Business News from Historicon

[JDM]

Fredericksburg, VA, July 25th 2013 – In a hot summer day in Fredericksburg -VA, JD McNeil, Chairman of the Slitherine Group, kicked off its most important press conference ever. The current statistics for the group continue a pattern of significant growth, up to the second quarter of 2013, the latest figures available. Over the last 36 months, Group sales have increased by a staggering 480% and without doubt Slitherine Group is now the undisputed leader of the strategy and wargaming niche sector. In his opening address McNeil said “We revel in niche and in our case this is most certainly not small or insignificant.”

The increase in revenue comes mainly from the more powerful PC digital download platforms and a growth in the tablet sector, which now contributes over 25% of total revenue and with 19 new titles currently in development continued growth is expected. Over the same period retail growth was sluggish and continues to become ever more irrelevant.

“We think that the case is now made”, said JD McNeil, “fully featured games will and do command a sensible pricing policy on the new tablet platforms and it seems that we might not have been as crazy with our pricing strategy, as certain press outlets suggested. My prediction at this event last year that others would soon be following in our wake seems to have come to pass, with Ubisoft amongst others now announcing some realistic price points”.

This business model, addressing a dedicated niche of passionate and dedicated players has allowed the Group to reach a total of over one million unique users per month, with a community of more than 250.000 active forum members.

“We are often compared to the likes of Impulse or GamersGate to name but a few. Theirs is a totally different business model; they are simply 21st Century shops, no more, no less. What we do is entirely different and pretty unique in this business and we know that our developers really do appreciate all of this, because they tell us and they hang around”.

The heart of the business is represented by over 110 development partners, all fully supported throughout the development process by the Groups team of Professionals providing technology backup, management and business advice and often funding. The output in terms of releases is astonishing; with the number of titles exceeding one per week at peak periods. Big names in the Strategy world like 2by3 Games, Lordz and NorbSoft are now joined by important new signings like Fury Software, whist the Groups three internal studios are focusing on our own IP and the Games Workshop franchise.

“Although we are more than happy with current results, we never stop stretching our growth targets and extending services to our community and to this end we are announcing that over the next few weeks we will be launching new Matrix Games stores in French, Spanish and Italian, giving gamers the opportunity to access our great strategy games in their own language. On top of that, we are also expanding into new genres: leading with our Buzz Aldrin Space Exploration Franchise and new, Sci Fi and Fantasy titles all designed to expand our range. We see a lot of opportunities to attract new customers by giving them exactly what they want and some they may never even have thought about”.

[wings7]

JDM, Thanks for the information, that is wonderful news about our hobby and industry. Matrix and Slitherine are one of the most (if not the most) important outfits in our industry and it sounds like it will continue for many, many years to come. On a personal note, I still think the most important gaming platform is our beloved (and frustrating) PC! Happy Gaming to all!

Patrick

[DSWargamer]

I am pleased to be able to say "I told you so".

I got laughed at in the past, and I get to say HAH!.

I own Gary's incredible creation War in the Pacific and War in the East (plus expansions). But I also no the truth. The future is not dominated by the PC, the PC is dominated by the future. Expand from just being about PC wargames or die out.

And stop calling it dummied down. Meet me for some Battle Academy, and prove how damned smart you are if you can.

A 2 hour turn doesn't make WitE a better game, is just makes it a longer game. Fine if you like playing one or two games a YEAR. Fine if you like that volume of detail. Hey, I like playing my copy of The Longest Day too, and moving 10 thousand counters a turn.

But the hobby isn't going to grow thanks to Gary, he's only keeping a core of aging grognards happy while the wait to evolve into senior citizens. Our hobby needs to boldly invade the turf of the younguns, and give them the same dose we were given in the early 70s.

I don't care if WitE won't play on my tablet. I'm glad to see the games coming out for a tablet though.

[JDM]

The games we make are certainly diverse, and the all play a huge part in our catalogue, PC is by a country mile still the largest part of the business, but what we do see is that there is a synergy between the various platforms and sales on one platform and similarly sales on a specific type of game spikes sales across the entire range of like games. The important feature in all this is that we now believe that we have a presence across they full range

[Josh]

"...Group sales have increased by a staggering 480%..."
 
[X(]

[Max 86]

Thats great news. Lets hope this will lead to a Slitherine / Matrix invasion of the android market as well....sooner than later

[DSWargamer]

I'm just waiting for MS to get their uninspired keesters in gear, get a decent tablet running Windows 8 out and not charge the moon for it.

Theeeeeeeeen you will see some interesting changes as people get to play our wargames as easily as the kids can play their DS games on their Nintendos.

Yes I know, the games are not meant to be touch screen enabled. So what, a mouse click or a finger tap, not much difference to our low demand games.

[rodney727]

But you can play WiTE on your Ipad. I also plan on getting a windows tablet (pass on the android one tho) and have an Ipad as well. I can't wait til WaW comes out for the Ipad!

ORIGINAL: DSWargamer

I am pleased to be able to say "I told you so".

I got laughed at in the past, and I get to say HAH!.

