Atari is dead and killing BI

[AlabasterSlim 0]

I'm glad I was able to install the patch to my Steam version. Atari needs to get their head out of their ass, although given the recent news on their financial well being, and some of their more current releases (Alone in The Dark), it looks like they might be on their way out.

[Dwarden 1125]

all this sounds like great joke when You consider that me and several others were pushing STEAM and that BI release on STEAM in major (e.g. first and later via boxes)

all what was posted was flame, myths, whine and ofc it was then burned by developers (see community dislike that idea) ...

twice as irony after hearing story of 2+ game studios capable to flop 'financial' disaster into profit thanks only STEAM sales

triple laugh when You realize thanks to services like STEAM consoles looks like joke against PC in terms of year sales (hell even EA CEO was forced to admit PC market is crushing consoles)

in short studio or publisher who ignores in next 2 years STEAM, IMPULSE, GamersGate, GameTap etc. is close to commit financial suicide

[MehMan 0]

triple laugh when You realize thanks to services like STEAM consoles looks like joke against PC in terms of year sales (hell even EA CEO was forced to admit PC market is crushing consoles)

What? Where did you get the info?

[.kju 3241]

Blizzard's 10+ million WoW subscribers a 10-15euro/dollar are

easily forgotten by many people ... plus all the other MMO, regular

SP and MP games - the PC games market is way stronger

certain parts of the industry may want to have it look like.  

Use google to find the real numbers easily.

[shinRaiden 0]

Went to Walmart this evening for other business, they had an equal amount of Arma:Gold and Crysis. Same list price as well, $39.95 USD. Inventory / prices have been higher than I expected at Bestbuy as well.

Summary :

Someone's paying to have shelf space and list at those prices. If it wasn't selling, I don't think you'd see it there. I highly doubt that we'd see any actual numbers, but gut hunch is that it's not that bad as folks here like to whine about.

[MehMan 0]

Blizzard's 10+ million WoW subscribers a 10-15euro/dollar are

easily forgotten by many people ... plus all the other MMO, regular

SP and MP games - the PC games market is way stronger

certain parts of the industry may want to have it look like.  

Use google to find the real numbers easily.

Err, I think consoles still beat PCs when it comes to gaming. I think GTA IV is enough to say so. I don't think any other game so far has had a 100$ million budget and has made far more money than any other game so far, somewhere around 10 million copies have been sold so far and it has been out for only two months. There are just many many many console exclusive titles that blow PC sales out of the water that make the PC gaming genre look like a dying market. It's got it's plus at the WoW end and MMOs, but the console market is most definatley bigger. Still, make it right and the PC market can bring you some serious cash. However tactical shooters like ArmA are never going to bring in the same ammount of money as CoD4 for example.

[.kju 3241]

Quote[/b] ]I don't think any other game so far has had a 100$ million budget and has made far more money than any other game so far

Hm ... WoW?!

Maybe even CoD4 in terms of ROI (if you would count only the PC aspect).

(There has a been a huge Sega game in works to for almost 10

years. Use google / wikipedia to check their budget. Essential it

made Dreamcast loose the fight vs PS1 some people say.)

GTA IV, Halo etc could be easily work on the PC too. As good or

even better..

It is only a strategic decision to push the consoles.

I think OFP had a quite nice ROI.

Cash is relative. You need to have the costs in mind too and

where the cash ends up to what parts in the end.

[MehMan 0]

Oh yes, the capabilites of the PC are far better than that of consoles, for example, modding can be done only on the PC. There's much more to do on the PC and the PC is far more powerful and games are more beatiful than they can be on the consoles. However, PCs are not as easy to use as consoles and in the end cost more. There are good sides and bad sides to both.

About the cash, well, both WoW and GTAIV have nice return values, I saw a figure of about $40 mil and the return has been amazing. GTAIV made $360 mil on the first day.

[.kju 3241]

Partially related:

Quote[/b] ]Sony has lost over $3 billion on the PS3

In the company's fiscal 2008 annual report, Sony revealed that they've now lost roughly $3.3 billion (that's billion with a B) on the Playstation 3 since its launch. That breaks down to $2.16 billion in 2007, followed by a notably smaller but equally daunting $1.16 billion loss in 2008.

source

As for the xbox 360

Quote[/b] ]xbox 360 ist ein großer Verlustbringer

Nach Angaben des "Handelsblatt" betrugen diese zwischen 2002 und 2007 mehr als sieben Milliarden US-Dollar.

---

xbox 360 a huge field of losses

According to the newspaper "Handelsblatt" the loss between

2002 and 2007 has been more than 7 Billion US Dollar.

source

Quite nice site for charts related to consoles

http://vgchartz.com

While losses from selling consoles are not the same as profit

from games, the ROI of both MS and Sony are effected a lot

and certainly will have an effect on future consoles.

Especially with Nintendo making huge profits/excellent ROI for

both hardware and software (just not the much of the other

developers..).

[olemissrebel 0]

you know, as much as i enjoy bitching, what is really that wrong with atari. every-time i walk in a walmart in ANY state in the US, ARMA Gold can be purchased. any issues that might arise concerning the game can be found here in the forums. atari's dead, BI sucks for using them, are you kidding me? atari has obviously done a great job of making armed assault available to the mass public here in the us, which is priority

[acadiancrusader 0]

you know, as much as i enjoy bitching, what is really that wrong with atari.  every-time i walk in a walmart in ANY state in the US, ARMA Gold can be purchased.   any issues that might arise concerning the game can be found here in the forums.  atari's dead, BI sucks for using them, are you kidding me?   atari has obviously done a great job of making armed assault available to the mass public here in the us, which is priority

the whole point of this thread is to state that atari is offering arma on steam, but they are not offering QG or updating the patches on it.

that is why atari is killing BI. i'm not talking about boxed retail products on store shelves.

