Matrix Games, Whatever Are You Thinking?

[JudgeDredd]

ive had 6 or 7 years out of them - on an hourly cost basis its fractions of a penny for the entertainment theyve provided - all thanks to les the sarge and jarhead some 7 years ago on the WG forum which is how i got started!

Anyway - i dont mind passing the torch on - id rather one of you guys had it than some randomer on ebay wholl probably sell it on anyway - i will check to make sure youre still playing it in 2020!!!!

Ashcloud PM me your dropbox email address and a gift shall soon appear

actually ashcloud dont worry about drop box for AE i have a url which is a direct link to the download - its in your in box now

RUDE!  :D

[Ashcloud]

ive had 6 or 7 years out of them - on an hourly cost basis its fractions of a penny for the entertainment theyve provided - all thanks to les the sarge and jarhead some 7 years ago on the WG forum which is how i got started!

Anyway - i dont mind passing the torch on - id rather one of you guys had it than some randomer on ebay wholl probably sell it on anyway - i will check to make sure youre still playing it in 2020!!!!

Ashcloud PM me your dropbox email address and a gift shall soon appear

actually ashcloud dont worry about drop box for AE i have a url which is a direct link to the download - its in your in box now

UCG a huge thank you to you, I will long remember your generous gift - if you ever see me around here or on theblitz.org and you need anything just PM me and I will do all I can to help.

[undercovergeek]

ive had 6 or 7 years out of them - on an hourly cost basis its fractions of a penny for the entertainment theyve provided - all thanks to les the sarge and jarhead some 7 years ago on the WG forum which is how i got started!

Anyway - i dont mind passing the torch on - id rather one of you guys had it than some randomer on ebay wholl probably sell it on anyway - i will check to make sure youre still playing it in 2020!!!!

Ashcloud PM me your dropbox email address and a gift shall soon appear

actually ashcloud dont worry about drop box for AE i have a url which is a direct link to the download - its in your in box now

UCG a huge thank you to you, I will long remember your generous gift - if you ever see me around here or on theblitz.org and you need anything just PM me and I will do all I can to help.

youre very welcome - may all your carriers sail safe

[FlickJax]

I would be happy with the standard one, but as before if JD wants it he should have first.

You are a gent , by the way :)

[Tuna]

Probably OT but is WitP the one with the Win 7 problem?  I checked my WitP AE, UV and WPO after upgrading and no problem.

Hi Jim,

I don't think I've ever had a problem with WITP and Win7.. are you thinking of SPWAW?

[Con]

I had Uncommon Valor and played it quite extensively.  IT pulled me into buying WitP AE and this is sitting unopened never played since I just dont have time to give this beast its dues.

That being said all my largescale tactical games have been shelved for the last 18-months (and I think this will be the case for another year or two until my kids are a little older).

What I am gravitating to are smaller squad based games where I can get a turn or two in a night and can regrasp the tactical situation quickly if I have put it down for a couple of weeks due to real life commitments.

Con

[undercovergeek]

I would be happy with the standard one, but as before if JD wants it he should have first.

You are a gent , by the way :)

Standard it is - do you have dropbox?

[-budd-]

In the above spirit, I have BOA2 uploaded to dropbox. I bought it and gave it a fair shake but Ageod games just don't grab me. Love the look of the maps and there is plenty of content but just couldn't get into it. If anyone wants to give it a go your welcome to it. Post if your interested. I believe i would just have to send you my dropbox link, which contains the setup release and serial# [first time dropbox user]

[JudgeDredd]

^ oh please stop! I'm going to hoik!

But seriously - nice one. BoA2 is a great game.

[JudgeDredd]

on another note - there are quite a few posts that say Matrix have the right to charge what they want and also posts that say consumers have the right to buy or not...but apprently the general consensus seems to be although those two statements are true, you apparently don't have the right to complain...that bit is either left out or is being argued that you should just shut up and buy it or not...letting Matrix know that way.

Trouble is I've always argued if you don't let them know the reason why you haven't bought it...then they don't know. It could be ANY reason. So they might not link it to price.

