"That’s really awesome for an indie dev; a few thousand bucks is nothing to shy away from and can get them going on their next project. I do believe it gave them a boost, but this is very much a PR headline rather than an exponential overnight success.”
“While they successfully moved the needle and made a PR splash, this is not a sustainable approach,” Laborde said. “It reinforces a mentality that art ‘should be free’ and ultimately devalues their work over time. This works as a one-time attention grabber and audience-expander, but I can’t recommend it long term.”
It did not increase sales. They couldn’t even attribute it to sales.
Such a significant increase in sales certainly sounds impressive, but for Nicholas Laborde, founder and executive producer of Raconteur Games, the numbers should be taken with a grain of salt.
In fact, encouraging piracy has been practiced for many years now, with a handful of devs embracing it as a valuable marketing tool. For Laborde, though, this is no longer a viable strategy.
There’s hyperlinks in the article in that section with other sources. I can’t hold your hand here, the piece is also a little op-ed too, of course the writer is going to have a bias. Especially when they imply they’ve used it or know its benefits previously.
“With only 10 reviews on Steam, saying a 400% sales increase is an eye-catcher for sure but not necessarily as huge a financial payoff in context as that percent shouts at us,” he explained. “Others can correct me if I’m wrong, but Steam reviews usually hover around roughly 2% to 5% of copies sold, so if we go off of 5% and it has 10 reviews, that’s around 200 copies sold. If a 400% increase occurred, then they’ve now sold close to 1,000 copies. That’s really awesome for an indie dev; a few thousand bucks is nothing to shy away from and can get them going on their next project. I do believe it gave them a boost, but this is very much a PR headline rather than an exponential overnight success.”
schmidtster@lemmy.world 9 months ago
You would be in the minority, piracy can increase sales because a lot of people see the value after the trial period and pay for it.
Linky for source of one company.
dpkonofa@lemmy.world 9 months ago
Did you even read your own article?
It did not increase sales. They couldn’t even attribute it to sales.
schmidtster@lemmy.world 9 months ago
I did
In fact, encouraging piracy has been practiced for many years now, with a handful of devs embracing it as a valuable marketing tool. For Laborde, though, this is no longer a viable strategy.
There’s hyperlinks in the article in that section with other sources. I can’t hold your hand here, the piece is also a little op-ed too, of course the writer is going to have a bias. Especially when they imply they’ve used it or know its benefits previously.
Patches@sh.itjust.works 9 months ago
schmidtster@lemmy.world 9 months ago
Do you mind not sensationalizing the quote?
Actual text below
“With only 10 reviews on Steam, saying a 400% sales increase is an eye-catcher for sure but not necessarily as huge a financial payoff in context as that percent shouts at us,” he explained. “Others can correct me if I’m wrong, but Steam reviews usually hover around roughly 2% to 5% of copies sold, so if we go off of 5% and it has 10 reviews, that’s around 200 copies sold. If a 400% increase occurred, then they’ve now sold close to 1,000 copies. That’s really awesome for an indie dev; a few thousand bucks is nothing to shy away from and can get them going on their next project. I do believe it gave them a boost, but this is very much a PR headline rather than an exponential overnight success.”
Patches@sh.itjust.works 9 months ago