Games on CD - Hot or not?

After the warez discussion i got bored and wanted to talk about CDs (no just kidding...)

But indie Games on CD look cool. But how does the customer looks at it? I meen, paying $5 or $10 more just ot get the game on CD? wouldn't they rather burn there own copy then? because it ain't really much different, is it? Lots of questions, lots of awnsers. Could be interessing to talk about...

Personaly i think Games on CD are HOT unless you don't add a custom full-color label that is apealing to the eye. And have no booklet or insert with screenshots or a little manual. Either way i would prefer to burn my own CDs and print them. I once bought a little publisher, still got about 200 blank CDs left -_-

It's hot imho and i would probably buy that rather than a not as reliable download version (if you happen to be without internet for a while..), and very much so in the DVD cases with a nice cover. :)

I buy my software online, so I would generally download, assuming the download is fairly snappy (like 10 mins or less)/ Instant delivery and all things being equal I would guess it would be slightly cheaper.

personally me and me partner download loads of indie software and the stuff we register we burn to cd with the keys, this means it much more easy to find the ones you want as they are catalogued by year.

My question would be, how do you get your CD into the hands of the consumer?

Sonicfactory: Yeah i guess that's the the biggest reason to avoid boxed games :/

you could ship it? shipping takes about 1-2weeks arround the world. (if its just 1 DVD case)

Dont ShareIt do a backup on cd thingy?

Dabz

They are loads of companies that do custom burning & printing for few $, like CafePress:

http://www.cafepress.com/cp/info/sell/products/audio

http://www.cafepress.com/cp/info/sell/products/help_datafaq

They can even do shipping and such:

People like BMT and Big Fish have an option where the customer can choose to have a CD copy, but you don't make any extra money from that.

Any CD that costs more than $6 is a rip-off.

I got all stuff to make the same printed CDs, expenses are:
- CD: +-0,20ct
- Jewl Case: +-0,30ct
- DVD Case: +-0,40ct
- Inserts: +-0,10ct
- Inkt +-0,10ct

That is like $0.80 production costs. Add $2 shipping and $0.50 packing.
Makes: $3.30, that is $1.70 profit (about 33%)
In case they don't even ship it for $6, that is about $5 profit!!! (500%)

That BMT micro and such ask $10,- is unbeleivable. Their royaltees are very high anyway... i never understood that.
Its one rip-off and not intended to be profitable for the vendor at all. Just free extra service for the vendor to offer, and jackpot for BMT micro.

But does cafepress actualy support CD orders through API?
Cause you don't want your customer to and up buying at Cafepress, that is not professional i think.
So far i think cafepress is the one with most decent prices.

I was mistaking, that $5 at cafepress was for a papersleeve, not a Jewel case. Odd they sudenly add $3 for a Jewel case... its not that expensive.

But i did not include in my calculation bandwith and storage expenses... hmmm..

Anyway, i won't hide most secret information :-P
I happen to know who Plimus is using to make CD's.
Instead, go and buy from them directly instead of trough Plimus... that actualy makes things profitable (more or less)
http://www.swiftcd.com there you go :)
Thing is..you probebly don't sell 1000+ cd's a month, so you get ther most expensive package anyway, which does not differ that much from BMT Micro or Plimus.

Distribution of tangible media is an anachronism. The only reason to still buy then is if you really want all that "Collectors Edition" crap they throw in. Give me downloadable content any day. Totalgaming.net FTW!

I just threw out at least 100kgs of old, worthless media (100 or so C64 tapes, 700 C64 discs, 50 Amstrad discs, at least 2000 Amiga discs, 100 VHS tapes and 250 LaserDiscs). All in the trash. In 10 years from now, I'll be doing the same to my N64 cartridges, GameCube/Wii discs, DVDs and PC discs.

At some point you're going to realize that using up all that space for something that isn't even tangible is an total waste.

I have to disagree here. If you went on that theory you'd have no pictures on the walls, no 'trinkets' etc etc.

I still have some of my old vinyl records and yet I don't have a record player... Why? Because I think they're nice, I have memories of when I bought them and my life at the time. And I don't want to just throw them out.

I think it's perfectly reasonable to hang onto something because you like it, even if it is now worthless and/or useless.

Personally I love cds, records etc, I love reading the inlays and booklets, credits, etc etc. I like thumbing through my CD collection to find a track or something that makes me thing "Wow, not listened to that for ages!" then sit back put a CD on and enjoy. Having everything on an MP3 player is less tactile and personally, I'd go for the wasting space any day.

I wonder whether my kids will view collecting "things" with data on worthless as they'll just have everything via the Internet instantly.

It's relieving to not have lots of stuff that doesn't serve a practical purpose. I have my compuer, bed, lightboard and a few not really necessary things in my closet like a few old games and some DVDs. And my plant of course... it's like my bestest friend :)

My room may look kinda empty, but it's easy to clean with less stuff and it's relaxing.

I also threw my two Amigas and their 1400 disks a while ago.

I think it might depend on the generation of the buyer. I can imagine that a certain group o' ppl likes to have something physical in their hands. In addition they want to touch it in the shop and think it over, they want to look at the back of the box to see pics. Maybe those people do little on the net except emailing? Maybe they don't have a cc or they don't trust online payments at all?
Question is: who is this group, and are indie games aimed at that group?

Maybe indie games are a bit like TV which you watch but don't own unless you buy the DVD box-set. So people download them play them for a bit and move on. They don't need boxes cluttering up places.

And not if you take in mind it costs another $10. Which brings me to the idea that paper-sleeved CD's maybe the best way to go. They ship as fast as normal mail, its cheap, and they have what they want anyway.... that is a printed CD, that takes no room. :-P

The thing I like about downloadable installers is that they never ask you to put the CD in the drive everytime you want to play the bloody thing.

Dabz

lol.. "Loading...." 1sec later "Please insert the CD" .. "Retry, Abort, Cancel".

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO000000000000000000ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO00000000000000000oooooooooooooooooooooo............................!!!!

Dabz

^_^

problem with papersleeved CDs is you can't stack them up and find our what they are by looking at the side...

oh yeah:

Nnnnnnoooooooooooohhhhhhaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrgggg!

Actually I bought a CD online from the states and you could get them to send just the paper inlay, booklet and the CD. So when you got it you put it in your own Jewel case. Thought that was a reallly good idea.

Thats a neat idea, Mr upside down question mark person, or do you still use the name Rob? ;)

Dabz

I thought he was "the Joker"

http://www.blitzbasic.com/Account/showuser.php?id=547

EdzUp, about: http://edupton.tripod.com/elitemultiplayer.html
did you think of it to make all the custom hosted servers listed on 1 big list?
otherwise none know whos hosting unless....

if i did the cd thing, it would have to have loads of cool stuff, like 'making of the game', nice extras etc

yes, thats quite a good idea :)
somthing to take in mind when you start, because at the end you can't really make a making off :P

Since im stuck with a few hundred CD's, a CD printer at the value of arround $500, and Coating, i guess i will be using that for now to make my CD's. I will post updates if this works out well.


thinking about it a bit longer... wouldn't you be afraid people don't buy anything at all because the CD version is to expensive, and the download does not have all the extra's?

Personally, I'd appreciate being able to buy the cheaper version without all the 'extras'. Much like DVD films I buy stuffed with extras I never even look at (unless it's a film I'm particularly interested in). If I could get a cheaper version without all the guff, that'd suit me.