I thought it might be interesting to share where and when sales of King of Dragon Pass happened. Since the game is only available in English, you’d expect sales to be best in the USA and the UK. And that’s what Apple’s reports show. Almost 48% of revenue is from the US, and 15% from the UK. But more surprising (at least to someone who doesn’t know the game’s history): over 10% of sales are from Finland (a nation of under 6 million people). We can thank the magazines
Pelit and
Pelaaja for letting the Finns know that the game was out. And of course the players who have kept it in the charts (currently it is #1 in both Strategy and Role Playing categories, both in units and revenue).
A bit more surprising to me is that the game is so popular in France (about 2.3% of revenue). Or that Singapore is the biggest market in Asia.
Games are a hit-driven market, so you would expect to see an early sales spike as the release and our PR hit. We were hoping that the tail of the chart wouldn’t get too low, and while it’s a bit too early to be sure, that looks possible.
The orange graph shows what happens when we release an update.
Although there are some drawbacks to selling in the App Store (Apple doesn’t allow time-limited trials, which would probably be the best form of marketing), in general it’s proven a good way for a small developer to reach customers. In the first six weeks, we sold more copies for iOS than boxed copies of the Windows/Mac version. That’s lifetime sales. We’ll probably hit double by the end of next month. Some of the sales are to people who enjoyed the original game, but obviously many are playing for the first time.
AppStore does not allow time-limited trials, but there's nothing to stop you from making a trial version and release it for free. You know, like how all the other 2 million developers do.
ReplyDeleteThat’s something I’ve been meaning to blog about. There are very specific rules about how you can limit things. And by its open-ended nature, King of Dragon Pass is hard to limit. (Our original one-year demo would not be allowed, and it still ended up quite large.)
ReplyDeleteThe finnish media gave KoDP quite a presence. Pelaaja made their first ever iPhone review out of it +5 pages of history and Pelit gave it two pages with the same amount of review points as Deus Ex 3! Also the tv-show "Tilt.tv" gave it a praising 9/10 review.
ReplyDeleteI would be curious as to the raw numbers. How many lifetime boxed PC/MAC units did you sell?
ReplyDeleteAbout France : this is the place where Runequest has been sold the most (more RQ sold in france than in any other countries) The french edition of RQ3 had at least 3 reprints (2 as boxes, one as hardcover book).
ReplyDeleteCongrats, but you guys deserve it!
ReplyDelete'Tis a beautiful game, long may your tail be held high... as it were.
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ReplyDeleteI was never aware of KoDP when it first came out in 1999, so I came to it entirely fresh on the iPhone. I'm an avid RPG gamer of the old school, so I was quite surprised never to have heard of it. I think you've made a wonderful game, and it continues to give me many hours of fun while I travel - well worth the asking price!
ReplyDeleteJust so you know, in Windows Phone apps MUST have a trial version and the API provides a trial mode, it's quite easy. You can also make your app show on people searches on bing. Something to be aware of if the market grows.
ReplyDeleteI'm an owner of an original PC copy and I don't have an iPhone or iPad, so I haven't bought the game this time myself, but I've done some advertisement anyway ;).
I didn’t know that about France.
ReplyDeleteOr about Windows Phone. Too bad Nokia isn’t selling the Lumia in the USA.
I would have preferred a trial but am taking a chance. I like to reward daring developers. Downloading as I type. I do hear it's the sort of game where you have to tea before you play. Off to the manual I go!
ReplyDeletejollyreaper, I would too. See http://kingofdragonpass.blogspot.com/2011/10/trial-version.html
ReplyDeleteHi, I'm from Singapore. :) I spent much of my early youth reading Fighting Fantasy - that and other series like Lone Wolf were quite popular here. The recent Fighting Fantasy republications have been fairly popular with the new generation too, judging by the speed at which the books disappear from shelves. I've never heard of KoDP until it was released as an iOS app - it's the first game I'm playing on my new 4S!
ReplyDeleteI'm liking what I'm seeing in the game but I'm goin to have to do some more studying before I find I'm playing effectively.
ReplyDeleteLooks like this is basically a game of educated chance. It's luck of the draw and roll of the dice but also knowing what to do with what to do when you see your luck.
Still trying to figure out how to drive enemies from their land. Took ten tries until my guys agreed to do it and with other clans the option has yet to appear.
Yes, nothing is certain, but you can definitely influence your odds (and if you don't pick something, it won't happen :)
ReplyDeleteFrom the manual: Seizing land “is not easy — odds are that your efforts will fail even if you win the battle.
“While it may sometimes be useful to seize territory, winning the game depends on influence, not conquest.”
So why haven't you released the original on Gog or something?
ReplyDeleteDid you read http://kingofdragonpass.blogspot.com/2011/11/pelaaja-interview.html ?
ReplyDeleteSingapore's being the largest Asian market isn't surprising given how a large percentage of the population speaks English. English is also the first language in schools. The iphone is also really popular here. I would say that 70 % of the people I know use an iphone.
ReplyDeleteHopes this comes to Android soon:)