I own Gary's incredible creation War in the Pacific and War in the East (plus expansions). But I also no the truth. The future is not dominated by the PC, the PC is dominated by the future. Expand from just being about PC wargames or die out.

And stop calling it dummied down. Meet me for some Battle Academy, and prove how damned smart you are if you can.

A 2 hour turn doesn't make WitE a better game, is just makes it a longer game. Fine if you like playing one or two games a YEAR. Fine if you like that volume of detail. Hey, I like playing my copy of The Longest Day too, and moving 10 thousand counters a turn.

But the hobby isn't going to grow thanks to Gary, he's only keeping a core of aging grognards happy while the wait to evolve into senior citizens. Our hobby needs to boldly invade the turf of the younguns, and give them the same dose we were given in the early 70s.

I don't care if WitE won't play on my tablet. I'm glad to see the games coming out for a tablet though.

[JDM]

I am not on the Technical side and we do have a few games coming to Andrio, but the jury is still out. The technical aspects are a significant problem and consequently extremely costly, piracy is rampant, the commercial model is flawed, sales viz a viz both IOS and PC are minuscule, consequently as things stand a less than attractive prospect. Still I think it's fairly obvious from our track record that if and when this becomes a viable proposition we will be right there
JDM

[DSWargamer]

Rogo, is WitE played on the iPad through an install or through some other factor?

My Android will run anything off of my computer via Splashtop, but that is only via a net connection. Not always present though.

[vonRocko]

More fluff for the masses.You even got some people thinking Battle academy and all the panzer corps clone games are serious wargames! No doubt,sales are up,but the shift from games with substance to lite games is apparent. Just my opinion, I don't expect anything to change.

[DSWargamer]

ORIGINAL: vonRocko

More fluff for the masses.You even got some people thinking Battle academy and all the panzer corps clone games are serious wargames! No doubt,sales are up,but the shift from games with substance to lite games is apparent. Just my opinion, I don't expect anything to change.

I'm just as willing to say that you don't even know what a serious wargame is actually.

It's just an opinion in the end. You call them lite, and I call some games pointlessly tedious dull and boring. What makes a 'real' wargame more real? Counter density? actual real world time span required to complete a turn? Map size?

If they took Panzer Corps, made it the same game, only the entire war, merely a lot more units, and a massive map, would it suddenly become more 'real' or merely really silly in terms of time needed to scroll the map?

I think some aspects of wargamer opinion are really, well, dumb.

[Jim D Burns]

ORIGINAL: DSWargamer
What makes a 'real' wargame more real?

Historical accuracy, without it it's just a strategy game with an historical war used as its theme.

Jim

[DSWargamer]

Ahh historical accuracy. What precisely is that though?

During the war, some of the most idiotic decisions were made, that had a profound impact on the war.

What if that brilliant, but also stupid Patton had not slapped the soldier, not insulted the Russians and managed to stay out of the doghouse?

It is interesting that even HE wanted to invade the Pas de Calais.

I often wonder, what would have happened if he had gotten to? Because the Germans sure expected it. And in real life, the US sure took a pounding on Omaha. Picture the invasion if it has gone against stiffer conditions.

The trouble with GAMES attempting to recreate history, is the games always leave out all of the stupidity.

Picture the Germans invading the Soviet Union and just granting the Ukrainians their independence from Stalin immediately? They hated Stalin plenty until the Germans and their mindless racism forced them to hate Germany more. But how do you mimic mindless racism in a wargame?

Hitler insisted the ME 262 just had to be a fighter bomber. Picture the war if in 43 he had just shut up and let the Luftwaffe have it as the fighter it really was. The bombers would have not been bombing flat anything any time soon.

Historical accuracy is not as easy as a lot like to make it seem.

If WW2 were run without all the insanity, the Germans always win. Yes boys, the Germans always win. We let Poland get trashed. We gave them promises and didn't keep them. But in a wargame, I can force the allies to do things that they never did. I have played games where immediately after the attack on Poland, the French attack the Rhine. But sadly, so many games are so devoted to timelines exactly as they happened, that regardless of what you do, certain events simply get forced on the player. But never because of the original reasons.

Stalin had a better army in Russia, but after butchering the men running the army, well of course it was not ready.
So many games just make it easy to invade Russia at the beginning. I don't think many realize, what would happen if the Germans attacked 3 months earlier, or a year later.

In Advanced Third Reich, the counters are not fixed in place. Every game requires you to set them up with maybe new thinking.
In most computer games, every time you play the game, the pieces will always be set up in the precise same way. It's why as nice a game as some are, the player can memorize the places the pieces will be and generate absolutely idiotic opening moves. Ok this unit goes here, attacks this unit there, gets this result and then you follow up here and here.

It doesn't matter whether the game is Strategic Command, or World in Flames, the games have finite opening moves.

The BEST way to play really good wargames, is to play something like Advanced Third Reich, with an interface program like Warplanner (made with A3R in mind) and eliminate the computer wargame never alters problem completely.
But the thing is, so many wargamers will scream and howl and complain if the game has no AI to play, because they can't find opponents.

Really, the thing is, wargaming has for the most part long been a loner game hobby, but, in the past, solo meant you pushed counters around on a map, by yourself, and no AI. You played both sides, and you tried your best to out do the best thinking for both sides you could come up with.

