PC Gaming

8768 readers

220 users here now

For PC gaming news and discussion. PCGamingWiki

Rules:

Be Respectful.
No Spam or Porn.
No Advertising.
No Memes.
No Tech Support.
No questions about buying/building computers.
No game suggestions, friend requests, surveys, or begging.
No Let's Plays, streams, highlight reels/montages, random videos or shorts.
No off-topic posts/comments, within reason.
Use the original source, no clickbait titles, no duplicates. (Submissions should be from the original source if possible, unless from paywalled or non-english sources. If the title is clickbait or lacks context you may lightly edit the title.)

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

EXiLExJD@lemmy.ca

UncleBadTouch@lemmy.ca

KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.com

Dev of slept-on tactical RPG says it "sold badly" despite glowing reviews: "My next project will be more focused on 'Does this sell'" (www.gamesradar.com)

submitted 3 months ago by alessandro@lemmy.ca to c/pcgaming@lemmy.ca

28 comments fedilink hide all child comments

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] Charadon@lemmy.sdf.org -1 points 3 months ago (1 children)

There's a pretty big difference between "Selling the exact same binaries on different stores" and "Supporting a whole different OS with it's own alien ecosystem" =P

In the case of store fronts, we're talking about more sales (even if it's extremely low) that literally take 0 effort to do.

[–] a1studmuffin@aussie.zone 8 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

No, see you've fallen into the exact trap I just described. The "exact same binaries" is not true. The Steam build will have the Steam overlay SDK integrated into it. The GOG build won't. Each store may require its own SDK and API integrated into the build. But even they were the exact same binaries, you've still got to think about QA, build pipelines, storefront configuration (including achievements and online subsystems like leaderboards, parties/lobbies and voice chat, plus collectables and any other bespoke stuff a particular store has) and community management, plus any age ratings and certification/testing each store requires (though PC is usually pretty sparse on this front).

For small indie teams, all of this can seriously eat away at your time, so it makes sense to limit how many stores you target based on risk vs reward.

Edit: btw I'm not trying to be a troll, I just know from first-hand experience. I've been in the games industry for over two decades and have done everything from AAA to running my own indie studio. Indie development is brutal, you really have to be clever about your time management otherwise your risk of failure skyrockets.