We've talked about killing Linux Myths before.
Whether it be security through obscurity or Linux is just not ready for the desktop.
Logic and current unbiased data have proven otherwise. But there is still one that persists...
Linux Users are cheap and Linux Users are not a profitable market for gaming developers.
Ahem...
I think we, at least on some scale, have disproved that. Flash Forward to 2dBoy and Frictional. While we agreed not to divulge some fairly intimate statistics about each company sales, we are able to, and did report at the time, that Linux Users slayed all previous sales records for each game.
See, some myths and even some cultures believe to stop a spirit or ghost from haunting you, someone must unearth their remains and pour salt on their bones...
Demons and Spirits, reportedly, cannot cross a salt barrier. Some say to burn it for good measure.
So metaphorically...we are trying to stop this persistent haunting...
Yeah right helios...initial Linux momentum for sales then the Win and Mac folks resumed their purchasing pace.
Wanna bet?
Please...bet me now. Baby needs a new pair of shoes. She wears a size seven, loves heels and is 38....
nevermind...
I not only want you to look at the numbers here...I want you to do the math.
It's pretty amazing. Now, given some of you are as mathematically-challenged as I am, here is what I am driving at. Taking the market share for Windows, the number of Linux Users both paying the most for this special 'name your price' sale and the fact that they remain customers since they discovered 2dboy...
Well, all there is to do now is to salt the bones.
Linux Users will buy games they enjoy....but given DRM and other restrictions, there may be a caveat or two there.
From the 2dboy website (linked by graphic below)
Breakdown By Platform
We were expecting the average price paid to be highest for Linux users and lowest for Windows users, but the gap was larger than we thought it would be…
Also, the per-platform download breakdown was pretty surprising, with Windows accounting for 65%, and Mac and Linux pretty much splitting the remainder evenly:
And stop it...you know who you are. Anyone who would rather steal a game from these guys than pay a few lousy bucks for it will mug girl scouts without hesitation.
So...is this going to get the attention of companies like EA and other big name game distributors?
Probably not...too bad...
Their loss.
All-Righty then
