r/SoftwareInc 10d ago

Game sales drop - Why ?????

Post image

Hi all

I know there has been plenty of posts about this common issue but none of the potential issues actually applied on my case ;

- No new RTS game released

- Stock not empty

- Consumer maximum reach not obtained

- Regularly updated to latest tech and to fix bugs

Is it because "The Dynasty Life 3" is better overall ?

But why has it gave me a few glory years before completely dying if TDL3 was better from releaes ?

55 Upvotes

12 comments sorted by

16

u/SatchBoogie1 10d ago

What's the explanation for the spike in sales near the end? Did you port to that newer console released in May 1984 or is that when you updated tech levels?

8

u/Aggravating_Oil_3259 10d ago

Updated tech levels for system and 2d on the big spike! there was another update right on the month where everything crashed but they treated only bugs ; all updates are marked by dark blue squares on top of the graph

After some investigating, TDL3's owner did research newer system tech, but it has not been implemented in their product. As you can see with the framed tech levels, both are similar.

7

u/SatchBoogie1 10d ago

A factor could boil down to the review score. What are the last 1-2 competitor releases doing right now?

3

u/Aggravating_Oil_3259 10d ago

Here's a screenshot of the BrainMasco Inc timeline (TDL3's owner), and their cashflow.

They did release a DLC and a huge patch/update for TDL3 towards Dec. 1985; exactly when my sales dropped. So it probably is the reason of this crash.
They’re likely to go bankrupt soon, so I’m considering buying shares in the hope of eventually acquiring their IP. Any advice on how to ensure a smooth transition and maintain sales momentum throughout the process?

6

u/23Link89 10d ago

Your reviews are terrible, 26% is pretty bad. You're better off abandoning the product and making a new game.

Consider a code review during development, it also allows you to iterate and go back to the design phase

5

u/SatchBoogie1 10d ago

I'm still thinking that it's down to the review score. The sales spiked only because new tech levels can give a temp boost to sales. That doesn't fix a poorly designed game though.

2

u/Kolggner 9d ago

Same thoughts here, OP mus have thought that the max reach ahown in the details tab is the sales the game can make if supported, but in fact it's the sum of the userbase of all the systems it's been released on. Most likely because the game was low quality it was about to reach it's maximum player base the next few weeks but because of the sales boost from texh updates it did so sooner, and while I don't see it on the screenshots it's possible the marketing wasn't enough either.

1

u/SatchBoogie1 9d ago

Yeah there's some missing information that OP didn't share. Right now we can only conclude the review score is the problem. The rest may not matter.

1

u/Aggravating_Oil_3259 9d ago

Good day.

Played for a few months in game, was planning earlier to save and buy BrainMasco stocks to acquire TDL, but they eventually went bankrupt before I was able to buy these stocks.

- BrainMasco was also the publisher of Kabooza 2, so marketing became in-house in the aftermath.

- TDL3 started gradually losing sales since it got purchased by another company. In July 1986, they ran out of potential customers, so their sales stopped drastically.

- Kabooza 2 sales slightly grew from July 1986 to February 1987. Because of TDL 3 running out of customers (Jul 1986 - Feb 1987 framed in blue). Dropped again cause the game is trash

- TDL3 kept on losing users, and Kabooza 2 sales peaked again after the System and 2D updated on June 1987 (Framed in red)

I think my loss in sales on December 1985 was the result of TDL3's update, my reviews are complete trash so it definitely plays a role in the crash as well. If my game was good enough or better than TDL3 from the jump, I don't think I would've encountered a crash during these months

7

u/Old-Savings-5841 10d ago edited 1d ago

Could they have ported to the system you were selling on? Else I wouldn't know.

1

u/Aggravating_Oil_3259 10d ago

Here's a screenshot of the BrainMasco Inc timeline (TDL3's owner), and their cashflow.

They did release a DLC and a huge patch/update for TDL3 towards Dec. 1985; exactly when my sales dropped. So it probably is the reason of this crash.
They’re likely to go bankrupt soon, so I’m considering buying shares in the hope of eventually acquiring their IP. Any advice on how to ensure a smooth transition and maintain sales momentum throughout the process?

1

u/SevaReddit 9d ago

I've noticed that on hard difficulty it heavily depends on your fan base. So once you reach your fan base potential, then the sales drops 😬