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Linux Users More Likely To Pay For Games?
Teppy writes "I noticed something unexpected the other day when reviewing the subscriber counts for our MMORPG, A Tale In The Desert. Of everyone who tries our game, Linux users are definitely more inclined to pay money to subscribe. In fact, overall, about 15.6% of Windows users who do the free trial will subscribe, while among Linux users the number is 19.3%. Furthermore, Linux users tend to remain subscribers for a longer time. Are we the only game company noticing this?" Is this down to loyalty, choice, or other mysterious factors?
Perhaps the higher subscription rate among the Linux crowd is because we're game starved. There are far more game choices when it comes to the Windows game market, thus more to draw away customers.
I dti'r na ndall is ri' fear na leathshu'ile.
They could be telling the truth but then again they might be trying to setup their competition down the wrong path.
The more games on Linux the merrier.
You have to consider the fact that Linux users are usually far more technically minded, and probably have more money and be more willing to give their support, regardless of their wealth. That user base is still far less than the Windows user base, so while your numbers are probably correct, they fail to consider the number of users for each OS.
C:\>
Is that its due to the fact that there are a lot more available games for windows users to subscribe to, while not as much content, as far as games go, is put out for linux platforms.
Or could it be b/c windows sucks, and blue screens whenever users try to subscribe? We may never know.
Actually, this is related to the following reasons:
- A number of people would do so in order to encourage game companies to make games for linux.
- A number of Linux users do not have a large variety of games available. This makes them stick with what they got.
- The Linux community in general is supportive to companies that care enough to care about the community.
So it's loyalty, fewer varities, and paying back.
"Linux Users More Likely To Pay For Games?"
That's like asking if Mac users like music more than Windows users because they buy more iPods.
It's not a mysterious factor. It's a benefit of making a game in an under-supplied market.
"Derp de derp."
Is this down to loyalty, choice, or other mysterious factors?
Without any idea of the sample size, and where your hits are coming from, who knows? My guesses are that 1) anyone looking for Linux games is really into games and 2) the much smaller pool of Linux games means an identical game looks more attractive on Linux than on Windows.
I've never seen a game distributed as a 100 meg shell script before!
What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
Nah, it's just that Linux users are geeks, which is a subculture closly related to hardcore gamers. Windows users are a much broader array of type. Someone who is just interesting in learning more about games and will try a free version here and there, is probably going to be running Windows.
As a person with a Windows machine, I have lots of choice for games. Hell, there are so many games released for Windows PC that I could take care of all of my entertainment needs entirely through free trials and demo downloads. This means that a game has to be really special for me to stick around and pay money for it. Linux users don't get as much choice.
I bet there is also an activist dollars aspect to it. I mean if you spend a lot of time championing Linux and complaining that there aren't enough cross-platform releases then when a company is finally good enough to make the effort, you'd better put your money where your mouth is and support the effort even if it isn't the best game available. If these companies don't see any return on their investment then they just won't do it next time.
It's kind of like those PC users who paid stupid amounts of money for the earliest PC games when consoles were offering much cheaper, much nicer looking games. Such is the sacrifice of pioneers, I guess.
I have a lot of opinions about Cyborgs and Architects
Your numbers are so close that i dont think you can easily pick a winner. Without having margin of error, or a total sample size how can we realisticly calculate whom is more likely to pay for your software.
Their are other factors to take into consideration as well. What is the target audience for your game? If you are advertising mostly on linux blogs or sites, then your going to have an audience that is more steeped in linux.
I think that the numbers show that on average 20% of your audience will pay for the game. This says only one thing to me, that your game is not very good. Instead of looking as to why linux users are approximatly 4% more willing to purchase the sofware; instead look at why 80% of your users wont. Solve that, and you have accomplished something.
"Once upon a time men were lions and machines were mice, but since it was so long ago, now its twice upon a time."
This had to be mentioned, but maybe it's because Linux users don't pay out the ass for the majority of their other software, so letting go of their money towards a good investment is easier?
