Why people didn't buy it

[Al3xand3r]

They don't have the means for a retail release. It would both be a very cheap game (because who would pay $50 for a game that they know costs $20 elsewhere, even if they can't buy from that place) despite the cost of a retail release, and on top of that the publisher would get a hefty share of the profits, so it could very well not be cost effective. Not to mention they can't afford to buy shelf space as so many big retail chains demand, nor can they do large scale mainstream marketing so people who use such stores can actually know the game exists at all, so all a retail release would potentially do is bring them down, not up, unless a sweet unreal opportunity comes up for them. For now, the most they could probably do is offer a limited edition they package and send out on their own, so you'd still need to pay online for that, like some other indies and I think Stardock do occasionally.

As for you and your 20 something friends, surely you can all at the very least get a debit card to make your online purchases (digital or shipped) easier and more hassle free. It has no fees and no minimum deposit, and you can only ever use as much money as you put in, no more, so there's no danger of overdoing it or getting credit issues.

As for not getting your money's worth with a digital release, eh, the game's super cheap in part thanks to that and as long as you don't buy from Steam or other DRM-ed services you can burn the game and keep it like any retail release, whether Frictional survives or not, if your problem is that "when" Steam goes down (yeah, not in our lifetime most likely) you won't have access to your purchased games. Unless the version sold directly by the Frictional store is also DRM-ed but I don't think it is. If so, disregard the last paragraph except for the first sentence.

[Blackhand]

I think they just lack exposure. The only people I know who knew of the game, let a lone went to look it up, check out reviews and trailers etc. were people I told about the game! Most of them use Steam, but don't regularly check out new releases unless they know of an upcoming big release. Most of those who do go check out the game/try out the demo come back Frictional fans.

There are still a lot of big game sites that have Amnesia listed, but still haven't reviewed the game yet. That is very disappointing because its a great way to give the game some more reach, especially if it keeps scoring as well as it has been.

[Deu sex]

in their interview, FG said that the biggest part of their sells were on steam, with preorders.

so steam is a good way to sell the game, and they have sold a lot with it.

but its true than steam is only at the beggining of something... bigger.

wait and see

[Al3xand3r]

But they basically offered Steam the advantage by having a 20% discount on there, where other stores, including Frictional's, only had 10% off for preorders. If the price was the same I would have bought it directly from Frictional or from Impulse, it makes no difference to me otherwise and I would prefer to own it DRM-free if the price was the same, but it wasn't, so it's natural Steam got the most sales. It's still cheapest on Steam and GamersGate but the difference is smaller now, and it seems it's most expensive directly from Frictional which is just plain weird. Anyway, it's all about the exposure really, there's no magic formula to guarantee that, sadly. Minecraft is a quirky indie game yet it's getting retail-level sales (200k and going strong) just sold via the creator's own little website, as crappy as the website is. It's a phenomenon. Of course it's a more mainstream game than a horror adventure but still, it shows you can do great without Steam, though he'll probably put it on there eventually to take advantage of their users.

[Jinix]

....
If someone could find some statistics on the number of people that use the internet and have either a credit card or paypal in percent (the closer to the group of 15-40 year old males that buy the game the better) and the percentage of people that buy with steam we would know the reason why it isn't selling that great....

United Kingdom some 62% of all Internet users shop online.

http://www1.albawaba.com/it-telecom/mena...e-shopping
no mention of games tho.

I think in all consideration that it WILL sell - give it time.
When ex-Thief lovers and others in this genre need to discover it.
I'm 70 years old and love the game but nobody 'marketed' to me and I don't shop in malls or computer stores.
I got mine from direct2drive and wouldn't have it any other way. Our planet is sick with pollution and digital downloads can help reduce or at least not add to the mess.
I would have thought that more people would agree to that, but apparently not.

[Crappynight]

I love horror games and I played Penumbra Series.

I bought Amnesia so I could see another game like this.

Thank you, Frictional Games.