Eternity PoE II: Deadfire Sales Analysis Thread

[Mustawd]

Makes me wonder how much variation there is between different FIG campaigns (haven't followed others) but I'd certainly expect the details laid out on the Deadfire investor page to be followed or they'd have a problem

The equity structure actually varies from campaign to campaign from my last gander at the SEC documents. And really, their website can be as super inaccurate and outdated as they want. What really matters is what the investor agreement says.

 

[Trashos]

The game is right now the 66th best seller on steam, get's outplaced by Tyranny, just hilarious.

What are people complaining about in the casul forums? No matter how bad it may be, I take it that it's going worse than anyone might have expected.

 

[dragonul09]

The game is right now the 66th best seller on steam, get's outplaced by Tyranny, just hilarious.

What are people complaining about in the casul forums? No matter how bad it may be, I take it that it's going worse than anyone might have expected.

Too easy, short and unfocused main story, companions that share similar personalities, small dungeons, small maps, open-world is nothing but a waste of time. These are all the major complaints that seem to go over Obsidian forum and steam, I pretty much agree with all of them.

 

[Lacrymas]

The Obsidian forums are painful to read.

 

[TT1]

The game is right now the 66th best seller on steam, get's outplaced by Tyranny, just hilarious.

Dont be full retarded. Tyranny is with a huge discount.

 

[fantadomat]

For me the biggest reason to not buy the game was the writing. I,like many obsidian fans can ignore a lot of shit like bugs and shitty systems,if the writing was good and interesting. All of their games are buggy messes with one or two bad decisions,yet their writing was on a level. Obsidian was known for good story telling and writing,and that is a main reason why PoE was such a kickstarter success. When PoE the writing was subpar at best, with sprinkle of pretty good one. After it i was on the fence,until Tyranny came out. After it i was on the other side of the fence,seeing how bad the writing and the world building was. That game have such a below mediocre writing. After it i knew that the Deadfire will have pretty bad writing,but even i didn't expect it to be that bad.

 

[imweasel]

Deadfire is currently #74 on Steam (global). Yikes.

How long will it take until Feargus fires Sawyer? Any guesses?

[Deadfire is] outplaced by Tyranny, just hilarious.

Dont be full retarded. Tyranny is with a huge discount.

Only discounted Deadfire could overtake discounted Tyranny. Which is really sad.

Sid Meier's PIRATES! and Sawyerism just don't seem to mix very well.

 

[Roguey]

I got a different impression from this though (share in proceeds for all pc sales, at a lower % after 1.13 the FIG funds are returned, also see graph of returns for levels of sales):
https://www.fig.co/campaigns/deadfire/invest

Too bad; imagine if Deadfire was the Springtime for Hitler of RPGs.

 

[Brancaleone]

I think part of this is the realization on the developer side (even developers on the Fig Board of Directors) that Fig updates don't get noticed nearly as much as KS updates (the % who go to see it are much lower) or videos the developers promote themselves as a company.

I don't 100% understand how Fig drives backers to their site or drives attention for their updates, part of me worries it's an interface problem or people simply don't see it as a place that provides as much news or marketing as the individual developer does.

Fig didn't even have PoE2's correct release date established when the date changed, for example, so even going to the site, it still listed the old date - part of this is just because I think developers felt Fig would be the last site/source a Backer would check, so they didn't give it any thought vs. their internal marketing efforts. But even that says a lot about the process.

From the beginning of PoE1's development, I got the feeling that the clear prority for the game was to nail down the IP (both with a setting different enough to comply with legal requirements but at the same time familiar enough for IE players, and with a new rule-system) in the hope that it would become successful enough for Obsidian to milk it to death by licencing it (or even to sell the company, who knows). As opposed to, let's say, focus on plot, interactions, encounter design, writing, etc. etc.

What would be your take on it (including possibly the choice to switch to Fig being an implicit admission of failure in that sense)?

 

[Saxon1974]

For me the biggest reason to not buy the game was the writing. I,like many obsidian fans can ignore a lot of shit like bugs and shitty systems,if the writing was good and interesting. All of their games are buggy messes with one or two bad decisions,yet their writing was on a level. Obsidian was known for good story telling and writing,and that is a main reason why PoE was such a kickstarter success. When PoE the writing was subpar at best, with sprinkle of pretty good one. After it i was on the fence,until Tyranny came out. After it i was on the other side of the fence,seeing how bad the writing and the world building was. That game have such a below mediocre writing. After it i knew that the Deadfire will have pretty bad writing,but even i didn't expect it to be that bad.

Spot on. I like the look and feel of POE (minus the backer content) but there is alot of story but I find it mostly boring and as stated just lore dump style.

