[Guy Incognito 2]

I was just contemplating on why Blizzard usually gets my money over any other company...I never really thought about it before but I'm guessing it's because they release their Mac versions simultaneously with with the PC version.

Seriously...I've bought every game that comes out of Blizzard in the last 3 or so years. Yet I've ignored other quality games that have come out on Mac but later than the PC version.

This kind of stuff means something to me I guess. If some companies are wondering why their games don't sell well on the Mac, they should at least realize there might be a bunch of people like me in the world that would have bought the game, but don't want to anymore.

Blizzard is apparently releasing WoW simultaneously. This means I can start off as a newb along with the rest of the world (PC). I think that's great.

Thanks Blizzard. You *are* getting my money for WoW. (Holy crap, did I just say that? It kinda makes me feel... ... ...good.)

[::maroma::]

I totally agree. Blizzard is hands down my favorite gaming company. They actually respect the Mac community, and it shows. Not only that, but their games are top notch. I got addicted to them after playing WC2 when it first came out. Since then, they've only gotten better at supporting the Mac.

I tend to give my money to companies that I respect. I tend not to give my money to companies that I don't respect, even though they might have something I want. I will admit that I "borrow" games from friends, but when it comes to Blizzard games, I buy them when they're released (or soon after). I feel that if they respect us enough to keep us in the race with their PC games, then I respect them enough to give them my money.

It's funny to me that a company like Blizzard has supported the Mac so well for so many years, yet every other gaming company on the planet can't see past the numbers they are fed. I understand that a lot of them don't have the resources to support that sort of model, but a lot of them do. Take a company like id, they say their releasing Doom 3 on the Mac, and correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think it's coming out simultaneously. Even though they are supporting the Mac, I really think it's a half-assed way of doing it. Treating us like 2nd class citizens instead of 3rd class citizens doesn't hold much water for me. Carmack says he loves OS X, but he's not really showing it. Actions speak louder than words.

Keep up the good work Blizzard! I can't wait for WoW! I will be pre-ordering for sure!

[Guy Incognito 2]

Blizzard knows they've got hits on their hands so I guess that's why they don't mind doing simultaneous releases.

But what disturbs me is that UT2k3, a sequel to the wildly popular UT, is being released soon...over half a year after the PC version.

Anyone who tries to feed me the "well, Epic was probably testing the market before deciding to release on other platform"-bullshit will get the whole bowl sent back to them. I knew UT2k3 would be a hit...and they knew it too...so why the time gap for the Mac version?

I guarantee that epic would have made more money on a simultaneous release. But whatever...my point is, a company that shows interest for the Mac and the Mac community and ports in a timely fashion definitely gets my respect.

And with my respect, they also get my money. And ultimately, the companies that want to gain the respect of their customers, get the money. The companies that just want the money, don't.

[bousozoku]

It's certainly good to see simultaneous releases. It would be nice if some automation could make more of them happen.

I'm glad so many people like the games that Blizzard produces. I'm probably one of the few that does not own one. I ran the Warcraft III demo for the first time the other night and found it to be well crafted.

It's good to see that some people even feel...good.

[mac freak]

I love Blizzard. The best computer gaming company out there. Second as an overall gaming company only to Nintendo. I've bought every game they've put out since Diablo 1, beta tested WC3 & WC3:TFT, and "did" the D2 Stress Test.

Oh, and greetings to fellow D2-patch-awaiters! LESS THAN TWO WEEKS, BOYS! (...theoretically...)

[blizzard]

"I guarantee that epic would have made more money on a simultaneous release"

While it is true that they might have made a little more money from a simultaneous release, you have to keep in mind that it costs significantly more for them to make it a simultaneous release. The question then becomes, is the extra money they would make by releasing it simultaneously enough to offset the increased development costs?

Not defending any one side, just pointing out a potential hole in your argument.

[DBvader]

blizzard is an awesome company.

i buy most of their games, but so far i have bought all of them to use on my PC

i just switched to the mac when i got my Dual 867, so i am happy that its a hybrid disc.

i support sega a lot, i think that they are a great company.

i try to buy as much sega stuff as i can, especially smilebit deved games.

lately, i dont play games nearly as often as i used to...

[::maroma::]

Originally posted by blizzard:
"I guarantee that epic would have made more money on a simultaneous release"

While it is true that they might have made a little more money from a simultaneous release, you have to keep in mind that it costs significantly more for them to make it a simultaneous release. The question then becomes, is the extra money they would make by releasing it simultaneously enough to offset the increased development costs?

Not defending any one side, just pointing out a potential hole in your argument.