[Con]

The difference is that Matrix if a for profit organization.  They really dont care what your opinion is as long as they are making their top line numbers.  Something that I haven't seen discussed here is the financial implications on their business model. 

The business I am in is all about inventory management, keeping SG&A (Sales General and Admin costs) costs down and reporting EBITDA to get good organic growth rates.  Since I dont see Matrix doing any M&A activity I would expect all their growth to be organic (not derived from the purchase or sale of other game companies).

I would speculate that since the games are electronic that there is little warehousing that they have to do, no shelf-life limitations and inventory management is minimal, I don't think they have a sales force since they do all their distribution through a single channel (the internet).  This means that their SG&A costs should be low as well.  Since they dont have factories and capital equipment their depreciation and amortization should be minimal as well.  I dont know how taxes are calculated on virtual products like software but I can bet that there are some smart accountants out there that try and keep their tax rates low as well.

If this is true then once a game has been developed their only ongoing costs are hosting it on servers and potential future support (which is based on their interpretation of what is needed and based on the size of the market purchasing it).  This means that the sunk costs are done upfront and once during development/validation and then it is simply an incremental revenue generator (or what we call a cash cow).  You dont have to feed it, sell it or really support it and it will still pick up good revenue.  The argument about dropping it in price to increase sales is offset by the data that they will have from their sales versus purchase ratios to their ROI financials. 

Without looking at their books I would speculate that they see a good ROI at current sales price without the need to increase their support levels.  The games are on the downward slope of the S curve in terms of sales cycles and as long as they have a big development funnel of new games that are bringing in more revenue and customers there is no business reason for them to drop their pricing on old games.  I think this is borne out by them cutting deals to distribute other developers games on their website.

I dont agree or disagree with this strategy but it is financially sound for them to do this.  Until their market reacts by not purchasing their products they have no incentive to change their strategy.

Con

[Bismarck]

Probably OT but is WitP the one with the Win 7 problem?  I checked my WitP AE, UV and WPO after upgrading and no problem.

Hi Jim,

I don't think I've ever had a problem with WITP and Win7.. are you thinking of SPWAW?

Right. I got confessed with the.  I'm working on the SPWAW fix.

[Toonces]

I don't know if any of you guys clicked on this link posted at the RPS article posted previously, but it's very good.  It's about how to set software pricing:  http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/CamelsandRubberDuckies.html

[Nefaro]

I don't know if any of you guys clicked on this link posted at the RPS article posted previously, but it's very good.  It's about how to set software pricing:  http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/CamelsandRubberDuckies.html

That's a perfect example of how marking down titles over time garners more profit.  Obviously many of the software companies have caught on to this marketing strategy in recent years.  As I said before, it all boils down to making extra sales for some extra income, as opposed to none at all, after sales trends have tapered off.  It's not rocket science (and I find the study of Economics boring as all hell).

[JudgeDredd]

Well - a new post by Iain on Matrix forums about themselves as a publisher and what's involved...and true - they are not a distributor like Steam. They package, finalise, provide financial assistance - so they have a vested interest in whether a game does well or not.

However - having said that, he does go on (and in detail in a post further down on the main one) saying PC, tablet, iOS markets are all up - so - again the question needs to be asked - why the high price for not only older games, but older games that have a sequel?

They're a business. I get that. But I just don't want to be fed the good guys crap. Do your job, make money and encourage new games and devs into the market - that's what your good at. But don't tell me your the good guys. You're just a business trying to make money and stay afloat.

I also don't buy that if you don't like the price of an item you should keep your trap shut and move on - as many seem to advocate. The person selling the product needs to know the price is too high for you - otherwise they have stats that say "x people bought the product and x people did not" instead of stats that say "x people bought the product, x people didn't buy because of price, x people didn't buy because it's not their thing, x people didn't buy because there's an alternative, x people didn't buy because it's missing a feature".

As a company/publisher/whatever - you need that feedback to make the most of your market - so all those people who suggest everyone wants something for nothing and telling people to shut up should understand the point of informing a company why you aren't buying.