Has BS sold well?

[Safari Ken]

But in the end, the very fact that Black Shark seems to be able to get some good market penetration is yet another reason to be interested in more exact figures, since it could indicate that our little niche is bigger than we might have thought.

 

Agreed, though exact figures might be hard to come by. As I understand it, most sales charts do not track digital distribution, and only a few retail chains (that may have changed, but I think it's still like that). That's part of the myth of PC Gaming being dead, incidentally, as more and more PC users have solid broadband connections, and get their games online, through Steam or other sources, and simply don't get included in the numbers.

[Wags]

Sorry guys, but as always, we do not comment on sales.

 

Thanks,

Matt

[-Nighthawk-]

Sorry guys, but as always, we do not comment on sales.

 

Thanks,

Matt

 

While Matt was typing that he was swimming in a pool of cash :thumbup:

[Moa]

Agreed, though exact figures might be hard to come by. As I understand it, most sales charts do not track digital distribution, and only a few retail chains (that may have changed, but I think it's still like that). That's part of the myth of PC Gaming being dead, incidentally, as more and more PC users have solid broadband connections, and get their games online, through Steam or other sources, and simply don't get included in the numbers.

 

Yes, "PC Gaming being dead" is indeed a myth (for Ubisoft stuff at least) according to the latest Ubisoft sales figures from (page 5):

http://www.ubisoftgroup.com/gallery_files/site/270/1042/1967.pdf

 

PC Gaming reported a 2% increase in relative sales marketshare between 2008 and 2009 years. The Playstation 2 and PSP declined slightly (as would be expected), while the PS3 recorded growth. The Xbox360 had a large drop in sales (7%! maybe because the Xbox 360 hardware is junk and keeps dying on a lot of folks).

 

 

No worries Wags we don't get sales figures. We'd rather you kept working hard on DCS:F-18, I mean, DCS:A-10, and we'll promise to buy it from you.

[kiss4luna]

and i have to remind you all guys that some governments may just block this product so that people in that country can't get it by an easier way --- they have blocked LOFC and many other sims or non-sim games even wikii or youtube before. i don't know if North Korea blocks this game but i do know some others block them. fans there have to buy it from other country, even though their copies may be hold by border customs.

this definitely is a huge impact that affects the sells no matter how many fans are there in those areas.

[kiss4luna]

Sorry guys, but as always, we do not comment on sales.

 

Thanks,

Matt

 

 

i fully understand

every company treats their sale-info very carefully cause it always affects something good or bad to the company

[JimMack]

90% of overall selling is through retail, so I think there is a long run still to know if it's going good (many places still without retail box). But, in any way, DCS series are just a plus to TFC/ED's pocket, military contracts are where the big bucks are. Face it, we are second class customers.

 

I can assure you, at TFC/ED, we do not think that you are second class customers. You are one side of a two headed coin, and a coin that must have two heads.

[EtherealN]

Sorry guys, but as always, we do not comment on sales.

 

Quite fair enough and I do understand that there are good reasons for that. Nevertheless - hope you guys quickly run out of boxes and end up forced to print even more to meet demand. :)

 

i don't know if North Korea blocks this game but i do know some others block them. fans there have to buy it from other country, even though their copies may be hold by border customs.

 

I strongly doubt that ED lose out on much sales if North Korea blocks it. :P I've read quite a few accounts of that country from journalists (swedish and international) that have managed to get in there through faking other employments, and the availability of computer games would seem to be the last thing they have to worry about there. (But that starts to move into politics I guess and isn't the best topic for discussion on a DCS board. :P )

 

China can be felt however, though I have a hard time seeing their motivation to do so. (They did frivolously ban Hearts of Iron, though, but at least there they could point to the fact that in it the various warring factions in 1930's china was represented as independent nations in the game mechanics, which they felt was lies and disinformation.)

 

I can assure you, at TFC/ED, we do not think that you are second class customers. You are one side of a two headed coin, and a coin that must have two heads.

 

I've actually been in a bit of awe at how you guys have managed to build that business model. Years back I was quite worried that serious flight simming was going to end up completely dead due to the niche nature of it, and here you go and find that stroke of pure genious in how to spread the costs to not only be able to make it viable - you could even raise the bar sharply on what a study simulator should be!

