It seems Puppy Games the developers behind fun games like Revenge of the Titans have expressed their concern about Linux sales.
They took to twitter to say this:
LINUX GAMERS! To date we've made just **$12,000** from Linux games in total for all time for all four of our games! This will not do!
— Puppygames (@puppygames) September 8, 2014
Linux is a small, but growing market we know that, but some developers aren't in it for fun and only see the numbers. They said in another tweet that a factor of 10 would make it more attractive.
Personally I doubt any single developer has made a figure of $120,000 (factor of 10 on their lifetime Linux sales) from a Linux game alone yet, and hell the vast majority of indie games coming out probably won't make that in their entire lifetime.
They have four games and three employees to maintain, so I can understand where they are coming from, but with a market that's still small developers shouldn't expect too much from it yet.
UPDATE
@gamingonlinux just Steam over the last 2 years. We only otherwise sell through Humble these days but that's so little money it's irrelevant
— Puppygames (@puppygames) September 8, 2014
It seems they are only counting Steam, so their original tweet seems a little baiting to get a reaction and more sales. Not a bad thing to try to get more sales, but maybe they should actively engage with the Linux community like some other developers do?
Take it with a grain of salt too, as tweets are hard to get the message across and it's probably more friendly than it seems at first glance.
They aren't counting their own Humble Weekly Bundle which actually gave them revenue from Linux gamers at a mark around $14,000 (not counting charity) which is more than Steam, so they actually made a fair bit more from Linux than they have mentioned it seems.
They confirmed in a comment later it's around the $8,000 mark. That nearly doubled the figure in their original tweet.
They were in a Humble Bundle as well which they aren't counting, and to quote someone from reddit on the matter:
QuoteI'm curious what the breakdown by platforms was from them in the Humble Bundles. Based on this site HiB2 made $361214.76 from Linux users.
Assuming that all of them gave half to charity (leaving $180607.38) and split the non-charitable potion evenly 12 way between the 5 HiB2 games, the 6 HiB games that got pulled in and the tip for Wolfire, they should have gotten $15050.
I would also be interested to know how much they say they got from that Humble Bundle. I am pretty sure they used to do direct sales at one point too, so again a fair bit they don't seem to be counting.
Puppy Games have noted they aren't about to stop supporting Linux, but they see it as unprofitable:
@shadowrabbit64 @fdgonthier we've supported Linux for 11 years, not about to stop now. Just remarking that it is incredibly unprofitable
Puppygames (@puppygames) September 9, 2014
What do you make of all this? It's interesting to see.
If you want to support them consider buying their games on Steam. Looks like they could do with some more love from Linux gamers don't you think?
rustybroomhandle Sep 8, 2014
muntdefems Sep 8, 2014
I guess their next release will show nicer figures regarding Linux sales.
@Liam I like to think of it as trying to drum up sales by inspiring our go getter attitude and not trying to make us seem ungrateful.
@puppygames I own your games, I am sorry sales look bad. Honestly and sadly I never play them however I think I will soon and maybe if they are fun enough buy them again for a friend.
abelthorne Sep 8, 2014
I'd bet most of those $12k come from a Humble Weekly Sale featuring all their games to date. I got that bundle and so I haven't felt the need to toss any more money to them.No, that's their point: they're apparently counting only the sales on Steam. They said that with the Humble bundles they made more.
The linux gaming userbase IS small... the amount of gamers who use linux and play indie games like these may be even smaller. Whining about it wont fix it... and that $12000 is only for steam.. it doesnt accound for other linux sales or people who had them before native versions and probably played them with wine. They are not breaking even WITH linux support.. they wouldn't be doing it without either.
EDIT* I also just realized that their "factor of 10" thing is simply absurd.. according their own blog post they have hardly made that much in total for some of their games.. what a joke. Also, just read their blog, not just the one post I linked.. a lot of butthurt and crying going on there. PLUS, they don't support game demos and apparently think a video showing their game working is enough to prove it will work on your machine, and they state the obvious that making demos allows people to realize they don't like your game before buying it. Sorry Puppy Games.. -1 respect. At least I'm not a sale you would have had anyways.
one of the four games is actually space invaders in a new graphic setting. i'm not for that (i played the original space invaders in the arcade when it came out, yeah i'm that old)
so puppy games, impress me with a good game and i will trow money at you
2. their games are very simple, porting costs were not too high with good dev skills. <10.000 is good. my opinion.
overall sales number would also be interesting.
overall sales number would also be interesting.
see.. http://www.puppygames.net/blog/?p=1369
its a bit outdated.. but give a clear picture.
If linux users are 1% their revenue from linux must be ~1% what they expect millions ?
leillo1975 Sep 8, 2014
I think the choice is easy
Crazy Penguin Sep 8, 2014
On the other hand, if the studio is already targeting something other than Windows/XBox, they're probably already using cross-platform tech like OpenGL and SDL anyway, so supporting Linux probably isn't *too* difficult. The rise of the Mac probably helped us there.
I'm contemplating avoiding sales from devs that give us first-class (i.e. timely) Linux releases. As in, paying the full price intentionally, just for that little extra support.
In that case, the $12k are gained with (almost) no extra effort at least.
I agree with some of the comments here, these games look awful and I wouldn't spend money on them on any platform
I disagree. *Me* likes the style of "Revenge of the Titans".
And the game was actually totally my cup of tea.
Mohandevir Sep 8, 2014
This is absolutely not my kind of game and I won't give money for that. There are plenty of free websites with games of this kind and even better graphics.
Sorry I must be close-minded.
Sorry I must be close-minded.
Not at all IMO.. you play and pay for what you like.. NOTHING wrong with that.
I get it.. puppy games put a bunch of blood, sweat and tears into projects they believed in and is sad their games are not as popular as they had hoped. NOTHING wrong with that either.
You know what is WRONG? Going on your social media sites and crying to the folks who did buy your games (probably why they followed you on twitter after all...) that they didn't give you enough money. If that is not bad business.. well I don't know what is.
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