PC Gamer January Issue

[VapoR]

There is an interesting article in the new issue of PC Gamer by Andy Mahood about sales of sims in the US. In it he lists some recent sims and the units sold and the dollar amount they raked in:

 

FS 2004....................units 677,300.....$28,400,000

Lock-on....................units 51,000........$1,500,000

Pacific Fighters..........units 41,100........$1,500,000

Wings Over Vietnam....units 29,300..........$823,300

Falcon 4.0: AF...........units 19,500..........$574,400

 

Some interesting numbers here, for sure. So 51,000 people bought Lock-on in the US. For a sim with little single-player value (ie: no DC and not-so-hot mission editor and AI), where are all these people at online? HL averages about 50 players online at any one time, and most seem to be from outside of the US.

 

This brings more questions than answers really. From what I'm able to tell, most of the community seems to be European, so judging by that I would assume that the biggest chunk of sales happened to be there. I know that ED states that its largest audience (units sold I would imagine) is in the CIS. They also don't seem to be online as much either, probably mostly due to a lack of broadband.

 

Judging from the numbers above and some broad assumptions, if I was ED I would be focusing on making the single-player experience top priority and give those players the tools to make it the best it can be. DC, better editor, better AI, and very immersive comms. Also, I wouldn't neglect the European community and maybe give them a flyable of their own.

[Sleek]

interesting read thx.

[Pilotasso]

Also, I wouldn't neglect the European community and maybe give them a flyable of their own.

 

They would have alredy donne that if they had reliable data on it. When ED worked for UBI, you know, a french company, the mirage 2000 could have well been made if it wasnt for the lack of manuals on that plane.

 

Im certainly surprised to see those numbers. So lockon made 51000 sales on US alone?! Oh boy now they dont have an excuse not to expand their horizons for the next SIM's.

 

Those nubers dont count with FC sales, neither with the audience on this side of the ocean. Hope it reched hundreds of thousands.

[Shaman]

where are all these people at online? HL averages about 50 players online at any one time, and most seem to be from outside of the US.

 

I think this could be solved only if LockOn would have it's own build-in multiplayer lobby with chat support (better with IRC chat support).,

 

This could be done at least the way it is done in Americas Army. It's using typical gamespy lobby and build in IRC client as chat.

 

I really think LockOn's UI and general accessibility should mature now. For now we have pretty akward solution for building multiplayer community. No dedicated server, no in-game lobby, poor user skin support, demos that get broken with each patch..

I think ED really should make like a new checklist what must be done for the next flight sim. (maybe even later ingame vo-ip or teamspeak support.) I really don't like half solutions with UI but I can live with them. UI and multiplayer capability is as important as any other aspect of the game (graphics, sound...) if you want to have great sales and then later dedicated community that doesnt run away from game to game.

 

my chaotic post :)

 

I really think lots of ppl bought the game and never even visited its forums or even ran away from it. If flight sim could only have in-game lobby, buddy list etc. So a newbie has a possibility to make connection with the community at the very first day.

 

...

well?

[Sleek]

I think this could be solved only if LockOn would have it's own build-in multiplayer lobby with chat support (better with IRC chat support).

This could be done at least the way it is done in Americas Army. It's using gamespy lobby and build in IRC client as chat.

 

I'm with ya on this one shamandgg,I only found out about HL a couple of years ago by accident..thank "u know who i did".

 

U know if u go into "play @ UBI.com" (or whatever it's called now..it's been soooo long since iv'e been there) the few simmers that are there are only there because the game reccomends that u play on "UBI.com"..

And when u mention HL to em..9 times outa 10 alot of em have never heard of HL..shame..and they prob don't wanna DL software that thev'e never heard of!

 

So as u said a built in browser is the way to go..all most new games have em..:icon_jook

[Shaman]

Yes. that's how I think it is. New people come on UBI.com lobby, see the emptiness there and run away. Never to come play MP again.

