Question about homebrew sales

[spenoza]

So, for those of you who've successfully put out a finished homebrew product, how has your product sold? Also, have you had any orders from Japanese customers?  I'm curious to know how broadly word has gotten around.

[ParanoiaDragon]

IIRC, (but do not quote me on this), Implode, Meteor Blaster DX, & Insanity sold in the double digits, I thought I heard between 30-50?  Mysterious Song on the otherhand sold in the triples.  We've maybe sold 300 of our 500 stock I'm guessing, but, once again, don't quote me    I'm pretty sure all of us have sold to Japan, as well as France, Netherlands..I feel like we got some orders from Germany, but I could be wrong.  Nod or K would know best obviously.

[Arkhan]

Insanity has sold ~200 copies.   Copies of it have gone to France, Netherlands, Germany, Japan, Australia, Canada, Russia, Brazil, Mexico, and some other places all over the place.

[TheClash603]

Insanity has sold ~200 copies.   Copies of it have gone to France, Netherlands, Germany, Japan, Australia, Canada, Russia, Brazil, Mexico, and some other places all over the place.

You hate Africa.

[Arkhan]

Insanity has sold ~200 copies.   Copies of it have gone to France, Netherlands, Germany, Japan, Australia, Canada, Russia, Brazil, Mexico, and some other places all over the place.

You hate Africa.

It's not my fault no one from Africa ordered.

Insanity X also sold 81 copies to date.   A f*cking disaster, if you ask me.  Sure it only took like 3 months of halfassery to port it over, but still.  You'd think a 1$ XBL Indie Arcade game would have sold at least 100.

If only I'd given Kotaku a handjob.

I expect Pyramid Plunder to sell better since it is less "under the radar" and "out of nowhere" than Insanity was.    That thing shot out in exactly a year, so people weren't really alert.

[Keranu]

I don't know the latest numbers for MSR's sales, but last time I was in charge of handling them I believe we had reached 200. Only 500 copies were produced, so we have sold close to half our inventory.

We had orders all around the world: US, France, and Canada were probably the top three, but we've also had sales from Germany, Japan, Switzerland, UK and Ireland, Finland, Brazil, and the Philippines. I'd like to make a sales chart comparing how well it sold in these countries.

The interesting thing about all the orders from Japan was that they were all bought under English names. I don't think any native Japanese person bought MSR.

[Arkhan]

all the orders from Japan was that they were all bought under English names. I don't think any native Japanese person bought MSR.

Interesting.

Every Japanese sale Insanity made went to a Japanese name.   Never heard back from them though. 

[spenoza]

The interesting thing about all the orders from Japan was that they were all bought under English names. I don't think any native Japanese person bought MSR.

That makes me a little sad. Makes me wonder if the PCE scene in general is pretty West-centric (America & Europe).

[Arkhan]

The interesting thing about all the orders from Japan was that they were all bought under English names. I don't think any native Japanese person bought MSR.

That makes me a little sad. Makes me wonder if the PCE scene in general is pretty West-centric (America & Europe).

A friend who was in Japan mentioned Insanity to alot of the local game shops, and none of them really believed him when he said it was a new game.  They couldn't believe anyone was wasting time, basically.

[Keranu]

Homebrew must not generate as much excitement in Japan as it does in the rest of the world. Maybe because it's mostly made by Westerners.

I was hoping to see at least one Japanese name in the order list, but it's good enough to hear that Arkhan managed to connect to a Japanese audience. This is the land of PCE we're talking about, they should be buying our games up!

[ParanoiaDragon]

Insanity has sold ~200 copies.   Copies of it have gone to France, Netherlands, Germany, Japan, Australia, Canada, Russia, Brazil, Mexico, and some other places all over the place.

Sweet!  That's good to know! I was waaaaay off, glad you're not swamped with boxes upon boxes!  I wonder if BT's redux of MBDX will sell better then the original, due to the new one being pressed rather then a cdr?

[nodtveidt]

MSR had passed 350 sales at the turn of the year. I've not done an updated count since then because I've got tons of other things going on right now, and now we have the missing discs to compensate for, but it has been incredibly successful, and I think the main reason behind that is because it's an RPG, so it's automatically assumed to be a real time investment (even though it's a short RPG), and most developers do not complete RPG projects due to the vast amount of work they require. The combination of the perceived investment value plus the assumed competence and dedication of the development team made it a success. I'm sure Ryanna's charms helped too.

The majority of orders have been to the USA, Canada, France, and Japan... predictable results. Copies have also gone to Belgium, Sweden, the UK, Germany, the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Portugal, Mexico, Argentina, and a large number, interestingly enough, to Spain (probably due to the Spanish translation). I'm hoping that by giving props to Insanity on the back of the manual that it brought in some sales for Aetherbyte, but only Arkhan would know about that. The most interesting sale we had was to an employee of Incredible Technologies... the folks who brought us Battle Royale.

[TheClash603]

MSR had passed 350 sales at the turn of the year. I've not done an updated count since then because I've got tons of other things going on right now, and now we have the missing discs to compensate for, but it has been incredibly successful, and I think the main reason behind that is because it's an RPG, so it's automatically assumed to be a real time investment (even though it's a short RPG), and most developers do not complete RPG projects due to the vast amount of work they require. The combination of the perceived investment value plus the assumed competence and dedication of the development team made it a success. I'm sure Ryanna's charms helped too.

The majority of orders have been to the USA, Canada, France, and Japan... predictable results. Copies have also gone to Belgium, Sweden, the UK, Germany, the Philippines, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Portugal, Mexico, Argentina, and a large number, interestingly enough, to Spain (probably due to the Spanish translation). I'm hoping that by giving props to Insanity on the back of the manual that it brought in some sales for Aetherbyte, but only Arkhan would know about that. The most interesting sale we had was to an employee of Incredible Technologies... the folks who brought us Battle Royale.

Did the Incredible Technologies employee ask you any questions about how to make a good game?

[YAGRS]

Did the Incredible Technologies employee ask you any questions about how to make a good game?

Hating on Battle Royale? Sure, the controls were just godawful, but I played that game a LOT with friends.

I still have yet to play through my copy of Mysterious Song. I need to get around to that.

[ParanoiaDragon]

Did the Incredible Technologies employee ask you any questions about how to make a good game?

Hating on Battle Royale? Sure, the controls were just godawful, but I played that game a LOT with friends.

I still have yet to play through my copy of Mysterious Song. I need to get around to that.

Yup, Battle Royale is one of the games my friends n' I would play for hours on end, along with Bomberman, used to have some looooooong nights of battles!