I'm sure there are plenty of other factors, but it was just a thought.
i'd think it'd be due to the fact that linux geeks are more likely to be part of the hard-core segment.
no offense to the poster, but their fairly good massmog is still fairly obscure. that's mostly due to independents having a hell of a time with marketing - and combines with no retail box on the shelf.
no box in best buy limits your exposure to the mass MS PC market, and all that's left is hardcore gamers who find most of their games through word of mouth or surfing.
then there's the gameplay. Atitd is really skewed toward the player-created-content segment (which is great) which one would expect is a natural fit for the linux/hacker mentality.
of course, given all that, i'm surprised the linux adoption rate isn't higher - though i'd bet that has more to do with the monthly price.
which imo, still intending no offense to the poster, is still a bit steep for anyone with only casual-gamer levels of free-time. linux fans being hardcore hackers - they could generally be expected to code just as much in their free time as play games. and then its all a matter of personal economics.
(naturally i know nothing of the actual economics of massmog production, so the price may be absolutely necessary. i do recognize that the price is on par with other massmogs, and combined with the no up-front box cost the game comes out dramatically cheaper - so its certainly reasonable.
but i do however know my personal economics. and $13/mo for ~20-30 hours of play isn't in the budget. of course, that's why no massmog is in my budget, but i digress)
// "Can't clowns and pirates just -try- to get along?"
Having some one pay monthly is the most horrible thing a company can do ...
.. i relly have respect for almost any company that offers a linux version of thier software.. its really about time.. i think Nvidia and ID software are setting a good examples off releasing linux related version of their games/drivers
i mean why Go out and spend 80$ on a game and pay an aditional cost on top of that.. i understand its to maintain servers but its stuppid..
Personaly i am waiting for the next version of Planeshift
www.planeshift.it
its totaly free Massive multiplay Online RPG.. 100% free
In another note i would rather pay +60$ more of the game price just for a unlimited subscirption for a massive multiplayer RPG game.. then have to pay monthly
But, As a linux user
-"i come from a planet ruled by carots"
I think part of it has to be attributed to lack of choice. There's not a whole lot of other games for linux users to spend thier money on. Suppose you could play EQ, DAoC or FFXI on linux, would you see the same subscription and retentions rates then? Hard to speculate but I suspect not.
The other thing is the player themselves. It's no stretch to say that linux users are of a different mindset than windows users right? It may also be a case of this particular game just being more to thier tastes. Afterall ATITD is very different game, certainly very different than anything other MMOG you will find on windows.
BTW grats to the guys behind ATITD for coming up with something that's truly unique and refreshing in the MMOG, definitely something made from a different mold.
It is not that the Linux users are game-starved, it is more like they are sex-starved and food-starved. Half of the subscribers think it is "A Piece of Tail in the Desert", and the rest think it is a "A Tale of Dessert".
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
Just to toss this one out there --
Linux users, on average, are probably more educated than Windows users. (To avoid a flame war, note that I said "on average". Everybody and their grandmother uses Windows, thus driving the average level of education down. Whereas Linux users tend to pick it up either in high-tech jobs, implying advanced education, or in the secondary schools themselves. Although the delta may be smaller for the MMORPG market.)
More educated people tend to make more money than less educated people.
People that make more money have more money to spend on things like game subscriptions.
Hence the slightly higher subscription rate among Linux users.
Just one theory... Though my personal bet is that the driving factor is the limited competition for online games that support Linux.
Perhaps because its the Windows users don't feel like putting up with your game, having a broader selection?
Hate to sound like a troll though. I think I saw another poster with the same sentiment while the comment form was loading. "Maybe because linux gamers are starved for games?"
I Browse at +4 Flamebait
Open Source Sysadmin
Yeah they have extra money from not paying for an overpriced OS
"Linux users, on average, are probably more educated than Windows users. (To avoid a flame war, note that I said "on average"."
You're right about this, and I'm more often a Windows user than not. This is because Windows has been mass marketted: you'll get Granny typing in cookie recipes, diehard computer gamers who have really only ever played Solitaire, and AOLamers by the millions on Windows, while the Linux world requires some technical know-how.
You've got the "Great unwashed" being drawn into the Windows world by putting in that free Cd and entering the initial passwords ("recite cougar") from the back of the CD, and Viola! they are in Windows. This is not happening in the Linux world yet.
Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
How about some real numbers? If 15% of the 50,000 Windows users subscribe, and 19% of the 5000 linux users subscribe, then this isn't that impressive. But if it is 19% of 5 million and 15% of 4, then suddenly it becomes more important. Maybe I missed something...
palliative retortic aside ofcourse...
