Some amazing Casual Game sales stats

http://greyaliengames.com/blog/some-incredible-casual-game-sales-stats/

I wrote up some stats I found. Pretty mindblowing. Thing is, games that do this well are pretty rare....

Wow, impressive! Do you know which ones were made with BlitzMax?

As for Jewel Quest it would be interesting to know how good the other Bejeweld clones have done and not just this one i order to get an idea of if it's only one that is doing all the sales or that they are all doing fine.

none in BMax.

Plenty of match-3s and only a few do really well. Big Kahuna Reef for example.

What's the difference of the majority of those who are not doing so well compared to the few ones which do, like Jewel Quest then? Are those doing fine really the better games? Are they just promoted better? ...

Probably like most things, luck.

Luck for sure always is a factor but i guess there is more behind. Research on what people want to play, what do they expect, testing & polishing, advertising it and so on. Most of the time it's a mixture of all these things.

As i don't have the nerve to test these Bejeweld clones out on my own i just would have been interested if there is something significant about them, like this title is much more polished for instance or that it's theme is something which people do more appreciate.

Things like that...

Marketing...

Edit:There are more sales stats here http://www.gameproducer.net/category/sales-statistics/

Jewel Quest is not as polished as modern match 3's but it was the first to use different shaped grids and to make you turn the grid gold under the matches (like my games do). So it's been around a while and is on every portals and was marketed like hell and now has it's own momentum (plus sequals and card games with the same name etc). BKR did the same thing as Jewel Quest. It's well enough made but I find it a bit slow, yet it sells and sells...

The best match-3s now have a metagame, take cradle of rome for example - you make matches to get "stuff" which you use to build rome. Also the best ones have lots of power ups and eye candy and maybe some unique angle. To be honest, their day is over now ever since Hidden Object games became the "new match-3" games.

I've read that Puzzle Quest is a good one due to it's role playing elements.

yep, read same. Disappointingly, when I made my first match-3 2 years ago I laid out some plans for variants with metagames and one was a metagame where you used the match-3 to power up a character and have fights etc. However, I never made it. Goes to show that ideas mean nothing, you have to actually put them into action (or sell them).

I didn't care too much for Puzzle Quest. But, there is a formula for melding rpg elements and a match-3 game imo...it's just no one has gotten it right yet.

Ideas are just as important as action imo. But it's a double edged sword. An idea without action is as useless as action without an idea.

What is a "hidden object" game?

I think for something like this it is all about distribution channels, not the game itself.

People play Bejeweled because the demo comes on their phone. That's all.

I bought Portal because I saw a Video on Steam. I guess there was some game before it called Narbicular Drop or something, but I have never seen it.

Big Fish Games started them off with their Mystery Case Files games and now everyone is making them. Check this one out (I liked it a lot, good for playing with the family):

http://www.reflexive.com/Themes/Arcade2004Banner/index.php?PAGE=game_detail&AID=725&CID=22875

How about doing a "hidden object game" in 3d space, were you also have a small room/enviromant to explore? Open the basket to find the toy plane...

Needs a lot of models... :O)

Already been done with Travelogue360 Paris and London. Althgough you can't move around the 3D space, just look around.

See, now you could move...

It's probably too complex for cusual players if you add movement ;-)

Not if you do it right, like for instance in a Sam&Max (TTG's version) scene...

haven't played it but you are probably right

I love it. Too bad you can't buy it anywhere.

Maybe I'll get it for Nintendo DS as "research"

I prefer the PSP version, it plays better, even if it loses the touch screen.

Actually I might as well just get it for PC!