You are kidding yourself if you think most computer wargames are giving you 'great' wargaming.
You can play 3 months solid of War in the East solo vs the AI only to find out the AI had a worthless strategy all along.
Or you play for 3 months, and they release a patch that fixes a problem that has just rendered all 3 months valueless.

Or you can play something like Battle Academy, a design that is fairly good at recreating conditions, doesn't cry over animations, and isn't concerned that their is comic like artwork thrown in for amusement and can be played in a single sitting.
And if they release a patch it likely means nothing much as you have played scores of games any way already.

I defy you to defend any title on the market, which I can't rebut and illustrate how the argument isn't really valid.

And keep in mind, I have played so many hundreds of wargames, I have seen it all.

[Agathosdaimon]

i guess it depends also on what aspect of wargaming one enjoys playing out - i like the operational level and fog of war and things like delays with orders and reports being given and received - games like Campaigns on the Danube and HPS Tigers Unleashed - although the latter is one that one really must have patience for, i dont see it impossible for wargamers like Campaigns on the danube or something similar to be on a tablet, its not a large game at all and all the older games of the nineties like Tigers on the Prowl 2 satisfy me with their easy menu interfaces and WEGO system and again are tiny in size compared to games today. Too many varying tastes to define a wargame exactly.

Perhaps impossible to ever have historical accuracy but of course as soon as you deviate from history in playing a game then accuracy may go out the window - perhaps just good maps and historically accurate units and tactics, are what is needed, though thats not essential for a great wargame - Advanced Tactics looks quite good in this regard. However for me also, we a game is designed so that alot of the complex factors of fighting a war and running a campaign are abstracted ingeniously then that makes for a great wargame that can be fun and a serious wargame at the same time

[DSWargamer]

I have long considered Advanced Squad Leader and Steel Panthers the pinnacle of wargaming when it comes to not being a slave to history and accuracy issues.

You start on turn one and by the end of last turn, the situation in the war and the over all strategic situation are barely worth mention.

Tactical will always beat out anything past simulating an operational battle. The moment politics is involved, history is likely just a good place for initial set up.

We all know where the units were, but, the moment you deviate significantly from the history, well the point of accuracy is lost to a large extent.

[Jamm]

[quote]ORIGINAL: DSWargamer

I have long considered Advanced Squad Leader and Steel Panthers the pinnacle of wargaming when it comes to not being a slave to history and accuracy issues.

Agreed, historical accuracy on the small unit scale.
Otherwise the Germans, the Japanese, the Confederates, Napolean etc. will always lose.
And let's not forget that these are supposed to be games, not books.

[Jamm]

ORIGINAL: Josh

"...Group sales have increased by a staggering 480%..."

[X(]

If things are going this well, you can certainly expect new companies to enter this 'niche'.

[histgamer]

Sure matrix is shifting more toward mobile because that's where a ton of money is coming in but 75% of their business is still Pc. That's 3/4 of their revenue. Sure the future may be dominated by tablets but tablets have a long way to go for various technical reasons before they overtake PCs. Even if the mobile market continues to grow rapidly it will take time. Lets say next year mobile is 50% of matrix's income (keep in mind that kind of growth would be nearly unheard of, the 480% growth this year sounds huge but thats from virtually no mobile presence the year before, it will slow), that's still only half. Also the last time Matrix brought it up (a few months ago) they mentioned PC sales were up 40% last year which is still very healthy growth a company would be foolish to abandon. In fact 40% increases in software sales is phenomenal when you compare it to most other gaming markets.

Also it's critical to understand Tablets still need to figure out several things. Cooling is a huge problem right now. Most of these high spec tablets don't run at 100% or even 75% of their spec sheets more than a few seconds because they lack adequate cooling, there simply isn't space in them to cool a high performance chip. The spec sheets that Apple, Samsung, Asus and other tablet manufactures put out mean almost nothing because the units run at a fraction of their theoretical capabilities because they are not able to sufficiently cool themselves in such a small, poorly ventilated space. Also unless plugged in tablets drain batteries very quickly. Tablets wont pass PCs until they figure out more reliable and longer lasting batteries and given the appeal of smaller sized tablets batteries are a serious problem right now.

Also and lastly, people who are saying that "serious" wargames are dying need to ask themselves this, when exactly did Gary's games drive or dominate the market? They never did.

Never... SSI and Sierra some of the great publishers from the past pushed far more mainstream games on the market and did well with them, games like Panzer General, and Civil War Generals, but the ultra mega games made by people like Gary have always been very very niche and likely always will be. With that said I think there will always be a market for the uber games, you guys always talk about the aging group of gamers, but I'm 26 years old and love Gary's games heck I started playing matrix games when I was 16, sure I'm not in the majority but I'm also not the only person interested in bigger games.

[JDM]

we are certainly not moving away from PC games, have you seen our release schedule? [:)] If we are moving away from anything its probably retail and Console games. In economic terms tablet is replacing that area of our business, but PC is by far the dominant factor
just for the record we did not say 480% over the last year, but it's still been outstanding