 

Which of course was part of the reason for my curiosity, but it's fair enough that you guys cannot comment on sales. Hope the success continues, and do make sure to make a celebratory announcement when whichever arbitrary base-10 milestone you prefer has been reached. :D

[DaWu]

Sorry guys, but as always, we do not comment on sales.

 

Thanks,

Matt

 

thats fair and I respect this. just hope more than enough to see more dcs in the future

[Sh0d4n]

when is, sold well ? :)

 

When all Developers can fly a KA-50 in real ? :P

[Avatar72]

I puchased the game a couple of weeks ago, several days after its release. I purchased it at Frys in Plano, Texas. When I bought it, there were about 25 copies on the shelf. Now, over two weeks later, there are about 8 left. So although they dont fly off the shelf like an "A" title will, it seems to be selling well for a flight sim...I guess...

 

For a first release in a series, if the developers were extremely concerned about the product initial release, maybe they should have stated off with a more popular aircraft. Given the games reviews though, it hopefully wont matter.

[EtherealN]

Well Avatar72, they started with the Ka-50 for several reasons. First off, it was first planned to be a Lock-On expansion, but that didn't work for several reasons. Secondly, the Ka-50 is a cult aircraft. Off the top of my head I can think of 3 mainstream games focused on it before. Thirdly, they had the information required (through co-operation with Kamov, real Ka-50 pilots, service engineers working on the same engine type and so on) to make the simulator at all.

 

It's not a case of just selecting an aircraft and doing a DCS-level simulation of it. There is a LOT of information they need to model it correctly, a lot of which will be of the type that militaries will not want to let slip. However, in the example of the upcoming A-10C module, they actually had a contract with the Air National Guard to make a conversion training simulator - which means a lot of that information became available.

 

Also, I would remind you that you cannot go only on what is popular aircraft in the west. Russia and the CIS countries have a US-sized population (that is a very developed market, nevermind our western prejudices) that grew up with the soviet aircraft. ;)

[Swetrekki]

If they can Hurry up and release it in stores in sweden they will sell atleast one more copy :) been waiting for it for it for 6 or so years now

[EtherealN]

Swetrekki, game.se

 

They had it on the front page there for a few weeks so it should be around there somewhere. Though you can always just get the download version, works very fine. (seems to have disappeared from their site now though)

 

Also:

http://www.webhallen.com/prod.php?id=94982&traff=1

http://ginza.se/Product/Product.aspx?Identifier=51675

Edited May 2, 2009 by EtherealN

[Cyb0rg]

When we sort by bestselling sims, BS is in 3th place at gamestop.com and in 7th at amazon.com.

[EtherealN]

Yeah, do those lists include stuff like HAWX though?

 

--

 

http://www.gamestop.com/Browse/Search.aspx?N=140+187

When I go PC > Simulation > Aviation, there's nothing but BlackShark there. If I go PC > Simulation, then it's beaten by The Sims 2. That doesn't say much about the niche. :P

 

http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/videogames/229594/ref=pd_ts_vg_nav

There it's only Flight Simulator X and it's expansion that beats it, once you remove The Sims and Spore...

[Cyb0rg]

Yeah, HAWX its there too :)

 

In Germany its 2nd.

 

http://www.amazon.de/gp/bestsellers/videogames/403334/ref=pd_ts_vg_nav

 

France 2nd too:

 

http://www.amazon.fr/Simulateurs-vol-Jeux-PC-vid%C3%A9o/b/ref=amb_link_19838565_15?ie=UTF8&node=557716&pf_rd_m=A1X6FK5RDHNB96&pf_rd_s=left-1&pf_rd_r=00KZQMNYZRX3RMYMR0HR&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=467515113&pf_rd_i=548026

 

 

 

In UK, looks like all they need is SIMS.

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/bestsellers/videogames/676453011/ref=pd_ts_pg_1?ie=UTF8&pg=1

Edited May 2, 2009 by Cyb0rg

[muamshai]

I think so.

That's why they are working on DCS: A-10

 

You can find more about sales in developer/tester section of this forum :D

[EtherealN]

I'm neither a dev nor tester. :P

[Boberro]

Jesus, same Sims oO