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Linux Port of Disciples 2 Announced
bobz writes "Happypenguin is reporting that Linux Game Publishing has announced the next game they'll port to Linux will be Disciples 2: Dark Prophecy a turn-based strategy game that was well-reviewed but not terribly successful commercially. /me breathes a sigh of relief that it's not another first-person shooter."
Port 69, the Linux Port of Discipline.... mmmm.
Good to hear they're up to 2.0, I hear that version 1 had some nasty bugs.
Wah!
OK, from the slashdot article:
Posted by michael, written by bobz.
From the happy penguin article:
In IRC today, evil genius Michael Simms... , this article was written by bobz.
I'll scratch your back if you'll scratch mine? I was wondering why a non-profitable game being ported to a market that has never been marketable (linux ported games) was a frontpage slashdot article. Now I know.
Good quote, too many chars. Seriously, the slashdot 120 char limit sucks!
The way that it could be profitable would be if the costs were low. Even if they only sell a few thousand copies, if the porting license and porting labor are cheap then it can be profitable. A more popular game might be less profitable, if the license if expensive or the effort high.
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Maybe you don't play Linux games, but a lot of use that frequently visit linuxgames.com are excited about this. I suspected that this was the game thay they'd release when they hinted that the title was three words and a number, and frankly, I am pleased by this announcement.
It might not be the most successful Windows game, but it is a fabulous strategy title. Check out reviews if you are not sure. Typically, this game has been given straight 9+ scores.
Michael Simms of LGP has some great ideas. Plus, he realizes that many higher profile games for Linux just aren't practical right now. Licensing costs are just too high for many newer games. Trying to license the next big PC game (if the development house would even let them publish it) would spell certain doom for LGP. Look at Loki. It wasn't all about the fact that their sales weren't up to par. They chose some expensive titles to publish *before* they had a steady cash flow. They started with Eric's Ultimate Solitaire (bad choice for a platform that has a million free card games) but was a good choice because it was cheap. LGP is doing what they need to do... Starting small (Majesty Gold is coming soon, and Mindrover has been re-released) and working up. Big Windows game companies just don't notice them yet... But they are making ties with a few.
They are playing it SMART. Regardless of how well it sells, D2:DP (DP - I love saying that) is a good choice because it is cheap for them. They also have their own retail channel through tuxgames.com (though they consider it a seperate company with a different budget and income), but this is going to be the key for their survival, when Linux games *do* become more practical.
wouldn't it be in LGP's best interest to work on porting games that are more comercially successful?
.com boom?) of buying rights to less successful games. They're going to be much cheaper, and thus require much fewer sales to recoup the costs of. With the dearth of Linux games, users are going to buy the game if it interests them whether or not it's a big-name title. For example, I never would have heard of Disciples if I was still using Windows. But because I use Linux and I crave HOMM-like gameplay, I'll be buying the only new game in that genre, namely Disciples 2. What's the point? To make money. Not a ton of money, but to make money. If LGP can profit off of Disciples, then they can afford to do another game. Maybe a bigger-name game. Each game they can profit off of grows not only themselves but the Linux game market. With a slow, conservative approach they have a much better chance of being successfull than if they bought a $300,000 game, lost $1 mill, then went bankrupt.
Short answer: No.
Long answer: A game that is commercially successful is going to cost more to get a license for. Loki apparently payed several hundred thousand dollars for the rights to some of their games. Unsurprisingly, the immature Linux gaming market wasn't large enough for them to recoup their costs. That, along with mismanagement, is what buried Loki. LGP, not wanting to go bankrupt, is taking the much more conservative business model (remember that, from before the
The reason you think work has to begin on porting massively popular games seems to be because of a common, but incorrect line of thinking: That Linux has to become a major desktop success right now. It doesn't. Modest, sustainable growth in Linux gaming is the correct method, and the one that will work. Maybe the size of the market will reach a critical mass and be able to grow much more rapidly, but trying to force that day to come sooner by over-reaching is a recipe for failure. LGP learned this lesson from Loki, and I think they learned the right one.
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