Mephistopheles: Not All Linux Games Sell Well

While some indie Linux game sales have generated more than two million dollars in two weeks, that isn't the case for all indie Linux games. One example of a Linux game struggling is the latest title from Kot In Action, the well-known game studio behind the Steel Storm series.

Last week the game company released their first alpha on Tomes of Mephistopheles, which is described as, "a first-person action-RPG dungeon crawler. With its fast-paced fluid combat, a multitude of medieval and magical weapons, an in-depth custom spell system, and randomly generated persistent worlds, ToM is a pinnacle of the genre."

As mentioned in last week's article about the game, "they were hoping for a successful Linux gaming base to purchase the $10 game (thereby granting alpha access) so that the developers could improve this title as well as the forthcoming Steel Storm 2. Their goal was/is to sell 3,000 copies to support its development and that if funding went well, they would even consider moving from using the open-source Quake-derived DarkPlaces engine and over to the fancy Unigine Engine.

Well, the Kot In Action plans aren't working out too well so far. Alexander Zubov, the founder of Kot In Action, wrote an email to Phoronix this week mentioning the imminent alpha two release of this first-person RPG game. He also included a video of the Tomes of Mephistopheles Alpha 2 release.

Alex additionally writes, "We are still struggling to gain any solid sales for alpha funding :/ Could you please publish this in the news and maybe mention that if Linux gamers will open their wallets they can make one of the awesomest upcoming indie games happen on Linux sooner?" It seems quite quick to already be disappointed in the sales volume, but this news comes directly from the founder's mailbox.

If this game interests you and would like to buy the alpha to support its development, visit its website.