Combat Mission status

[JudgeDredd]

Zulu - you probably need to take a chill pill pal.

It's really not worth getting that worked up about it 

[Yskonyn]

What I find remarkable is that discussing either Battlefront or Combat Mission still gets people worked up so much. Truely interesting behaviour that I am sure biologists and phychologists would find the same.  :bd:

[Zulu1966]

Zulu - you probably need to take a chill pill pal.

It's really not worth getting that worked up about it 

Who says I am ? It's just typing.

[Ssnake51]

I will always buy direct from the dev rather than from Steam, when given the choice.

Yup.  Same here.

[Michael Dorosh]

The point I was trying to make is that all the arguments for Steam are useless in this discussion.

Steve/BFC got screwed by CDV. I was serious when I asked if anyone remembered that.

My memory is probably faulty when it comes to this so please correct me if wrong, but I thought they went with CDV - which included a new DRM scheme (not the one currently in use) - in order to increase the likelihood of European sales. The DRM was not popular, not too onerous (sound familiar?) but my fuzzy memory tells me that CDV also had control over the price they sold the game at. When Shock Force went to the proverbial bargain bin within weeks of release, Steve came right out on the forum and said "I didn't think they could do that!" I think what happened was Shock Force got really bad reviews out the gate, in addition to not appealing to the World War II fans that to that date had comprised their base audience. I got the feeling CDV was like Amazon, just using numbers to sell games, taking losses on one thing in hopes of snagging tie-in sales of other stuff, etc. etc.  based on their wide inventory, stuff BFC obviously couldn't do. So while BFC was prepared to stay the course - they patched CMSF on release day and kept at the patches (my notes show they were at version 1.08 within a year) - CDV would have seen low sales figures and I presume some algorithm would have consequently just lowered the price on their website, leading to Steve's "I didn't think they could do that" comment.

Kind of a charming moment, if I'm remembering that correctly. The naïve, "little guy" game developer who vainly hoped to get his small product in front of a wider audience and then getting taken advantage of by the same type of big, bad corporate gaming guys that he had fled from in order to start his little company.

Certainly added to the "Big Time Software" mystique. But I also think that those kind of experiences will have warded BFC off of platforms like Steam for good.

Personally, I was on Steam until a hard drive crash last year, and only now reluctantly added it again when I heard something I wanted went on sale. I was pleased to find a bunch of other games that I had lost in the crash were still there, for me to re-download. I don't like having more useless stuff asking me for updates every time I boot up, but I see the advantages of Steam that others are talking about.

I wouldn't expect BFC to care much about any of those arguments, though. I never say never, but I find it hard to believe Steve would let someone else sell his product while having the ability to change the price dramatically for their own purposes.

[Cyrano]

HOORAY BFC and all things Combat Mission.

GIMME!!

Oh, and why isn't the point re: Steam that they don't need it?

Do I wish they were on it?  Well, yeah, but, they believe, truly or falsely, that it doesn't help them.  Their rodeo.

And Michael, your memory of the CDV traveshamockery is accurate.  The only real plus being I got a bunch of CM:SF at a really nice discount.

[Jarhead0331]

It helps to read contracts before signing them, and if you do not understand the terms, well, that's why God (or the devil?) made lawyers.

[Cyrano]

+1

I have frequently thought:  "If this much contract buggery goes on in the public sector, how awful must it be in the private?"

And I told my son just the other day, never apologize for hiring a lawyer, you'll only ever regret hiring a poor one.

[HoodedHorseJoe]

That CDV thing sounds terrible - it's a shame indie devs have to go through stuff like that, it can definitely have an impact on how they approach the wider industry.

AFAIK that's not what it's like with Steam though - you give them their cut, but they never alter the price themselves. There's too many games for them to take such direct action anyway I would have thought.

But as far as I can tell all those sales you see is the devs/pubs choosing to discount their games. Valve I think incentivise or at least encourage people to discount but don't flick the switch themselves.

Picked up a game called War of the Zombie after JH flagged it up here. It's not discounted in the steam sale but I bought it anyway because if it's not going to drop the price now, I doubt it ever will.

[Michael Dorosh]

That CDV thing sounds terrible - it's a shame indie devs have to go through stuff like that, it can definitely have an impact on how they approach the wider industry.

AFAIK that's not what it's like with Steam though - you give them their cut, but they never alter the price themselves. There's too many games for them to take such direct action anyway I would have thought.

But as far as I can tell all those sales you see is the devs/pubs choosing to discount their games. Valve I think incentivise or at least encourage people to discount but don't flick the switch themselves.

Picked up a game called War of the Zombie after JH flagged it up here. It's not discounted in the steam sale but I bought it anyway because if it's not going to drop the price now, I doubt it ever will.

Very interesting, thanks for the clarification.

[Zonso]

Pretty sure CDV was for CMx1 and Paradox was the European publisher for Shock Force. I seem to recall also they (Paradox) were the reason for the *early* release of Shock Force.  :P

Whatever, kudos and cheers to BFC for releasing Shock Force 2 (soon)!! Agree with Yskonyn, odd, pathalogical behaviour. Been stated before, but they offer demos for their games - you like/see the value then you will buy, if not then <shrug>. Obviously there are enough that like and continue to like what BFC are doing to keep them in the bread and butter, hopefully with a beer or two to go with it.  :)

[Michael Dorosh]

Pretty sure CDV was for CMx1 and Paradox was the European publisher for Shock Force. I seem to recall also they (Paradox) were the reason for the *early* release of Shock Force.

Yes, this sounds right also. Tried to search for Steve's discussion of pricing and only found CDV mentioned in reference to CMX1, so I've probably conflated some things. But I still wouldn't hold out much hope of them going with Steam based on what we know of their experiences with third parties.

[HoodedHorseJoe]

Very interesting, thanks for the clarification.

There is an outside chance I could be wrong, or perhaps there are some exceptions that I'm unaware of (Front page promotions, maybe?), but I'm pretty sure Valve don't mess with prices themselves.

[Toonces]

Good point on the demos...I forgot about that.  I did try that Afghanistan one a while back. 

Demos...man, that brings me back to the good ole' days of gaming...   :'(

[jamus34]

Very interesting, thanks for the clarification.

There is an outside chance I could be wrong, or perhaps there are some exceptions that I'm unaware of (Front page promotions, maybe?), but I'm pretty sure Valve don't mess with prices themselves.

I tend to agree as I've had some indie games on my wishlist that NEVER get discounted, even in the big sales.