Their writing team is the biggest weakness IMO

 

[Saxon1974]

I think the biggest issue with POE 2 is POE's writing and story delivery was boring so most people don't want to shell out 50 bones for more of it. Also at least for me the island jungle setting isn't really my thing. I'll play it eventually when it's cheap though

 

[Orbito Sol]

Well, the first game was kinda shit, and the second game is a direct sequel, so... I guess people would feel pressured to buy the first one let alone play it.

 

[fantadomat]

I think the biggest issue with POE 2 is POE's writing and story delivery was boring so most people don't want to shell out 50 bones for more of it. Also at least for me the island jungle setting isn't really my thing. I'll play it eventually when it's cheap though

The setting doesn't really matter as long as it is well written and making sense.

 

[Saxon1974]

I think the biggest issue with POE 2 is POE's writing and story delivery was boring so most people don't want to shell out 50 bones for more of it. Also at least for me the island jungle setting isn't really my thing. I'll play it eventually when it's cheap though

The setting doesn't really matter as long as it is well written and making sense.

I get what your saying, but I just prefer the fantasy europe, castles, deep forests etc...over jungle.

But yeah most settings and story are medieval Europe based fantasy with a kill the big bad guy. But you know what? That plot line doesn't matter to me if the people and places you encounter in the world are interesting. I didn't find much of that in POE for the most part with the exception of some of the graphics.

 

[Azarkon]

The game is right now the 66th best seller on steam, get's outplaced by Tyranny, just hilarious.

What are people complaining about in the casul forums? No matter how bad it may be, I take it that it's going worse than anyone might have expected.

Too easy, short and unfocused main story, companions that share similar personalities, small dungeons, small maps, open-world is nothing but a waste of time. These are all the major complaints that seem to go over Obsidian forum and steam, I pretty much agree with all of them.

Obsidian's writing gets worse after Fenstermaker and Avellone leaves? Who'd have thought. Judging by all that Chris has said on the Codex, the company is simply terrible at keeping its top writing talent around. In which case, what else have they got?

 

[Zed Duke of Banville]

From the beginning of PoE1's development, I got the feeling that the clear prority for the game was to nail down the IP (both with a setting different enough to comply with legal requirements but at the same time familiar enough for IE players, and with a new rule-system) in the hope that it would become successful enough for Obsidian to milk it to death by licencing it (or even to sell the company, who knows). As opposed to, let's say, focus on plot, interactions, encounter design, writing, etc. etc.

If this were true, then Obsidian didn't even need to bother with creating a setting that was clearly differentiated. After Gary Gygax was forced out of TSR at the end of 1985, the Forgotten Realms setting was created as a replacement for Greyhawk, and it was intentionally designed to be as bland and generic as possible to appeal to the lowest common denominator seeking a history-less and culture-less pseudo-medieval setting for their AD&D campaigns. All Obsidian had to do was to manufacture their own pseudo-medieval Europe, ultra-generic collection of city-states, leave out whatever D&D monsters are still under copyright by WotC/Hasbro, replace hobbits halflings with a different race, and substitute their own pantheon of deities. All of that saved effort could have been spent on other aspects of the game.

 

[Felix]

I was hoping for Vailian Republic setting that would look somewhat like renaissance Italy, instead we got tropical islands with faux Japanese fish orcs that no one give a fuck about, meh.

 

[fantadomat]

I think the biggest issue with POE 2 is POE's writing and story delivery was boring so most people don't want to shell out 50 bones for more of it. Also at least for me the island jungle setting isn't really my thing. I'll play it eventually when it's cheap though

The setting doesn't really matter as long as it is well written and making sense.

I get what your saying, but I just prefer the fantasy europe, castles, deep forests etc...over jungle.

But yeah most settings and story are medieval Europe based fantasy with a kill the big bad guy. But you know what? That plot line doesn't matter to me if the people and places you encounter in the world are interesting. I didn't find much of that in POE for the most part with the exception of some of the graphics.

Yeah,i agree with you. Would have preferred some Darkland kind of setting and exploration. But that would have been shit too,because of the writing. PoE games do lack the spark of creativity. The best place in the whole game was the Gulag black market,enjoyed going down in that text based menu and exploring different parts. It reminded me a lot of Darklands.

 

[SymbolicFrank]

Anyway, don't worry about it: Feargus will get his share in triplicate: as a Fig owner, Obsidian owner and his CEO salary. Although the rest of Obsidian probably won't make money out of it.

 

[Theldaran]

From the beginning of PoE1's development, I got the feeling that the clear prority for the game was to nail down the IP (both with a setting different enough to comply with legal requirements but at the same time familiar enough for IE players, and with a new rule-system) in the hope that it would become successful enough for Obsidian to milk it to death by licencing it (or even to sell the company, who knows). As opposed to, let's say, focus on plot, interactions, encounter design, writing, etc. etc.

