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| [Sep 19, 2010, 12:51 pm ET] - Share - Viewing Comments |
Amnesia postmortem on the Frictional Games Website reflecting on the first week of availability of the survival horror game from the creators of the Penumbra series (thanks joao). The post outlines a good news/bad news situation. The good news is that, as is reflected by comments in the forums here, the game has been very well received, both by critics, and by gamers, as reviews from both have even exceeded their optimistic expectations. The bad news is that sales of the game are trailing a little below the level they need to remain in business, expressing concern that a day 0 pirate version of the game was available 24 hours before its retail release, as apparently some unscrupulous website leaked their review copy. Here's part of their assessment of this situation: "This is of course not all the income we will make from the game, but is still a bit discouraging when comparing to recent XBLA releases and similar. So why is [sic] not sales [sic] higher? Piracy? People waiting for future massive discounted sales? Game too scary / niched? Right now we have not got a clue, but hopefully it will become clearer further on." Here's their conclusion: On almost all fronts, we area extremely pleased with this release. It has in many ways exceeded our expectations and it makes all the hard work, pay cuts, etc worth it in the end.
The most distressing thing is the sales though. Even though we are far from complaining, it feels like we do not have the financial security we would like to have, to truly be able to focus on making the best game possible. So what should we do? The things we have discussed include: Increase the cost of the game, doing a console port instead of Linux/Mac, do a less niche title and more. Now is too soon to make a decision though and we have to see how the coming weeks and months go.
Finally, I know I say this a lot but we truly mean it: Thanks to all who have supported us by buying the game, spreading the word, and what not. We hope you all will continue supporting us in the future as well! All of Frictional Games sends their finest regards and thanks for this support!
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Re: Amnesia Postmortem |
Sep 21, 2010, 05:14 |
Cram |
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I want to give props to everyone that brought up and supported Thief in this thread (particularly Thief 3 and Shalebridge). Unfortunately, in the past on Bluesnews, Thief 3 has a horrible reputation for various reasons I've never agreed with. There really has been so much bitching about that game due to its ports, among other things, that I too have felt the need to defend it (the PC version) against the masses. Amazing game, hidden away within an amazing franchise.
I think that is what has happened here against Amnesia. The thing is, I just can not agree with or relate to the negative issues that have been brought up against it (Amnesia). From those that have tried to articulate their complaints, or to those that are blatant trolls that I hope Blue bans immediately.
When one asks (more or less) "why should I play this game when I have better games to play?", I have to ask this: Why are you even posting then? What is the point; it has been determined that your unfortunate experience/or lack of fitting into the niche of this title will not deter from those that had a positive experience or change your own mind about this game so why continually post about not having the time or desire to play this game? Resist the need to have to respond to a post that counters your opinion, because (especially on Bluesnews) no ones mind/opinion is going to change at the hand of a forum post. This goes for those that support Amnesia as well, consider the fact that those non-trolls that have articulated themselves well enough in this thread aren't against this game, the developer or the genre itself but just feel the game lacks (or contains) what they are looking for (or not looking for).
To get back on topic, I support Frictional but I really wonder what may or may not be going on in their heads over there. What were your sales projections...really? For a game with LITERALLY no pre-release marketing. On top of that, little re-playability and, as I mentioned in another thread, somewhat short play time and no level editor upon release. Several mainstream websites still have not covered your game, reviewed it or have even mentioned it. You reached #2 on Steam, that is a remarkable achievement for the lack of $$$ you put into getting info on this game out there. I only bought this game because of absolute random word of mouth (Jerykk few months back).
As others have stated, a bit more play-time and a more decent ending(s) would have made this a worthy $30 title.
This comment was edited on Sep 21, 2010, 05:30. |
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