7 million TPA downloads in 2012

[sotie]

I just viewed Jay Olbernolte's T2 kickstarter video. I was amazed to hear him say in the video that "last year The Pinball Arcade was downloaded over 7 million times". Obviously, not everyone that downloads a free version ends up contributing and purchasing tables but that's a lot of people exposed to TPA.

The comment is at 6:26 in the video.
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1067367405/pinball-arcade-terminator-2-judgment-day

 

[DanBradford]

Lets assume that 1 in 3 do, is that fair?

By my mathS that means the company has taken at least $10M even if people only bought a single table, and we all know that's an underestimate.

Good for them

 

[Rudy]

The company might have taken in $10m, but at least half of that goes to license holders + buying tables + staff costs.

I know that's probably what you meant but I'm starting to get sick of people going "well if they've made x million then why are they asking for kickstarters?"

 

[ER777]

The company might have taken in $10m, but at least half of that goes to license holders + buying tables + staff costs.

And don't forget that their distributors Apple, Google, Sony, and Microsoft are getting a cut too.

 

[Lord Boron]

It would be interesting to see the breakdown by platform of it.

 

[ER777]

It would be extremely interesting to see that but I'm sure all four would have something in place to (at least try to) prevent that info from getting out.

 

[DanBradford]

The company might have taken in $10m, but at least half of that goes to license holders + buying tables + staff costs.

I know that's probably what you meant but I'm starting to get sick of people going "well if they've made x million then why are they asking for kickstarters?"

i wasn't even thinking about that, i am genuinely happy that they are most likely making a lot of money. but since you brought it up, it does seem a little cheeky to protect their profit by asking their customers to bear the costs, as they don't share their profits back with us, do they? why are you getting sick of people saying that?

i'm in London btw. are you on the pinballinfo.com forum?

 

[Jeff Strong]

And don't forget that their distributors Apple, Google, Sony, and Microsoft are getting a cut too.

Yep, 30% in most cases.

 

[sotie]

I just find it amazing that so many people have been exposed to TPA. Taking this number into account it's not surprising at all that real-life pinball is seeing such a resurgence right now.

 

[smbhax]

Lets assume that 1 in 3 do, is that fair?

I don't know how it usually goes on the various platforms, but a 33% adoption rate is probably a way too generous estimate.

 

[canuck]

This is why I don't see the point of kickstarters. A multimillion dollar business can easily get a hold of 70K.

 

[Lord Boron]

They do also have rent, salaries, marketing......

This isn't EA were talking about. I don't they're rolling around in a pile of cash like Scrooge McDuck.

 

[Kolchak357]

Not really fair to speculate on profit if you you can not define the startup, fixed, and variable costs associated with the business. Best you can speculate on is gross revenue, but that hardly sheds any light on net profit. As an auditor I've seen many businesses with multimillion dollars of revenue that are deeply in the red.

 

[SKILL_SHOT]

IM RICH BIOOOOTCH!

 

[Bass Mummy]

Here's to 10 million in 2013. (or more)

 

[Kolchak357]

Yep, hope they are doing well and continue to sell a lot of DLC. I want FS to be around for a long time.

 

[brakel]

Just employing people is expensive. The rule of thumb is that the actual cost of employment is 3X the salaries. Anyway, I do hope that they make lots of money. I think that the way they run their Kickstarters is a lot like movies that run Kickstarters. I've been following some board games before FS did their Kickstarter and those are like pre-sales. In many cases the Kickstarter contributors get the board game before general release and at a reduced price. Bigger contributions often get them special pieces or alternate maps or boards. I'm more in favor of those kinds of Kickstarters because they give the contributor a reasonable value for their money. With TPA, more of the contribution is just a donation. Its not wrong its just a different kind of fund raising.

 

[SKILL_SHOT]

Ive downloaded TPA on many peoples cellphones to show them or to demo tables yet not released for PS3 do those downloads count as DL's, so to the theory that 1/2 of DL's translate to a purchase might be close. 1/2 of DL's result in a purchase...probably thats 3.5 million globally, but the PS VITA gives you a 2 for 1 deal and so thats 2 DL's and every pack is considerd a DL and if you have 12+ packs then were talking maybe 1 million globally.

 

[DanBradford]

I have downloaded it at least 6 times, probably closer to 8, because of all the bugs with scores. And many people put it on several different platforms (though these still count as purchases)

I'm guessing that 7 million downloads will only be half that number of people, but still impressive numbers.

I wonder what the figures will be for 2013

 

[canuck]

Yea, now that I think about it, I've probably downloaded the App three for four times. Well, I wish them luck - and I'll probably buy the table when it gets released.

70K just seems like a lot to me, as I would prefer to get some more unlicensed tables... but hey, T2 it is.