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?
natewardawg Sep 8, 2014
That means that the Linux user base has supported them by double of what they should expect. So the Tweet comes across as showing either a) a lack of research of their own data and/or b) an unrealistic expectation.
Soon, we'll be able to get Borderlands 2 on Linux (2012 AAA) for $20. Is Revenge of the Titans (2011 Indie) really worth half of Borderlands 2? So, their prices are unrealistic as well.
Quoting: GuestWhy trolling? They are selling games for 10€ per piece, so they made only like 930 sales. With 5 games. That's awfully low and he has good reason to feel concerned.Quoting: EKRboiYou 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.This. I fail to understand that tweet. The guy released his games for Linux and now is trolling to annoy Linux gamers and lose sales. That doesn’t make sense. Maybe he was drunk.
abelthorne Sep 8, 2014
There are some factors that might explain this, as I pointed out on Twitter (@boblaloutre):
- most (if not all) of their games were available before Steam was available on Linux, so all the people that bought them at that time and play them on Linux now are not counted as Linux sales
- their games have appeared in bundles (especially Revenge of the Titans) and most of the Linux players probably bought them there rather than on Steam
- there are some people (I'm one of them) that prefer to buy games on the Humble Store when possible for some reasons (DRM-free build + Steam key, or the fact that for Europe it is cheaper to buy on the Humble Store than on Steam), even if they then play on Steam
On the other side, their main problem is that while a lot of gamers already own their games for a long time, they continue to sell on Steam for Windows and logically they should sell at the same rate (proportions-wise) on Linux. Yet, it seems that almost every new buyer is on Windows, so it's understandable that they're asking why.
Anyway, it would be more logical to see how much they sold on Linux in every store, not only Steam (but i guess Steam is the only one that can give them proper statistics per platform).
Also, I think they would have a more precise overview of the market when they release a new game, so that Linux players won't be accounted as Windows players. Maybe it'll still be 1%, maybe it'll be better. They'll also want to see if the figures evolve when the Steambox begin to sell.
ElectricPrism Sep 8, 2014
According to the Steam Linux data 1% of Steam users are on Linux.
That means the maximum potential sale count for a developer selling a game on Linux / Steam is about 750,000 sales per game if 100% of Steam Linux users bought a game.
If 1% of us bought a game at $9.99 that means $749,250 for a game developer from a measly 1% of users of 1% steam.
I seriously doubt they only made $12,000 as most linux users already owned their game from the Humble Bundle. Also, I bought their games, but their games really aren't that fun - that game RoboCraft is more likely to get my money because the free to play model pulled me in and I desperately want in game content.
My experience with Puppy games can be described as "disappointed" and "mediocre".
Quoting: natewardawgFrom the blog post that EKRboi linked to (http://www.puppygames.net/blog/?p=1369) they had made about $620k total as of Mid-2013 and I suspect it hasn't gone up too much from that. A projection of Linux's 1% market should get them about $6,200, yet they got $12,000. The $12k figure is from Steam sales only and the $620k figure includes all sales.
That means that the Linux user base has supported them by double of what they should expect. So the Tweet comes across as showing either a) a lack of research of their own data and/or b) an unrealistic expectation.
Came to around the same results here and I was also surprised of what they had to say about their Linux figures considering it's only 1% of the gaming landscape (and they should know it). Moreover this $12K seems to be from Steam only? That would mean that just with Steam, us (Linux gamers), made the double of what they should expect for the entire lifetimes of their games. Not bad... not bad at all, I say.
Quoting: kozecWhy trolling? They are selling games for 10€ per piece, so they made only like 930 sales. With 5 games. That's awfully low and he has good reason to feel concerned.
The games have been available for windows much longer than they have been available for linux, and the games play fine in wine. So I am guessing that the people who wanted the games already bought them and a bunch of those could have already been using wine on linux to play them.. but steam in wine reports as windows. I can only assume that quite a few of the linux sales they have received since making a linux port available are more than likely people who simply bought the games to support the linux gaming movement even if they had no interest in playing the games.
Like others have said.. if they want some #'s that actually mean something they need to release a new game with linux support from day one. Other wise there are just too many variables at this point in the game.
Valve needs to start keeping track of what games get played in wine and on which platform (linux,OSX,bsd..). I'm sure there is a way to tell. Then make those #'s available to all.
natewardawg Sep 8, 2014
Quoting: CreakCame to around the same results here and I was also surprised of what they had to say about their Linux figures considering it's only 1% of the gaming landscape (and they should know it). Moreover this $12K seems to be from Steam only? That would mean that just with Steam, us (Linux gamers), made the double of what they should expect for the entire lifetimes of their games. Not bad... not bad at all, I say.
Exactly my thoughts and yes, they admit in the Tweet replies that the $12k is only from Steam.
I never once installed one of them, though, since they're not my cup of tea.
Two, It is working well for a lot of others developers so I'm going to assume they are just doing it wrong.
Three, as of January 2014 5% of their sales were on Linux (http://www.gamingonlinux.com/articles/linux-game-sales-statistics-from-multiple-developers.2963) if their statement is true that mean that as of January 2014 they made less than 240K€ with all their games on all platforms, I highly doubt that.
To conclude, IMHO they are not making enough money (in all platforms) to keep the company running and they are searching for someone to blame other than themselves.
Also, this : http://www.puppygames.net/blog/?p=1574. They actually tell to every buyer on Steam that they are just a piece of s**t (I'm not exaggerating). Read it and tell me they do not deserve this.
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