Any word on how successful this was?

[Petike]

I'd buy it, but I lack any of the specific credit card brands required for online shopping. :-( Seems I'll have to establish one, probably a MasterCard or something accessible to the European crowd. I had the same problem a few weeks ago, once I created an account on GOG.com, since Arcanum was there on a special weekend sale. Now it's back to its original price and who knows if they'll ever sell it as cheaply. Dammit, I'll have to remedy this "credit card deficit" soon...

Until Amnesia's release day, I completely forgot it wasn't going to get a real publisher as the Penumbra games did, so that complicated things a bit. I've been planning to buy it ever since it was announced, but back then, I was counting on it being published in boxed form. Serves me right for not properly checking the forums since March. :-(

[martinstatic]

I think it's available on Steam, which supports PayPal?
Excellent excellent game

[Petike]

I think it's available on Steam, which supports PayPal?
Excellent excellent game

Yes, but PayPal alone doesn't solve the problem, since you always have to pay via credit card in online distribution stores. At least I've never noticed any option to pay more directly...

[Zanderat]

PayPal lets you direct charge a bank account. No meed for a credit or debit card.

[Glockster]

PayPal lets you direct charge a bank account. No meed for a credit or debit card.

Not in all countries. Paypal still requires you to use a credit card if bank transactions are not supported in the country you happen to live in.

[jens]

Yes, but you can transfer the money first, so you have funds in paypal and then use that to pay, instead of relying on direct charges from bank or credit card.

[KaOss]

@Petike: I am completely with you.
Another thing is, that people like me do not like to share card details online because they are afraid of fraud.... yeah, still living in the 80's...

@Jens: I've read recently somewhere in this forum that you are still looking for a publisher in Europe. Is this topic really dead & gone? Would be very sad indeed.
Apart from this as an obviously very old fashioned guy I am really interested in sales development: Are boxed versions really dead?
You have been sharing very deatiled infos about your sales (kudos for that, makes you even more trustworthy), but I could not find any relationship between retail / online sales of penumbra. Was it like 90% online so retail does not pay off anymore?

Regards
KaOss

[jens]

We are actively talking to publishers, but its a process that takes a long time and also hard to find suitable partners.

Last I read was that online and retail (for all PC games in general) was pretty even, but I do not think there was much data used as a base, so I would guess retail remains the larger market.

It is not that we do not want to release a retail copy, we do, but as we don't have to, we will not sign anything that does not feel just for both parties and is trustworthy.

You also have to sell a lot more boxes to make it worth anything in comparison to online. Online the developer can get anything from 50% to even over 90% of the money that the customer pays. When you purchase a retail copy, there are so many parties that are to be paid, so the developer gets perhaps 10%-30% in the end.

[KaOss]

Jens, thanks a lot for your reply. You gave me some points I was not aware of. On the other hand, it wasn't what I wanted to hear ... I'll obviously need to re-think my attitude towards online distribution, especially when it comes to indie studios.

Any chance to send you 20€ in a letter and get back a DVD from you ? Just kidding.

Regards
KaOss

[sunlead]

I remember learning about that, retail copies, the issue with those being you have to pay...The developer, the publisher, the distributor, and the store that is selling said copy as well.