I agree with this for the most part. But I tend to believe that you have to spend money to make money. By that I mean by starting to support the Mac by releasing your games simultaneously, you might see a hit in the beginning (first game or two), but if you stick to that business model, eventually you will see bigger profits. Customer loyalty goes a LONG way. And Mac users are notoriously loyal to the companies that treat them well. If you make quality games that you know from the past sells well on the Mac (even after a 6 month wait), I believe that if you start to treat the Mac community like equals, Mac users will respond. I think Blizzard knows this, and they have worked hard to get to the point where they can easily put out simultaneous releases, and they have the majority of the Mac users loyalty. In my book, that equals profits.

[blizzard]

What does loyalty mean? As long as they keep releasing them simultaneously, of course we'll be 'loyal'...why wouldn't we be? Would loyalty then mean that if they released one of their games a bit behind the PC version, we would still buy it because we were 'loyal'?

Your argument about the long term is interesting, but I don't know if I believe it. Gamers are a fickle bunch...look at ATi vs nVidia, and how long it took people to switch camps when ATi started winning. Mac users are a fickle bunch...I don't think I need to explain why. And Mac gamers? All I can say is, hats off to people like Brad Oliver who tirelessly deal with crap from Mac gamers about x, y, or z. That takes a lot more patience than I think I'd ever have. My point is, I think that if Blizzard suddenly decided to focus on the PC version of WoW and leave the Mac release until 2-3 months afterwards, all of this 'loyalty' would disappear faster than you could say 'marketshare'.

Comments?

[Brad Oliver]

Originally posted by blizzard:
My point is, I think that if Blizzard suddenly decided to focus on the PC version of WoW and leave the Mac release until 2-3 months afterwards, all of this 'loyalty' would disappear faster than you could say 'marketshare'.

Let me just say right off the bat that I think Blizzard currently sets The Example for how Mac game development should be. It's hard to see how simultaneous releases of hybrid disks of high quality ports of excellent games could be in any way construed as bad.

With that out of the way, does anyone remember StarCraft or the first Diablo? The Mac release of StarCraft was many, many months behind the PC release. I don't have the numbers handy, but it must've been somewhere between 6 and 9 months. It was so long that many Mac gamers stated at the time that they were through with Blizzard and would never buy another one of their products, and they typically punctuated their rants with many colorful words. StarCraft on the Mac went on to sell extremely well regardless.

I've been told by some Mac publishers that they haven't noticed an appreciable hit when they release a Mac title several months later as opposed to simultaneous, so while I'm sure the later releases cost them sales, they seem to think that it's not a significant enough margin to justify the extra development cost. Obviously the best situation for all would be if the original PC developer had a Mac programmer in-house who kept their version up-to-date like Blizzard, but for whatever reason, very few companies choose to do that. Sometimes that can be a curse too - Neverwinter Nights is being done in-house, and was (long ago) thought to be nearly simultaneous. That's probably a rant for a different day though.

[Adam Betts]

Seperate Release Date for PC and Mac = Seperate Marketing cost

In other word, it's cheaper to do a simultaneous release.

Blizzard is one of my most favorite game developer. I own almost all games they made except Diablo 1. Even though my current computer won't be able to run WoW, I still will buy the game.

[Brad Oliver]

Originally posted by Adam Betts:
Seperate Release Date for PC and Mac = Seperate Marketing cost

In other word, it's cheaper to do a simultaneous release.

I don't see how you can make such a direct correlation.

For starters, it ignores the fact that the cost of Mac development for a simultaneously-released project is typically greater because the development time is longer vs. porting the title once it's finished.

Second, it assumes that any marketing for the PC version is not applicable to Mac users, which isn't true. If Mac users are innundated with ads for Game X for the PC in whatever non-Mac media they are reading, then it doesn't matter _that_ much if they see those ads a few months early. After all, PC users see ads for games that are months from release all the time.

[Adam Betts]

Originally posted by Brad Oliver:
I don't see how you can make such a direct correlation.

Well, I learned about it from one of Aspyr employers.

You should tell them that they are wrong, not me

[Brad Oliver]

Originally posted by Adam Betts:
Well, I learned about it from one of Aspyr employers.

You should tell them that they are wrong, not me

My point was that just the one fact about marketing costs is not enough to immediately conclude that this makes simultaneous development financially feasible. There are many factors.

In the case of Aspyr's new-found love, it's pretty clear what the advantages are for them. They are now doing PC and Mac ports simultaneously for titles where the PC publisher would have not make a PC version.

Looked at from another perspective, they're essentially adding PC porting (from consoles) to their existing Mac porting business, and in doing so, controlling their ability to make the titles a hybrid release. Presumably the additional profit from the PC titles will more than compensate for the added development cost they're taking on. This model is different from wanting to do a simultaneous Mac port of a PC title that is being published and developed by a separate PC entity.