Jeff quick question (a proposal)
by JoeSmith · in Torque Game Engine · 06/11/2001 (3:49 am) · 30 replies
I sent you a mail about this but you didn't respond but I thought I should put it here, for people that were interested.
The first question is you said something about burn on demand once is that gone??
But I have a proposal for people who want to do this and I don't see why GG wouldn't do this.
Ok say we are selling our game for 10 dollars. The person goes to the order page and can download the game and pay the 10 bucks. Fine. However, you can put in an option that would allow the person to get the game shipped to them. However, this costs an extra 3 dollars. Then, if someone orders the game and wants it shipped, you just e-mail us their address and then we burn them a copy of the install CD and send them the game. We would be willing to do this. There would be no work on your part yet you would make an extra 1.50 per sale.
Could you set this up on our order page or the pages of developers who would put in the time and effort to do this.
This is if Burn on demand is not an option at all...
The first question is you said something about burn on demand once is that gone??
But I have a proposal for people who want to do this and I don't see why GG wouldn't do this.
Ok say we are selling our game for 10 dollars. The person goes to the order page and can download the game and pay the 10 bucks. Fine. However, you can put in an option that would allow the person to get the game shipped to them. However, this costs an extra 3 dollars. Then, if someone orders the game and wants it shipped, you just e-mail us their address and then we burn them a copy of the install CD and send them the game. We would be willing to do this. There would be no work on your part yet you would make an extra 1.50 per sale.
Could you set this up on our order page or the pages of developers who would put in the time and effort to do this.
This is if Burn on demand is not an option at all...
#22
and even if you went priority mail thats only $3.20 ...
And honestly, I don't think someone would buy outside NA because Shipping charges would be through the roof, it would probably be better for them to download it over night.
(We actually plan for 56k users to break up our download into 3 sections as well as one big file)
06/15/2001 (4:10 am)
no ok they have these little packages at the post office now where you can send CD's in them they just fit a CD and are cheaper to send a couple of bucks in the U.S. and even if you went priority mail thats only $3.20 ...
And honestly, I don't think someone would buy outside NA because Shipping charges would be through the roof, it would probably be better for them to download it over night.
(We actually plan for 56k users to break up our download into 3 sections as well as one big file)
#23
Looks like GG is just going to have to set up a "presence" in each country. ;-)
06/15/2001 (4:52 am)
I don't know... maybe they would?Looks like GG is just going to have to set up a "presence" in each country. ;-)
#24
As for paying for CD on demand outside of NA you're probably right, didn't really think that through :)
Anyone who would be that stubborn about ESD probably wouldn't buy over the Internet anyway.
06/16/2001 (6:49 pm)
Phillip I don't disagree with what you're saying but I think that wages will be the major cost associated with CD on demand espiecially if there is not much demand.As for paying for CD on demand outside of NA you're probably right, didn't really think that through :)
Anyone who would be that stubborn about ESD probably wouldn't buy over the Internet anyway.
#25
Well actually we don't know how games will sell until they are up
06/17/2001 (3:19 am)
Robert I don't think GG will sell as many copies as your thinking. It's not like they need to burn thousands of CD's a dayWell actually we don't know how games will sell until they are up
#26
In the worst case scenario the job of burning and mailing a CD would be done by someone on a salary of $30 an hour (assuming that GG is small enough not to hire admin staff - worst case) and might take 5 minutes (worst case again). Thats a labour cost of nearly $3 already.
But I'm sure GGs have done more research into the costs involved than I have.
06/18/2001 (12:45 am)
Well, thats my point actually. If they did need to burn thousands of CDs per day it would be a lot cheaper per CD (after start-up costs). In the worst case scenario the job of burning and mailing a CD would be done by someone on a salary of $30 an hour (assuming that GG is small enough not to hire admin staff - worst case) and might take 5 minutes (worst case again). Thats a labour cost of nearly $3 already.
But I'm sure GGs have done more research into the costs involved than I have.
#27
Jason
06/25/2001 (2:11 pm)
Quote:I highly doubt anyone who pays per minute for their phone use (such as Great Brittan I believe) will ever be leaving their computer on all night for a game unless one of us pushes out doom 5 somehow ;) International practically requires CDs. I'm sure that many US customers will prefer them as well, but we'll have to see how close GG has to cut it to appease those with the piddly modems, heh. (My lovely 56K has never once connected at any speed other than 26.4. Neither my 2 externals, nor the 33.6 in my old computer. It's just Lovely.)
And honestly, I don't think someone would buy outside NA because Shipping charges would be through the roof, it would probably be better for them to download it over night.
Jason
#28
You could get a 5 stack copying box. One read drive, five 12x burn proof writers. About $2000. You could burn off 100 CD's in about 2 hours and watch a movie at the same time. $2000 is still a big investment for a small time ESD developer who may only see a few hundred copies of a game for $10 a pop.
Perhaps someone with a bit of capital and time to invest would take up the cause as an outside contractor of sorts. It seems like there is plenty of demand.
I assume GG would have no problem with letting an outside source handle this, assuming they don't end up taking care of it themselves. GG?
06/25/2001 (2:31 pm)
To suggest a alternative solution...You could get a 5 stack copying box. One read drive, five 12x burn proof writers. About $2000. You could burn off 100 CD's in about 2 hours and watch a movie at the same time. $2000 is still a big investment for a small time ESD developer who may only see a few hundred copies of a game for $10 a pop.
Perhaps someone with a bit of capital and time to invest would take up the cause as an outside contractor of sorts. It seems like there is plenty of demand.
I assume GG would have no problem with letting an outside source handle this, assuming they don't end up taking care of it themselves. GG?
#29
07/16/2001 (2:31 pm)
or perhaps have a cd distro in europe? save international shipping...
#30
Another interesting note, my sales were quite satisfactory when the game was first released. But the sales dropped sharply after the release of the free demo. I never had any complaints about the game, so I can only assume the "why buy the cow when I get the milk for free" factor played the major roll in this effect. Of course crafting a demo that gives the player just enough of a peek at the goods to make them desperately want more can be extremely tricky.
Stacy Davidson
sdavidson@salsagames.com
Salsa Shark Productions
www.salsagames.com
08/21/2001 (11:47 pm)
Just a note here. I offer both "online delivery" (no CD) and physical delivery options for Shadow of the Lost Citadel, and I would estimate 20% or less have requested a physical CD. And I'm not sure the absence of that option would have deterred them from ordering via ESD method, but it's hard to know. Jeff Vogel (of www.spidweb.com) has been operating quite successfully with a similar model for a very long time. It might be interesting to ask him about his ESD vs. CD-ROM sales ratio.Another interesting note, my sales were quite satisfactory when the game was first released. But the sales dropped sharply after the release of the free demo. I never had any complaints about the game, so I can only assume the "why buy the cow when I get the milk for free" factor played the major roll in this effect. Of course crafting a demo that gives the player just enough of a peek at the goods to make them desperately want more can be extremely tricky.
Stacy Davidson
sdavidson@salsagames.com
Salsa Shark Productions
www.salsagames.com
Robert
But the $20 was assuming international distribution, you people are so US-centric ;)