When in the course of gaming events….
January 30th, 2001 by CrusaderGiven the events of this past week, I figured it would beprudent to commenton the state of our gaming industry niche.
It’s been approximately four months since the last Loki Software productshipped, andsix months since Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauriwent gold without shipping.Loki does not release figures or comment on sales, but John Carmack hasstatedseveral times over the past year that the sales figures forQuake 3 werelow (of course, how indicative thisis of other Linux game sales is unknown, since it’s only a single data point). Also,we have the aforementioned departure of three programmers over the course of a few weeks, althoughreasons for the resignations have yet to be given.
Unfortunately, available evidence would seem to indicate that there is now, or has been, someform of financial trouble at Loki. How serious the problems are, how long they will last (or ifthey’re now in the past), or if Loki will survive is all unknown at this time.Loki’s success is dependent on several factors largely out of their control, which includesthe status of Linux in the consumer desktop market, where we have yet to make serious inroads.Indeed, Linus Torvalds himself hassaid thatit may be “perhaps five or 10 years” before Linux is a formidable option for home users. To their credit,Loki has taken some considerable steps to ensure this occurs (besides creating a gaming libraryso that new users will have additional incentive to use our platform) by creating or contributing toa myriad of open source developmentprojects, such asMesa, SDL,OpenAL, and Setup.It would be tragic if, by laying the groundwork for future Linux game developers and players before the marketcould sustain them, Loki became a martyr.
Loki is a bold experiment not yet concluded, but regardless of the final outcome, we at LinuxGames would like to express our gratitude totheir past, present, and future employees for their work and sacrifice. Good luck, and thanks.
November 30th, -0001 at 12:00 am
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Is there anything we could do beside buy games from Loki?
November 30th, -0001 at 12:00 am
If I on the store shelf could find a Linux version of a game I’m about to buy next to the Windows version, I wouldn’t hesitate to pick the Linux version…
I think this is true for many of us.
But since it is not possible to do that (mostly), not many Linux games are sold…
This is the fundamental problem of the Linux gaming market.
Who will buy Deus Ex for Linux several months after it’s release on the Windows platform?
November 30th, -0001 at 12:00 am
While there seems to have been an alarming number of people leaving Loki, I’m not convinced that we are seeing the ‘writing on the wall’ so to speak. Yes – four developers have moved to other positions with other companies. From what we can see, they all left voluntarily so it doesn’t look as though there are layoffs in progress at Loki which really would be the signs which would get me really worried. Still, it would be nice to see some more titles hitting the shelves (electronic or otherwise) to give us some reassurance that business is continuing as normal, or even a statement from Loki explaining the background to the current situation.
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Cheers,[br]
Toby Haynes
November 30th, -0001 at 12:00 am
Unless someone knows something we dont, then Loki’s troubles are not financial. The best guess is a legal action with a packager, although this is NOT confirmed.[br]
What IS confirmed is that Loki told me directly that they CANNOT talk about what the problem is. That to us at Tux Games sounds like a legal obligation.[br]
Linux gaming does have a future, and we are all responsible for seeing it happen. Personally I would like to see everyone purchasing through Tux Games ( http://www.tuxgames.com in case you didnt know) but purchase through us, or purchase from other people, people need to support the platform with their wallets.[br]
From the information we have gained, the games porting companies such as Loki and tribsoft and Hyperion need to sell 10,000 units of each game. Tux Games hasnt seen nearly that many sales, so some of you out there are not buying. Get out there and make purchases or the industry WILL die.
November 30th, -0001 at 12:00 am
As I believe I have said before, there are only two possible outcomes to this situation. One being Loki will survive, the other being that it will die. Speculation is fruitless. Loki will tell us what is happening when they are good and ready. Until then, find a game you like, order it from Loki, and wait.
November 30th, -0001 at 12:00 am
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I just don’t want nothing bad to happen to Loki if you ask me. What could I be… A buy out? People just wanted to leave? Company have hard times? I guess I could do nothing but wait, besides what more would we do? I know don’t but I’m gone to the gym now…Bye.
November 30th, -0001 at 12:00 am
Then it’s far too late to save them. The fact that they haven’t released a product in so long makes it out to be a financial issue. If you wanted to save Loki.. the time to do it would have been when they released CTP. I know so many people warezed that game. I know some personally. The fact is, they said “It can’t hurt!” Well.. it does hurt. The sales for all Linux games thus far have sucked.
SMAC is now $9.95 in a bargain bin. The alien expansion pack is $29.95 WITH SMAC bundled. It’s far too late to sell this product for anything above $34.95. I , as a game player on occasion, will not pay $20 more for ANY OS.
If Loki wanted to survive, they needed to dump their games on the market at prices equal to or less than the windows games. They cannot, and so , I will not purchase them. Financially, windows is a better fit.
Magnwa