developers. Some games move a small fraction of their units on GOG while others move a very worthwhile percentage. Store promotion surprisingly doesn't seem to be the strongest factor here, but rather that the GOG customer base is more akin to certain types of games and genres. In RCR's case, GOG accounts for 6.7% of its PC sales, with Steam being 80.5%.PLAYSTATIONPS VITA has been a very healthy market which is completely counter to the misappropriated console's stigma as a failure. With less AAA competition, it's easier to get store placement and store placement is what sells games. Over the past two years, sales on PS VITA have become proportionately higher than PS3. PS4 proves healthy as well. PlayStation developers releasing games in 2015 should prioritize PS4 followed by PS VITA.NINTENDONintendo 3DS has the healthiest tail of all platforms. Released nearly 10 months ago, it has never been discounted and still boasts a strong weekly tail. It was a great fit for the platform and market and received great promotion from Nintendo at launch. RCR released on 3DS 15 months later, but had it been released simultaneously with the others it's possible that it could've become the best selling out of all eight platforms (or at least toe to toe). Again, this would vary widely on the type of game, but RCR was a perfect match for 3DS.XBOXXbox 360 was a prime example of how important store placement and promotion is. It's one of the weakest platforms sales-wise. Comparing it to its direct competitor (PS3), it's clear that the placement and repeated promotions on PS3 and lack thereof on Xbox 360 made all the difference. The potential for success existed on Xbox 360, but it's no joke that Mountain Dew is a direct competitor on there. Getting featured on Xbox is far more difficult than on other platforms (unless you're willing to pay for advertising in hard cash).Luckily I didn't have all my eggs in one basket. This is a clear example of why developers should be cautious of uncompensated platform exclusivity and release parity bottlenecks. Additionally, Xbox 360 still requires a publisher(ID@Xbox self-publishing is Xbox One-only), making the net revenue that much lower.Although the game was released on PlayStation in North America slightly before Xbox, it released on PlayStation in Europe and on 3DS afterwards. Both were more profitable. Additionally, discounted sales on PlayStation and Steam after the Xbox launch alone eclipsed the LTD sales on Xbox 360, meaning that its delay was not a major factor. Additionally, due to an error, it actually launched on Xbox for $5 less than the other platforms, but that didn't give it a leg up either. Many factors at play, but and the end of the day the lack of store promotions on Xbox were the root of its lower sales. ADDITIONAL ANALYSISSteam competition is tighter now than when RCR originally launched in 2012 and the average discounts developers place on games during holiday sales are trending much deeper than in the past. It's a double edged sword -- in the past, many developers raised issue that it was difficult to get a game onto Steam, but now that it's much easier, there aren't enough store placement opportunities for every game. Without solid store promotion at launch, you will sell a fraction of the potential units that you could otherwise which significantly jeopardizes recouping development costs.The Mac version just launched last month. It was profitable and I'm glad that the fans are enjoying it, but accounts for only 0.1% of the game's units. That number would change if it received placement on the Mac App Store, but as it stands the vast majority of units were sold on Steam.There were other ports in the works which I never finished and never plan to release. For example, PSP and Nintendo DS ports were under development way back in 2009, but due to the poor health of those markets (primarily due to piracy), I never finished or released them. Videos: here, here, hereThe experiment releasing the limited edition PS4 blu-ray disc was a huge success. It was sold out the day after sales opened despite receiving no major coverage (2,000 units @ $25/pc). Word spread primarily through the PlayStation Blog, social media and forums such as reddit. In the future, it will be interesting to see how large the market is for a console retail indie release with proper press coverage. For more information on the retail release, click here.There you have it, folks. Steam ain't all that it's cracked up to be, and Vita rocks.

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lostrib

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#101 lostrib

Member since 2009 • 49999 Posts

@MarkAndExecute said:

@lostrib said:

@MarkAndExecute said:

Typical Nintendo fanboy response. In other words absolutely clueless.

lol, you still think i'm a nintendo fanboy?

I was just wondering how you came to the conclusion I'm not having fun

Well you do get defensive whenever I bring up Nintendo so apparently you have a hot button for me to press.

...and you think that button is nintendo?

lol, okay

9 years ago

LegatoSkyheart

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#102 LegatoSkyheart

Member since 2009 • 29733 Posts

Didn't Vita outsell all versions of the game?

Anyway, I still think it's a bit absurd they refuse to port their game to WiiU. They have their reasons, but I just find it hypocritical when they're porting the game over to PS4.

9 years ago

SolidGame_basic

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#103 SolidGame_basic

Member since 2003 • 45110 Posts

@MarkAndExecute: lostrib does stalk people. He also tries real hard to troll and get attention

9 years ago

lostrib

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#104 lostrib

Member since 2009 • 49999 Posts

@SolidGame_basic said:

@MarkAndExecute: lostrib does stalk people. He also tries real hard to troll and get attention

flagged for defamation

9 years ago

MarkAndExecute

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#105 Edited By MarkAndExecute

Member since 2012 • 450 Posts

@SolidGame_basic said:

@MarkAndExecute: lostrib does stalk people. He also tries real hard to troll and get attention

I actually think he has a thing for me. I think part of it has to do with my avatar, I mean look at those abs.

9 years ago

lostrib

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#106 Edited By lostrib

Member since 2009 • 49999 Posts

@MarkAndExecute said:

@SolidGame_basic said:

@MarkAndExecute: lostrib does stalk people. He also tries real hard to troll and get attention

I actually think he has a thing for me.

9 years ago

MarkAndExecute

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#107 MarkAndExecute

Member since 2012 • 450 Posts

@lostrib said:

@SolidGame_basic said:

@MarkAndExecute: lostrib does stalk people. He also tries real hard to troll and get attention

flagged for defamation

Its not defamation if its based on fact.

9 years ago

lostrib

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#108 lostrib

Member since 2009 • 49999 Posts

@MarkAndExecute said:

@lostrib said:

@SolidGame_basic said:

@MarkAndExecute: lostrib does stalk people. He also tries real hard to troll and get attention

flagged for defamation

Its not defamation if its based on fact.

which wasn't provided. accusing someone of stalking is very serious business

9 years ago

Blabadon

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#109 Blabadon

Member since 2008 • 33030 Posts

Leave my son alone

9 years ago

deactivated-5d6bb9cb2ee20

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#110 deactivated-5d6bb9cb2ee20

Member since 2006 • 82724 Posts

Okay, this thread has completely veered off course, and is no longer even remotely resembling any constructive discussion or whatever topic it was intended for. I don't care if you want to make fifteen threads shitting on the 3DS or Nintendo, go ahead and do that, but if a thread is nothing but a series of posters being unacceptably antagonistic towards each other, it's out.

This one is out.

@MarkAndExecute said:

Well Nintendo fans tend to be momma's boys. Probably sleeps with her at night too because he's scared the big bad Bowser's gonna rape him.

This kind of post is unacceptable. If this is how you plan on posting in the future, I would urge you to refrain from posting at all.

@lostrib said:

Well disruptive posting is against the rules, and char is a nintendo fan and a mod...

so good luck with that

Just to be clear, me being a Nintendo fan has absolutely nothing to do with the moderations I hand out. Wasdie said it best when he established that moderators are people too, and are bound to have their own preferences and likings- but we never let any of those influence how we moderate the board.

If I find a thread or a post being unacceptable, I will go ahead and moderate it. It ultimately does not matter what that post or thread's stance against Nintendo is.

9 years ago

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