[Maddmatt 1]

the whole point of this thread is to state that atari is offering arma on steam, but they are not offering QG or updating the patches on it.

You can download and install the 1.14 patch just like everyone else, even if you have the Steam version.

At least that's what I've heard, I don't have the Steam version so I can't check myself.

And Queens Gambit can be bought online through Sprocket. So you can get the same stuff as everyone else, you don't have to rely on Atari.

Maybe this has all been said already, I haven't read this whole thread.

[Baff1 0]

Blizzard's 10+ million WoW subscribers a 10-15euro/dollar are

easily forgotten by many people ... plus all the other MMO, regular

SP and MP games - the PC games market is way stronger

certain parts of the industry may want to have it look like.  

Use google to find the real numbers easily.

Err, I think consoles still beat PCs when it comes to gaming. I think GTA IV is enough to say so. I don't think any other game so far has had a 100$ million budget and has made far more money than any other game so far, somewhere around 10 million copies have been sold so far and it has been out for only two months. There are just many many many console exclusive titles that blow PC sales out of the water that make the PC gaming genre look like a dying market. It's got it's plus at the WoW end and MMOs, but the console market is most definatley bigger. Still, make it right and the PC market can bring you some serious cash. However tactical shooters like ArmA are never going to bring in the same ammount of money as CoD4 for example.

WoW nets over a billion a year mate.

It was a $100,000,000 development.

That one game has brought in more net revenue than all the PS 3 games combined or all the XBox 360 games combined.

The combined console and handheld game retail sales market is 3 times the size of the retail PC game market. (This excludes any subscriptions or direct download sales).

For what it's worth I think Atari have done a great job. OFP had a pathetic market penetration in the U.S.

It's not really their fault if QG wasn't a big enough seller to warrant a second print run.

It's had a pretty troubled year mind you and they've cancelled alot of their projects.

[Shoaib 0]

you know, as much as i enjoy bitching, what is really that wrong with atari.  every-time i walk in a walmart in ANY state in the US, ARMA Gold can be purchased.   any issues that might arise concerning the game can be found here in the forums.  atari's dead, BI sucks for using them, are you kidding me?   atari has obviously done a great job of making armed assault available to the mass public here in the us, which is priority

the whole point of this thread is to state that atari is offering arma on steam, but they are not offering QG or updating the patches on it.

that is why atari is killing BI. i'm not talking about boxed retail products on store shelves.

I wanted to buy ARMA GOLD from ATARI, so I started following this thread, and came to a conclusion that its better to get it from Sprocket, but it seems Sprocket is selling the digital download for $59 (including vat) and ATARI offers a digital download for only $39. Therefore I went upto ATARI's site and checked their support details etc, and over there i noticed this very clearly

Downloads for Download versions= Patch 1.14 !!!!

Here is the link

So I guess ATARI is offering latest patch for their digital downloads!!!

[Dwarden 1125]

triple laugh when You realize thanks to services like STEAM consoles looks like joke against PC in terms of year sales (hell even EA CEO was forced to admit PC market is crushing consoles)

What? Where did you get the info?

even MS admitted that PC and PC games e.g. in Europe and Asia outsells XBOX360 in rate 3:1 ...

only reason they adopting strategy XBOX360 game release first and PC later is to 'secure' XBOX360 game and console sales

same goes about PS3 and SONY ...

todays hiend notebooks and medium to hiend PC crush any 'next gen' console in hardware performance already

not to mention PC market is worldwide audience with sure base of customers ...

claiming that PC game market is less than console one is absolute naivity approx same as claiming there is no piracy on consoles

for PC market there is not just WoW but thousands successful MMOs (double this numbers for Asia region) and tens thousands completely ignored web games (usually strategies) , tons of small indie titles ...

[TWCRASH 0]

im not a fan of ArmA anymore but I still see Arma gold in stores as well.

[Arrowhead 0]

Atari does leave alot to be desired, you have to admit. I remember my ordeal of trying to find Arma here in Canada. Only a few EB Games had it. Meanwhile, Ubisoft has distributed ample units of Il-2:1946 that to this day my local BestBuy has an entire side of a row devoted to it.

Also, to my shock, it appears that the Steam version is STILL not updated to 1.14!! WTF indeed...

[echo1 0]

There are just many many many console exclusive titles

Such as? GTA4 is going to be released on PC. Halo 3 will more than likely be at some stage and so on. What about all the PC only titles?

[pathetic_berserker 4]

Consoles are big game sellers because, consoles are pushed.

consoles are pushed because game makers think most people fear PCs

People give the impression that they fear PC's because they all whinge about how much they have to spend to keep up with the latest tech.

So they make consoles cheap, games expensive. Thinking that they have sealed a long term turnaround for thier game development because they can now spend a few years developing the next console

Meanwhile

Consoles are so far behind the latest tech every one has to by a PC to type a letter. And anyone who is literate enough to write a letter is wondering.. Why does it take so long to see an interesting game title on PC?

Back on topic though. Atari are next to useless. These days they are nothing more than meddling middle men publishers who look to push a name that is nolonger capable of actual game development. Just the way it is.