Jack Keane on Linux ?

[Svartalf]

I think they are committing a big mistake, I don't know if you have noticed that "heavy" price difference:
Jack Keane for Windows, can buy it for 20 Euros / 30 USA dollars;
Jack Keane preorder for Linux, 40 Euros / 60 USA dollars.

< /sigh>

Either you want to run under Linux or you want to run under Windows.

Dual booting isn't really the answer because it contributes to the network effect for Windows. A purchase for Windows is a vote for that OS to continue to get versions explicitly for it.

WINE's not any better an answer for those already on Linux for a while- and for the same reasoning.

The price is what each publisher set (not the studio) based on what return on their investment of a production run of a given size would be- if you like the game, but don't like the price, don't buy. But don't be whining when you don't have ANY other titles because they don't have metrics to us to make Linux versions. A purchase of a Windows SKU is a vote for THAT OS with your dollars as far as the publisher is concerned. They typically don't look at "installed user base" of an OS except to contemplate a possible version. Things not selling won't help us, never mind the pricing (they WILL NOT look at what the Linux SKU cost to get- they will only look at numbers sold and base it off of that...). If you want to play ON Linux, you need to BUY Linux.

As it stands, most of everyone will be unfamiliar with the MacOS gaming situation. Pricing is very similar to what you're seeing here in many cases. They buy all the same. They don't bitch about the Windows version being cheaper or in the bargain bin before it comes out. They don't typically buy up a "gaming rig" just to run Windows so they can play those games. They buy the stuff because they know if they like it and they buy it, there'll be more down the line- and better fare.

Think of the price delta right at the moment as the premium to NOT have things like Vista on your machine, if you have to. Sure, you can run XP now, but what happens when they don't activate anymore? What happens when they completely turn the lights off on things like they're doing with "Plays for Sure"?? If you can't justfy the expense, it's okay. If you don't like it, it's okay. If you can swing both, buy it and don't bitch about the price difference, okay?

[Aradreth]

I think they are committing a big mistake, I don't know if you have noticed that "heavy" price difference:
Jack Keane for Windows, can buy it for 20 Euros / 30 USA dollars;
Jack Keane preorder for Linux, 40 Euros / 60 USA dollars.

Your looking at it the wrong way think of it as spending 100 Euros less (Vista home premium is about 150 Euros) as you don't need to buy a windows licence (not taking WINE into the picture of course...).

[marakaid]

I can run other games with the price not increased, i.e. Quake Wars does not cost more to run it in Linux.
Jack Keane will fail because see that double price as a big penalty.
Don't try to "sell" the price difference as a "premium" to enter into the elite who buys expensive Linux games or expensive Apple hardware (or MacOS software) to have bragging rights.

[marakaid]

Your looking at it the wrong way think of it as spending 100 Euros less (Vista home premium is about 150 Euros) as you don't need to buy a windows licence (not taking WINE into the picture of course...).

I understand that you are saving Euros because you don't need to buy Windows to run the game, but, what if you want to play with 3 or 4 games whose Linux versions cost so much as Jack Keane one? You lose all the supposed saving if you plan to get more than 1 game with premium price.

[deanjo]

As it stands, most of everyone will be unfamiliar with the MacOS gaming situation. Pricing is very similar to what you're seeing here in many cases. They buy all the same. They don't bitch about the Windows version being cheaper or in the bargain bin before it comes out. They don't typically buy up a "gaming rig" just to run Windows so they can play those games. They buy the stuff because they know if they like it and they buy it, there'll be more down the line- and better fare.

That is actually a bit outdated, the current gen of OS X games that debut at the same time as the PC version are identically priced.

The games that are introduced a bit later after the PC release debut at a price usually cheaper then what the PC game debuted at.

Your right when you day Mac users generally don't buy a separate PC to play PC games. They do however install windows utilizing bootcamp. Games are the #1 reason why people run bootcamp.

Think of the price delta right at the moment as the premium to NOT have things like Vista on your machine, if you have to. Sure, you can run XP now, but what happens when they don't activate anymore?

By that time, the game will be in a bargin bin / bundle pack / and people would have already played it to death.

If you can swing both, buy it and don't bitch about the price difference, okay?

Feedback on any product good or bad is constructive. Without it, suppliers / manufacturers / companies are taking a blind shot in the dark as to why something isn't doing as well as expected.

[Svartalf]

I can run other games with the price not increased, i.e. Quake Wars does not cost more to run it in Linux.
Jack Keane will fail because see that double price as a big penalty.
Don't try to "sell" the price difference as a "premium" to enter into the elite who buys expensive Linux games or expensive Apple hardware (or MacOS software) to have bragging rights.

Do you know why they're the same? Because you're not buying a Linux SKU- you're buying a WINDOWS one and then 'patching' it because the studio has enough pull to do that thing. You didn't pay attention to ANYTHING I just told you. Here's a clue: I work in the games industry as a second job. I do happen to know a goodly portion of the business side of things because I checked into it before I entered into my relationship with Michael Simms, being interested in doing the same thing he's doing.

I don't know HOW many times I have to tell someone this.

If you don't like the price, fine. Just don't buy- but don't whine either when there's nothing else there.

It's not going to magically appear with you doing this stuff the way you're talking to; each and EVERY Windows sale is a vote of dollars for MORE Windows versions, not less. Installed base for the OS is going to have to triple what it actually is right now before they'll consider going out on a limb without sales figures to show that it's worth the trouble to do Linux versions as they GO OFF OF SALES NUMBERS. The same game that others like what you're talking to have pulled in the past with Q3:A have made the mess of things we have today. Part of it WAS Loki's fault. The other part was the people that couldn't friggin' wait to buy the Linux SKU and bought the Windows one instead and "patched" it.

Those numbers are what we're fighting against now.

You want to know WHY you don't have games? It's crap like this that we're discussing that's the cause. Honest.

[Svartalf]

Feedback on any product good or bad is constructive. Without it, suppliers / manufacturers / companies are taking a blind shot in the dark as to why something isn't doing as well as expected.

Heh... After over a decade of giving them all feedback the way you guys keep talking to, do you think they're at all listening to you?

I don't- because the situation's not changing all that much.

[Aradreth]

That is actually a bit outdated, the current gen of OS X games that debut at the same time as the PC version are identically priced.

That's because enough people bought the games when they where expensive to give the publisher enough confidence to lower the prices.

Feedback on any product good or bad is constructive. Without it, suppliers / manufacturers / companies are taking a blind shot in the dark as to why something isn't doing as well as expected.

The problem is that bitching about the price and saying you wont buy it whilst bitching about there not being enough linux games is idiotic; it's the chicken and the egg problem till people suck it up and become an early adopter the situation wont improve. It's the same with nearly every new type of product released, the initial price is always high until the maker is confident that if they reduce the price they will still turn a profit.

[marakaid]

I know that Quake Wars is a Windows copy patched to Linux, but (at least with multiplayer games) the creators of the game can know the OS the user is running the game with; even "Icculus" said that about UT2004, telling us that they could see that Mac and Linux clients were a small but an important number, with more clients using Linux instead of Mac.
I think it would be easier if creators of singleplayer games ask you (inside the game, ie, at start) politely if you want the game to report what operating systems in being run into.

[Aradreth]

I think it would be easier if creators of singleplayer games ask you (inside the game, ie, at start) politely if you want the game to report what operating systems in being run into.

Instead of asking they just look at the sales figures for a particular OS, that's all they care about. If the person then used a compatibility layer to play it they don't care, it's the fact that it was bought for X that matters.