If this were true, then Obsidian didn't even need to bother with creating a setting that was clearly differentiated. After Gary Gygax was forced out of TSR at the end of 1985, the Forgotten Realms setting was created as a replacement for Greyhawk, and it was intentionally designed to be as bland and generic as possible to appeal to the lowest common denominator seeking a history-less and culture-less pseudo-medieval setting for their AD&D campaigns. All Obsidian had to do was to manufacture their own pseudo-medieval Europe, ultra-generic collection of city-states, leave out whatever D&D monsters are still under copyright by WotC/Hasbro, replace hobbits halflings with a different race, and substitute their own pantheon of deities. All of that saved effort could have been spent on other aspects of the game.

Well... even if FR are an imitation of some myths, and thus generic, there's still a lot of work put into the setting. You have a lot of options as a player, which is nice and turns it into a toolbox kind of setting, even if the actual kingdoms lack identity. FR as a setting isn't shit, which can't be said about its novels. They're terrible, but RPGing isn't writing.

Eora is just bland.

 

[Bohr]

Makes me wonder how much variation there is between different FIG campaigns (haven't followed others) but I'd certainly expect the details laid out on the Deadfire investor page to be followed or they'd have a problem

The equity structure actually varies from campaign to campaign from my last gander at the SEC documents. And really, their website can be as super inaccurate and outdated as they want. What really matters is what the investor agreement says.

Out of interest I tracked down the SEC documents and the revenue share is based on gross receipts (ie the Deadfire invest page and graphs are correct) - not "after development costs" which could indeed lead to all sorts of Hollywood-style shenanigans and would have probably deterred any vaguely sensible investors

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1658966/000121390017002557/f1apos5ex6iii_figpublishing.htm
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1658966/000121390017002557/0001213900-17-002557

2.3 Revenue Sharing. Developer shall pay to Fig the Fig Share in accordance with the terms below.

2.3.1 “Gross Receipts” mean the Licensed Game receipts actually received by Developer, including without limitation from third party co-publishers (or by Fig from Fig.co or any pre-approved Distributors). For purposes of clarity, “Gross Receipts” includes any advances or upfront license fees from Third Party Co-Publishers when such advances have been recouped by such Third Party Co-Publisher.


2.3.2 The “Fig Share” is calculated by the Gross Receipts multiplied by the Calculated Rate.


2.3.2.1 Until the Fig Share cumulatively reaches an amount equal to 1.13 times the Fig Funds, the “Calculated Rate” shall equal the quotient of the Fig Funds divided by $14,000,000.


2.3.2.2 Thereafter, the “Calculated Rate” shall equal the quotient of the Fig Funds divided by $28,000,000.

tl;dr: There will be dividends paid out to FIG even if the game doesn't cover its costs (although given the long tail these sorts of games have it will surely break even at some point even if initial sales are disappointing)

 

[Brancaleone]

From the beginning of PoE1's development, I got the feeling that the clear prority for the game was to nail down the IP (both with a setting different enough to comply with legal requirements but at the same time familiar enough for IE players, and with a new rule-system) in the hope that it would become successful enough for Obsidian to milk it to death by licencing it (or even to sell the company, who knows). As opposed to, let's say, focus on plot, interactions, encounter design, writing, etc. etc.

If this were true, then Obsidian didn't even need to bother with creating a setting that was clearly differentiated. After Gary Gygax was forced out of TSR at the end of 1985, the Forgotten Realms setting was created as a replacement for Greyhawk, and it was intentionally designed to be as bland and generic as possible to appeal to the lowest common denominator seeking a history-less and culture-less pseudo-medieval setting for their AD&D campaigns. All Obsidian had to do was to manufacture their own pseudo-medieval Europe, ultra-generic collection of city-states, leave out whatever D&D monsters are still under copyright by WotC/Hasbro, replace hobbits halflings with a different race, and substitute their own pantheon of deities. All of that saved effort could have been spent on other aspects of the game.

Nowadays there are quite a few FR copycat settings: if you want to meet the legal requirements necessary for registering your IP, you have to differentiate enough your own setting from all of them (and do it to a degree that will ensure you not to have legal trouble even in the future). It's not at all as simple as you put it.

 

[Lacrymas]

What is this obsession with medieval settings? Haven't we had enough of those? I'd take PoE's jungles over another castle any day.

 

[fantadomat]

What is this obsession with medieval settings? Haven't we had enough of those? I'd take PoE's jungles over another castle any day.

Greenery is good looking and relaxing,i always like the greenish areas in all RPG games. What setting would you like to see?

 

[Lacrymas]

And jungles don't have green in them? I don't have a preference, as long as it's well made, but if I had to choose it'd be something other than medieval Europe. It literally doesn't matter apart from that. Sci-fi, cyberpunk, Renaissance, Ancient Greece, Arabia, underground caverns, alien worlds, whatever.