[cuchulain]

Anyone know if gray matter is selling well? Obviously not gonna be call of duty but for an adventure game i mean. Would like a sequel so curious as to how its doing.

[Stuart]

I'm not sure how accurate this is but:

http://gamrreview.vgchartz.com/sales/38506/gray-matter/

This has alleged PC sales for the first 6 weeks at 7,305. I'm not sure but that seems quite low? However, I'm pretty sure that wouldn't include digital copies (only physical copies) that a lot of adventure gamers buy from sites like Adventure Shop.

Xbox360 sales also not on that list.

[Oscar]

Originally Posted by Stuart

I'm not sure how accurate this is but:

http://gamrreview.vgchartz.com/sales/38506/gray-matter/

This has alleged PC sales for the first 6 weeks at 7,305. I'm not sure but that seems quite low? However, I'm pretty sure that wouldn't include digital copies (only physical copies) that a lot of adventure gamers buy from sites like Adventure Shop.

Xbox360 sales also not on that list.

That figure sounds okay to me. Several hundred thousand dollars should be enough to make a sequel. Besides, you don't really think Jane Jensen is in it for the money, do you?

[mrLOL]

Originally Posted by Oscar

That figure sounds okay to me. Several hundred thousand dollars should be enough to make a sequel. Besides, you don't really think Jane Jensen is in it for the money, do you?

Idunno that number sounds seriously weak, keep in mind that the games-shops/portals takes a huge cut, the VAT takes a huge cut (depending on where sold to), then as a US company they have the world highest corporation-tax etc etc and that number may prove to be very inaduqate :S

but yeah as for exact numbers sold we will never know, they almost never reveal that.

[aries323]

I don't know how much vgchartz van be trusted, though. It seems that they (vg) only cover the US and CAN market, not other markets. And at least half the sales can probably be attribued to digtal sales. So you can probably double the numbers

However, even if we double or triple these numbers of about 7,300, Dragon Age2 still has sold (or shipped) more than 1 million copies (units) in its first three weeks. Just to be things into perspective...

[cbman]

Originally Posted by Oscar

Besides, you don't really think Jane Jensen is in it for the money, do you?

?????

You think she works for free? Maybe she doesn't need money to live like the rest of the world.

[Collector]

Originally Posted by mrLOL

as a US company they have the world highest corporation-tax

If they actually paid it. Not to get into anything controversial on this board, but you have paid more in income tax than many of the largest US corporations, who have just seen one of their most profitable years ever. Some like Exxon-Mobil and GE paid $0.

That aside, I don't want to sidetrack this discussion. I would like to see some more numbers on total Gray Matter sales, too.

[zane]

considering they put so little effort into getting the word out, selling any copies is a decent number.

[Oscar]

Originally Posted by cbman

?????

You think she works for free? Maybe she doesn't need money to live like the rest of the world.

The idea of making adventure games to make money would be a... well, let's say an 'interesting' business proposition. I'm sure it would be MUCH more lucrative than making first-person shooters where you are an army commando and have to kill lots of zombies!

[Stuart]

Yeah but shooters generally need higher budget, if an AG can be made on a lowish budget, it can profit with less sales. That said, I have no idea what the budget for Gray Matter was,

Gray Matter, though, is the newest poster boy (or girl) of the genre. That is to say it has gotten more mainstream reviews than almost any other recent adventure game which is why if it did sell well, it would be a good thing for the genre.

I still don't understand why they didn't put it on Steam, all new games get featured there and it is the hub of PC gaming now yet it seems like 2/3 of new adventure games don't end up there. If the genre is to have a real revival some day it needs to embrace more distribution options, especially the biggest digital outlet of them all.

[rayvio]

it wouldn't hurt for Steam to organise their library better. I'm sure that considering action, shooting and rpg games as adventures doesn't inspire confidence in developers of actual adventure games. personally I gave up searching by genre on steam long ago and just stick to looking up a title if I use it

[dr.styles]

Originally Posted by Stuart

I'm not sure how accurate this is but:

http://gamrreview.vgchartz.com/sales/38506/gray-matter/

This has alleged PC sales for the first 6 weeks at 7,305. I'm not sure but that seems quite low? However, I'm pretty sure that wouldn't include digital copies (only physical copies) that a lot of adventure gamers buy from sites like Adventure Shop.

Xbox360 sales also not on that list.

Wow... quite low you said? That is a disaster my friend! I was expecting at least 10.000 copies world wide in the first weak If Gray Matter sold only in 7.305 copies for six weeks I can imagine how low sale have other adventure games. Now I understand why City-interactive stopped to make adventure games.

[Fien]

Those figures are too low to believe.

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by rayvio

it wouldn't hurt for Steam to organise their library better.

True. I made this list in December, I haven't kept it updated like I said I would but at most, it is 1-2 titles out of date:

http://www.adventuregamers.com/forum...ad.php?t=28167

But say Gray Matter had been released on there, it would have stayed under the "New Releases" tab for ages, given that said tab lists 100 titles. That would have definitely helped sales and any discount sales would have done so even more (I've seen titles like Machinarium as the #1 best-seller on Steam when on sale).

Originally Posted by dr.styles

Wow... quite low you said? That is a disaster my friend! I was expecting at least 10.000 copies world wide in the first weak If Gray Matter sold only in 7.305 copies for six weeks I can imagine how low sale have other adventure games. Now I understand why City-interactive stopped to make adventure games.

It does sound bad but if I'm not mistaken that site only factors in physical copies and given how tough it has been for some people to buy them in the real world, many might have opted for digital distribution. I got my copy off Amazon though. Of course Xbox360 sales also aren't counted there but I dunno how it might have fared.

[Jaesun]

VGCharts are not actual sales numbers. They are not even accurate.

The only (somewhat) accurate sales numbers you can get, are public press releases from the Developer and the Publisher that mention specific sales numbers.

[Oscar]

Originally Posted by Stuart

Yeah but shooters generally need higher budget, if an AG can be made on a lowish budget, it can profit with less sales. That said, I have no idea what the budget for Gray Matter was,

Gray Matter, though, is the newest poster boy (or girl) of the genre. That is to say it has gotten more mainstream reviews than almost any other recent adventure game which is why if it did sell well, it would be a good thing for the genre.

I still don't understand why they didn't put it on Steam, all new games get featured there and it is the hub of PC gaming now yet it seems like 2/3 of new adventure games don't end up there. If the genre is to have a real revival some day it needs to embrace more distribution options, especially the biggest digital outlet of them all.

Yes, it seems more like a distribution problem than the game itself. There is no reason why an adventure game should not be hugely popular given proper publicity and distribution, and there are many examples of that in recent years. The idea that adventure games just aren't popular is not accurate.

[Collector]

It seems that the game was poorly distributed from the start. To have such a long wait for the North American release, and the last that I heard, it has still to be released in Canada. A Steam release would have help with all of this and reached a few that might have not been aware of the game.

[Venkman]

Originally Posted by Oscar

Yes, it seems more like a distribution problem than the game itself. There is no reason why an adventure game should not be hugely popular given proper publicity and distribution, and there are many examples of that in recent years. The idea that adventure games just aren't popular is not accurate.

In this case the graphics are about 10 years out of date, which is a huge problem. When adventure games start using modern graphics and use 3D properly, they'll sell fine.

[Oscar]

3D is ugly. Gray Matter had some of the most beautiful backgrounds I've seen.

[noknowncure]

Originally Posted by Oscar

3D is ugly.

Sigh. No, it really, really isn't. Poorly implemented 3D is, but the same can be said of 2D.

Pretty much every other genre is now producing games with spectacularly beautiful 3D environments.