Why Not Digitial Distribution?

[llamabeast]

The thing is that you are missing out on the impulse-buying market. Occasionally I will just sit down in an evening and think "I'm bored. I haven't spent any money for a bit - I should treat myself", and then go and do something like buy the latest GalCivII expansion, or Portal, or something else like that. Since people can't do that for Dominions the decision has to be a more considered one. Upon further consideration, buying games often seems far from essential, so they just won't do it.

If you really wanted to sell more copies of Dominions, there is a lot you could do. Imagine a website with descriptions and backstories for all the races. You'd get people frothing at the mouth.

[S.R. Krol]

llamabeast said:
The thing is that you are missing out on the impulse-buying market.

I'm not sure most people consider $55 an impulse purchase.

[Cerlin]

One thing I hate about steam, you cannot mod the games. They are in one or two different files and no modding is possible. This would be pretty big downside for Dom3. I know this because I got Medieval 2 Kingdoms on steam, and I cannot use any mods made by the community.
Also the internet access is a huge down side.
I dont think that its a big bonus.

[S.R. Krol]

And just to reiterate something...*if* it was ever sold as a download it would be through us. It seems like every time this subject comes up you have people talking about Steam when there's no reason to put it on Steam since we're already set up.

[Jazzepi]

S.R. Krol said:
And just to reiterate something...*if* it was ever sold as a download it would be through us. It seems like every time this subject comes up you have people talking about Steam when there's no reason to put it on Steam since we're already set up.

Except for the fact that it still isn't offered through digital distribution.

I don't know why you seem so hostile to the idea of digital distribution. If customers are asking for it, the correct response is "we'll get it as soon as we can, if possible" not "our current service, which doesn't even compare to most online retailers, should be good enough for you people".

Jazzepi

[S.R. Krol]

Jazzepi said:
I don't know why you seem so hostile to the idea of digital distribution. If customers are asking for it, the correct response is "we'll get it as soon as we can, if possible" not "our current service, which doesn't even compare to most online retailers, should be good enough for you people".
Jazzepi

Any perceived hostility arises not from the idea, but from the fact that we've been selling the game since September 2006 with no current plans for digital distribution, and even though we continue to say that this keeps coming up.
Could that change in the future? Sure, anything is possible. But as of right now there is only one way to purchase the game, and that's as a physical copy. Why this is such a point of contention for some people, I don't know. What I can tell you though is that the game has sold quite well since release, and continues to sell quite well, as a physical product.

[Saulot]

OT: I'm happy to hear that sales are good... this makes it very likely that Illwinter will make more games.

It isn't just the manual, or the modding, or the patches, or time spent on the forums, it's the whole package, at the forefront of it all being the atmosphere that Illwinter cares about the game.

On more pragmatic terms, is there even a significant market that somehow is 'kept out' because they can only purchase it online? (Most of my purchases occur in physical game stores, but that's hardly less of a hassle than ordering online and then waiting for a delivery.) I know Dominions is great and all, but who can't wait a week or two, for what is, in the end, just a game?

[Jazzepi]

S.R. Krol said:

Any perceived hostility arises not from the idea, but from the fact that we've been selling the game since September 2006 with no current plans for digital distribution, and even though we continue to say that this keeps coming up.
Could that change in the future? Sure, anything is possible. But as of right now there is only one way to purchase the game, and that's as a physical copy. Why this is such a point of contention for some people, I don't know. What I can tell you though is that the game has sold quite well since release, and continues to sell quite well, as a physical product.

I don't understand how you can run a company and say "Ah, well, we're doing good enough, no reason to look into establishing digital distribution, something we do for all our other games, for our flagship product. No, we have no plans for that in the future."

That's just silly. If I were an investor, I would be furious D:

Especially in lieu of actually listening to your customers.

Jazzepi

[Shovah32]

Cerlin said:
One thing I hate about steam, you cannot mod the games. They are in one or two different files and no modding is possible. This would be pretty big downside for Dom3. I know this because I got Medieval 2 Kingdoms on steam, and I cannot use any mods made by the community.
Also the internet access is a huge down side.
I dont think that its a big bonus.

Really? I have a number of mods on various games I've bought over steam and they seem to work just fine.

[DigitalSin]

Haha, not many games with more mods than Half-Life or Half-Life 2, and they've been Steam games for ages.