 

BTW... January Issue?? It's 2.December! At least in my timezone :D

[Sleek]

Doh!...i had a couple of shandy's after work and the date didn't even register!!!!!:icon_jook:icon_jook:icon_jook

 

Good health to all...(hic*)

[pudknocker]

I have Fs2004 , lomac , and Wings over veitnam If you want to fly just abput every air craft there is get WoV. its a good buy

[Yellonet]

I've only played MP once... I'm basically just making small tests and missions in the editor that I fly.

[S77th-konkussion]

Yes. that's how I think it is. New people come on UBI.com lobby, see the emptiness there and run away. Never to come play MP again.

 

 

 

Exactly right. I hope to reach some of those people by posting this thread.

 

http://forums.ubi.com/groupee/forums/a/tpc/f/38610606/m/2741015283

[Sleek]

Exactly right. I hope to reach some of those people by posting this thread.

 

http://forums.ubi.com/groupee/forums/a/tpc/f/38610606/m/2741015283[/quote

 

Good shout Kon!...Hope it work's ..I used to one of them..Until I was converted.:icon_jook:icon_jook]...

[Megile]

Interesting.... more sales than Pacific fighters, but a much smaller online community.

I guess alot of people had trouble with the first release, bugs, low spec pcs, difficulty and gave up.

 

But still.. 51,000 people.. where are they

[Sinner6]

The original poster mentions the need to enhance the single player to increase sales. (I agree)

 

Interestingly, the best selling sim on the list has no campaign at all, no weapons, and a high price tag at release....what does it all mean??

[S77th-GOYA]

So it seems that there are about 50,000 copies of LOMAC sitting on shelves collecting dust.

[Hammer3246]

Hmmm... 19,500 suckers, thats alot :D

[Caretaker]

Interestingly, the best selling sim on the list has no campaign at all, no weapons, and a high price tag at release....what does it all mean??

 

It underlines the importance of marketing :)

 

While reliable numbers are hard to get (not sure how reliable those above are?), Falcon4 (the original one) has a reputation for being the most successful combat flight sim ever sales-wise (with certainly several hundreds of thousands of copies sold). I have no doubt that the extensive marketing campaign contributed a lot to that - they even ran TV ads, something that is still rather uncommon for computer games (well, at least around here ;)).

[VapoR]

There is a pretty heavy marketing campaign for F4: AF as well, there are nice monthly ads running in PC Gamer. I just wonder how effective these are, being that probably 98% of their readers are into FPS, RTS, and RPG type games. Still, if you build an engaging enough product you can likely convert some of those gamers to the dark side . . .

 

Also, I wonder how effective games like the Battlefield series is at introducing new players to our genre. Take this for example: I wonder how many BF 1942 players got hooked on dogfighting with the planes and decided to give a sim like IL2 a try? Or more recently, BF2--maybe some will be enticed over to Lock-on for the same reason. Just something to think about.

[Guest ThomasDWeiss]

Online flying should not be used as a benchmark.

 

Obviously there is a lot of people out there that own it.

 

And many don't go online. Like me. Simply because I don't have free time to do it.

 

a much smaller online community

 

I know for a fact that that is not true - Lock On has several dozen sites active , Lockonfiles web links has 80 sites listed and I add half a dozen or more a month.

[S77th-GOYA]

Online flying should not be used as a benchmark.

 

Obviously there is a lot of people out there that own it.

 

And many don't go online. Like me. Simply because I don't have free time to do it.

 

 

 

I know for a fact that that is not true - Lock On has several dozen sites active , Lockonfiles web links has 80 sites listed and I add half a dozen or more a month.

 

Thomas, how many are registered at your site?

[Guest ThomasDWeiss]

4065 - 20 to 30 register every day.

[S77th-GOYA]

4065 - 20 to 30 register every day.

 

Hmmm. I wonder how well that represents the English speaking LOMAC community.

[Guest ThomasDWeiss]

56% of page hits are from the USA.

 

2% are from the Russian Federation.