Concerning the life of Simutronics

[Stumplicker]

If they would adjust their pricing and put it on Steam, drop a little bit on advertising then the sky is the limit.

I don't disagree, but they've gone all in on microtransactions at this point. On top of the single most expensive subscription tier cost in its genre. On a 30 year old text game. And they're making enormous profit margins doing so. As a player, there's absolutely an adjustment that could and should happen. As Stillfront group, who only came into the picture in 2016 and now has a free money printing machine on their hands...why fix something that isn't broken?

Edit to add: At this point, even voting with your wallet is not enough to really enact change. Stillfront's investment in Gemstone starts and stops at dollars/kronor. Their margins are something obscene, like 60-70% I believe last time someone looked at the report when it was broken down in 2017. They have a staff that works for zero dollars. They have a customer service team that works for zero dollars. They have a development team that works for zero dollars. Said development team develops almost exclusively more microtransaction material for them, likely on a promise of profit sharing for some modicum of pay. Until the last year or so when opinions finally started to sour on his marketing tactics, they had a product manager who was well respected within the community. There is zero reason for them to change course. If I came into it blind from a purely business perspective, there's no way I'd do anything different.

They came in to get what they can for as long as they can, because of Simutronics' history of poor investments and desperation for financial backing. At this point, Gemstone is a clearance sale. If it ends 3 years from now, oh well, we made our profit 2 years ago. If it ends 5 years from now, oh well, we made our profit 4 years ago.

[Taernath]

Not to interrupt everyone's Vishra-bashing session, but I just looked up how much it costs to publish a game on Steam and now I'm really pissed off:

Valve sets Steam Direct self-publishing fee at $100

Why does that piss you off? Greenlight was a river of shit and unfulfilled promises, it's kind of fitting that Simu put Dragons of Elanthia on there. Even if DoE did well and actually released, it's not like the revenue they'd make from it would return to GS.

[Amerek]

Why does that piss you off? Greenlight was a river of shit and unfulfilled promises, it's kind of fitting that Simu put Dragons of Elanthia on there. Even if DoE did well and actually released, it's not like the revenue they'd make from it would return to GS.

It would cost them $100 to put the game on a Steam platform. If they put a 1 month subscription to GS up for $6 a month (non-renewable), Valve might take $2 (30%). This would at least give GS some amount of exposure to new gamers. I am pissed because it really appears like there is zero interest from the company to expand the player base, and this would be an easy way to at least try. I have been saying this for years. At least when they moved to the web I would see sporadic advertisements on Fark.

I dont give a shit about DOE or anything else other than Gemstone. If Simu increases the playerbase to 1000 active players (not characters), I dont really care what they do with the extra money.

[Methais]

If Simu has any brains at all they would have integrated GS into Facebook 10 years ago.

Despite how stupid I think Simu is for being so lazy and sackless about doing meaningful things to grow the player base, I’m kind of glad they aren’t doing it. Not because I don’t want a bigger player base, but because even if there were a million people playing, there’s still only like a 0.000001% chance they’d invest it back into the game, at least aside from that 486 they’ve been waiting for the right time to upgrade their server to, and they’d just keep at it with the same stupid shady bullshit, like having 0 full time coders.

Savants still wouldn’t come out either.

[Parkbandit]

...he said as he shit talked Vishra in a thread where she has no presence or bearing on anything being discussed here. It's like you can't get enough of her.

[Tgo01]

You responded to something that was never said. You continued by responding to something that was never said. If you want to respond to something that was actually said, you're welcome to do that. Otherwise, there's really nothing to say.

So you're just here for the strawmans then.

[Amerek]

...there’s still only like a 0.000001% chance they’d invest it back into the game, at least aside from that 486 they’ve been waiting for the right time to upgrade their server to, and they’d just keep at it with the same stupid shady bullshit, like having 0 full time coders.

Savants still wouldn’t come out either.

You'd think that they would realize that more players = more money. But the Simu party line is "its not as easy as that".

[Stumplicker]

So you're just here for the strawmans then.

Not every comment pointing out that you're either hypocritical or saying something stupid is a strawman argument. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that the vast majority of them are not. So feel free to respond to what I actually said, or fuck off and move on. They're both good choices.

[Tgo01]

Not every comment pointing out that you're either hypocritical or saying something stupid is a strawman argument. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that the vast majority of them are not. So feel free to respond to what I actually said, or fuck off and move on. They're both good choices.

Hypocritical by saying Vishra slanders me on LNet where I don't even chat yet ignores the points I make on the PC that make her look dumb. Oh I can't point this out because time4fun hasn't yet made a comment in this particular thread yet. You are so fucking dumb it should be illegal.

[BLZrizz]

It would cost them $100 to put the game on a Steam platform. If they put a 1 month subscription to GS up for $6 a month (non-renewable), Valve might take $2 (30%). This would at least give GS some amount of exposure to new gamers. I am pissed because it really appears like there is zero interest from the company to expand the player base, and this would be an easy way to at least try. I have been saying this for years. At least when they moved to the web I would see sporadic advertisements on Fark.

I dont give a shit about DOE or anything else other than Gemstone. If Simu increases the playerbase to 1000 active players (not characters), I dont really care what they do with the extra money.

This steam non-renewable 1 month sub is a great idea. The key is exposure. If 25,000 players clicked through every 3 months, 5% multi month players and 1% multi-year players would be a conservative conversion rate but as a player I'd consider it a wild success. This game has already proven to be "future-proof" to a certain type of person, and they are out there. They simply have not had the opportunity to see or try the game.

As an aside, I'm less concerned about investment in the game than I am about the game's survival long-term, though the two are related. But speaking strictly in terms of numbers, a rising player tide lifts the boats of Simu (more revenue potential) and those of existing established players like us (livelier game with players at all level ranges, as well as a greater potential market for our items on the secondary market).

I wish I could believe they commissioned a sophisticated market analysis to determine that marketing dollars are not well spent on GS, but I'm more inclined to believe, based on what I've seen, that they tried a couple of half-assed marketing "campaigns" (being very charitable), and then gave up when they saw half-assed results.