How Many Copies of SEIV Gold Have Been Sold?

Katchoo · #1 July 4th, 2003, 03:07 PM

Anyone know exactly how many copies of SEIV Gold Shrapnel has sold since it's launch?

For some reason this question popped into my head Last night and now my curiosity is piqued.

10,000+ ?
100,000+ ?
1,000,000+ ?

dumbluck · #2 July 4th, 2003, 03:11 PM

You won't get an answer. Trade secret. However, Shrapnel Games has been willing to say in the past that SE4classic was by far their biggest volume seller....

edit: woo-hoo! a three minute reply!

[ July 04, 2003, 14:11: Message edited by: dumbluck ]

Ragnarok · #3 July 4th, 2003, 03:20 PM

They also said they sold enough to where Aaron could retire right now and not have to work anymore.

But that would be bad. Very bad. That would mean no SEV.

So Aaron will continue to slave for us until we have had enough.

[ July 04, 2003, 14:20: Message edited by: Ragnarok ]

Erax · #4 July 4th, 2003, 03:56 PM

From a Shrapnel press release dated October 31, 2002 :

Quote:

Shrapnel Games announced today that the Space Empires IV Gold has surpassed the one half million dollar mark in internet sales. [snip]

Timothy W. Brooks, President of Shrapnel Games, said, "This is truly a momentous occasion and proves that our business model works. A PC game from one of the large publishers, available through retail stores, would be considered a success at one half million dollars in sales. The Space Empires IV franchise from Malfador Machinations achieved this almost exclusively through Online sales. The truly exciting aspect of this is that Space Empires IV Gold is still selling at record rates. Our next announcement will be when we surpass the one million dollar mark, which we believe we can do within 18 months."

Richard Arnesen, Director of Covert Operations for Shrapnel Games, said, "Space Empires IV Gold is a special game with a thriving and active community. It is because of this community that we have achieved these sales numbers."

So... pick a number between $500K and $1M. Divide by $40 to get number of copies sold.

Aaron achieving financial independence is a good thing, not a bad thing. He will probably continue to make games because I suspect he enjoys it.

Ragnarok · #5 July 4th, 2003, 04:05 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Erax:

Aaron achieving financial independence is a good thing, not a bad thing. He will probably continue to make games because I suspect he enjoys it.

I didn't mean my message to sound like Aaron achieving financial independence was bad. That is a very good thing for him to do. I just meant if he retired because of that; but I know he won't thus the smilies in my post.

Slynky · #6 July 4th, 2003, 05:20 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Ragnarok:
They also said they sold enough to where Aaron could retire right now and not have to work anymore.

But that would be bad. Very bad. That would mean no SEV. So Aaron will continue to slave for us until we have had enough.

Hehe, Rags.

However, IF there was no SE5, I think I could live with it. For 2 reasons:

I've been playing the game over 2 years, I think, and I'm having more fun now than when I started (mostly due to this community and PBW). Not sure I will get tired of it (and I haven't even played ANY of the mods ).
Not meaning to sound disrespectful, but a new Version of SE scares me that it might be "MOO'd up" (if you get my drift).

geoschmo · #7 July 4th, 2003, 06:00 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Ragnarok:
They also said they sold enough to where Aaron could retire right now and not have to work anymore.

But that would be bad. Very bad. That would mean no SEV. So Aaron will continue to slave for us until we have had enough.

No, what they said was Aaron made enough off of it to quit his day job and work full time as a game developer. That's a far cry from not having to work anymore.

Geoschmo

oleg · #8 July 4th, 2003, 11:49 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Slynky:
[QB]
Not meaning to sound disrespectful, but a new Version of SE scares me that it might be "MOO'd up" (if you get my drift). [QB]

There is no danger of that whatsoever !
It is still the same person doing the same job

The one and the only reason Moo3 is no Moo(1or2) is because it was no longer a Steve Barcia child !

deccan · #9 July 5th, 2003, 12:57 AM

Wow, sounds like Aaron could use some healthy competition! (MOO3 doesn't count!) How much do you think it might cost to develop a new 4x game from scratch?

narf poit chez BOOM · #10 July 5th, 2003, 02:14 AM

as an ima i mean amatuer game programmer, i can tell you that the cost of even the simplest game is not measured in money or time, but headache's. not that i've ever come very close to something the size of SE.

[ July 05, 2003, 01:15: Message edited by: narf poit chez BOOM ]