I am a very casual gamer, and there are a few reasons why I subscribed to the game. When MMORPG started to get popular, I wanted to give them a go, but when I got to the store, I found out you had to pay 50 bucks, and then a monthly fee. In the past I have bought games, and then never ended up playing them, and every time I see the box sitting on my shelf, I think, man I wasted 50 bucks. So if I was to pay 50 bucks for the game, and then 10 bucks a month, only to play it for a week, I would have blew 60 bucks.
The fact that the game is made available without a fee, and that you could even play online for a demo period pretty much sealed the deal. I played it, thought it was cool, and then when the demo expired, I registered so I could continue to play.
it could just be because there is no version of Kazaa (K-lite, K++, etc.) for linux, or maybe it just isn't widely known about?
THERE IS NO DATA. THERE IS O
Remember Loki Games? They ported a number of games to Linux, and they shuttered their doors close to two years ago. Obviously there weren't enough Linux gamers paying for products from Loki Games to stay in business.
Okay, I will just throw this out there...
Perhaps the number of Linux users registering is a side-effect due to the fact this game was linked to in a recent Slashdot article?
So 15.6% of Windows users subscribe while 19.3% of Linux users subscribe. What does that tell us? Nothing really. How many windows users are there versus Linux users? I suspect many more. This sounds like the dev noticed some unrelated figures and decided to use them as a reason to get posted on /..
2) The nature of ATITD appeals to Linux users more than Windows users. It's a very high-brow academic game with very little violence (none, really).
What it's not? Has nothing to do with a lack of Linux games. Linux users probably all have access to PCs - maybe on a duel boot, and if there was a PC game they wanted to play they would play it.
I'm more into FPS than MMORPG so this is more about pirating or buying than signing up for a service. But since I completeley switched to linux a few years ago, i bought all the games i play rather than just copied them. One of the main reasons for me is that i think it is sexy not to have *ANY* pirated software on your system.
And let's be honest: It's really hard to pay for all the windows software you use, starting with little tools like winzip or stuff like that. So buying a single piece of software doesn't make it much better.
But with Linux there are only a few programs that you need to buy so it's very easy to reach a 100% 'legal' system.
Would you rather play a small time game with fairly low-medium budget work or join the FF bandwagon while staying on the MMO scene?
Here's a breakdown of overhead costs. But that's not most of the $14.
We have a small company - 3 artists, 2 coders. We spend pretty much all of our time saying "ah, here's a cool new challenge to add to the game." My partner and I code it, the artists do their part, and we release a new skill, or new research, or a new event or Test. This happens at least a couple times each week.
I can't imagine being able to keep the game fresh and interesting working less than full time. There is *no way* we could pay the bills based only on an initial (box) fee.
Free Software is about not stealing commercial code. A significant proportion of linux users use it because it is legal to copy for free, and the legal part is important to them. There is a significant proportion of windows users who have cracked OS or application licenses. It isn't as if cracked software is not easily available. For those people, there is no advantage to the freedom of Linux.
So people who use linux value the copyright which gives them free software and so are more likely to respect copyright in general, and pay up.
An argument that has not been conjured up in the Linux overall picture is the gaming industry. And I think this is one very important aspect of the present situation.
I'm going to give you my own exemple, but I have several friends in the same situation as I was some years ago and that didn't change their OS.
Basically I'm a hardcore-gamer since the age of 15. It means playing games 6 hours in the night, and sleeping 4 hours a night to still be efficient at school. At some point, at I was interested in computers in a more general way, I began considering Linux, roughly at that age, but with no skills in anything but clicking the mouse.
I just got into it, with some work, installing on my own etc. But the fact is that I never left Window$ because of the lack of games in Linux. I was really positive about Winex, until I saw it running, badly actually with my config. So the situation is : on my laptop I have both OSes, I really would like to uninstall MSWin, but sometimes I know that I need to strengthen my grasp on my fiber Wire (Hitman 2). However I found great games on Linux, especially RTCW, with very funny people (the Panzerfaust is so cool).
So I really think that Linux geeks are enticed so see the gaming industry arise. At least, many of my friends are waiting for that opportunity to switch, pure and simple. I think it caters to many many many people. And as far as I am concerned, of course I would be all the more enthusiastic to spend my money on Linux's games if it allows me not to see *ever* the green and blue xp task bar.
Regards,
JDif
Let's overcome our weakness.
