New and old (unanswered) questions about payment and distr

[preterosso]

I have already posted a question about alternative ways of payment nearly a month ago: PayPal is still not available in a lot of countries, what alternative payment will be available for us (in Hungary for example)?

 

2. Someone from ED (or close) said that distribution of physical copies is impossible due to lack of resources. When stating this, you may have thought about beautifully printed, colour boxes, labelled cds and manuals, which can really cost a lot. But what about writing the software on simple, unlabelled CDs, putting them to simple envelopes and sending them via postal service? I know it sounds unprofessional, but it is simple and sensible. Most of us could do perfectly without printed boxes, especially when it is the only way.

[britgliderpilot]

Re: New and old (unanswered) questions about payment and dis

 

Someone from ED (or close) said that distribution of physical copies is impossible due to lack of resources. When stating this, you may have thought about beautifully printed, colour boxes, labelled cds and manuals, which can really cost a lot. But what about writing the software on simple, unlabelled CDs, putting them to simple envelopes and sending them via postal service? I know it sounds unprofessional, but it is simple and sensible. Most of us could do perfectly without printed boxes, especially when it is the only way.

 

Yes, but think who's going to have to burn all those CD's for ED? You still need manpower and time to burn a few thousand CD's, write addresses on envelopes, and take them to Moscow's UPS office . . . . . and it's manpower and time that could be better used elsewhere.

 

 

Ordinarily, once the gold disc is burned then the publisher would take over with the distribution . . . . . but 1C stand to make no profit on sales to the West, so obviously aren't interested. Added to which, they legally can't do it anyway . . . . if ED want to send out CD's to the West, they have to do it themselves.

 

IIRC, the approximate size of the ED team is about 30 people . . . . .

[preterosso]

Got it. (Sadly-- almost unbelievable that there is no publisher for the best flightsim ever in the west)

 

But what about alternative payment?

[Guest ruggbutt]

Will Flaming Cliffs be available in Poland or in the Czech Republic? I have a friend in Poland that can mail me an original copy, and I'll be in Praha this summer.

[britgliderpilot]

Got it. (Sadly-- almost unbelievable that there is no publisher for the best flightsim ever in the west)

 

But what about alternative payment?

 

"Best flightsim ever" is a highly subjective thing . . . . . certainly it can be improved.

 

Anyway, Ubi doesn't like things that don't make them lots of sales, and lots of money . . . . . Lomac seems to have been a little too much investment for not enough return. Most big publishers would say the same thing - it's a simple matter of economics.

 

Part of the problem was that Ubi wanted to sell Lomac for the same price as a "normal" FPS game . . . . . now as we all know, the economics of developing a detailed modern flight sim make that rather problematic.

 

Had they put in more money and time (i.e. if Lomac had been developed to v1.1 or even v1.02 standards before release), and followed up the release by funding a Hornet addon (something that was indeed under discussion pre-Lomac release), then we certainly would have seen better initial sales of Lomac . . . . something I hope would have continued. A Hornet in Lomac's engine would have won over a huge part of the flight sim market . . . . how long the list of desired features would have taken to add is of course unknown. And without serious modifications to the mission generation and the AI, it's doubtful how much of an effect it would have had on some parts of the community . . . . .

 

Anyway - it's not much use analysing the past any more, we're here despite all of it. We must of course thank Ubi for at least getting Lomac to release . . . .

The good news is that ED seems to be changing it's business model entirely now. Less pushing from the developers.

 

 

 

Alternative methods of payment - well Visa was discussed a while ago and proved a popular option, and I think someone mentioned that you'd be able to use methods other than PayPal. However, for the quickest route, you're probably best off finding a friend with broadband and a CD-burner in a country where PayPal is supported.

 

It's a bit of a problem, but I don't know for certain what ED has done about it yet.