That's like coming on here and looking for a lawyer.
Go ask your subscribers.
That Jesus Christ guy is getting some terrible lag... it took him 3 days to respawn! -NJ CoolBreeze
Oh shit, so that's where I have been getting it wrong - I always:
Read -> Post -> Comprehend -> Post Apology -> Re-Read -> Post Apology #2 -> Comprehend (finally) -> Leave before I make any more of a dickhead of myself.
Q.
Insert Signature Here
DO you guys have any plans to make future games? I like ATITD, but having missed so much of the start of the gameplay, I just can't get into it. Too much of an I'm behind feeling.
I still have more fans than freaks. WTF is wrong with you people?
And deliberately misleading statistics.
The number that matters, of course, is this: of subscribers, how many are Windows users and how many are Linux users? We all know the answer will be at least 90% in Windows' favour, so the fact that a higher proportion of Linux users ends up subscribing is by no means relevant.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Linux users are more likely to make stupid assumptions.
You said:
:)
I think that the numbers show that on average 20% of your audience will pay for the game. This says only one thing to me, that your game is not very good. Instead of looking as to why linux users are approximatly 4% more willing to purchase the sofware; instead look at why 80% of your users wont. Solve that, and you have accomplished something.
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You *obviously* have no clue about the average conversion ratios -- if you're not familiar with shareware and internet marketed software, that's the term used for how many people download it compared to how many people actually buy it. Know what the average is? Wanna take a wild guess?
If you go to places like the Association of Shareware Professionals, and talk to the people that are making their living marketing software this way, you find that a 1% or 2% conversion ratio is about normal. That means for every 100 people that download and try out the software, if 1 or 2 of them buy it, you're about par for the course.
By comparison, ATITD isn't getting 1 or 2%, they're getting 15 or 20% -- that's *astounding* and people need to ask what they're doing right instead of making stupid comments that simply prove your ignorance, like believing that 100% of the people who download the game should buy it.
I know that being an MMORPG is a little different than a one time shareware purchase, and the number would be different, because everyone who pays $50 in the store for evercrack or SWG is *certainly* going to play it online (at least for a week, as someone mentioned) but as far as the "download it, and buy it if you like it" market goes, these guys are doing an awesome job.
I'm not currently subscribed, but I'm just too busy with work to invest time in an MMORPG. This was the first one that even vaguely drew my interest, and it even held it there for quite a while. I played in the beta, all the way up to release, and then just realized I had too much going on.
So, to Teppy and the crew, keep up the good work, and you're obviously doing something right.
-Ascent, who doesn't feel like digging up his PW
I pay to play, mainly because I got to try it.
Unlike Everquest, or DAoC, or any of the other MMORPGs I've never heard of, I was able to download the ATITD free trial, and then wanted to keep playing to explore the rest of the game. The fact that it runs on Linux helps. I can play it on my laptop, rather than just on my home Windows box (which isn't allowed to talk to the internet much).
I don't explore much these days. Most of the more advanced tech (paint, thistles, gearboxes) requires more effort, exotic materials, and thought than I'm willing to spend. I'm not willing to do experiments with materials that represent hours of "work".
The game does have some flaws (what game doesn't) in that it's mostly boredom based. There are many tasks in the game that revolve around clicking on a menu option every 60 seconds or 180 seconds, or repeatedly selecting the same option from a menu on 12 different identical buildings. The most stinging indictment is that I often watch TV while I'm "playing" and then get irritated when the game requires me to pay attention to it. Why do I want it to turn into an expensive screensaver?
I think the most spectacular failure in the game is the test of fireworks.
If it weren't for the community aspect and my feeelings of responsibility to the various guilds that have helped me, I'd be playing Halo, or C&C Generals.
Hopefully once they've gotten through the first telling they'll have time to go back and make the various "mini-games" fun. Mousing a menu every 60 seconds is the second-stupidest premise for a game.
Still, this game deserves your attention, and I'd be happy to give you pointers if you drop in.
- DarthBobo
I guess I can burn karma here, but I won't use my bonus...
Don't worry, you're actually doing better than most slashdot(ters/ editors). The way most people do it is:
Post -> Maybe RTFA -> Post Apology -> Comprehend TFA -> Post another apology -> Grok it all after 12 hrs -> Start karma whoring to get the karma from that whole sequence back.