Comments for The D'Arque Cathedral

Comment on Mortal Kombat on PC? Don’t bet on it. by D'Arque Bishop

D'Arque Bishop — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:19:00 +0000

First off... people, how the hell do you expect me to take you and your arguments seriously if you're going to misrepresent who the hell you are? People at NetherRealm are the LAST people I expect to reply to my post, simply because I know for a fact that nothing I said is stuff the marketing people will want to discuss publicly. That said, two points to make. First, as I stated in an earlier comment, comparing Counter-Strike and Portal 2 to Mortal Kombat is comparing apples to oranges. First-person shooters are the most popular genre for PC, if only because the keyboard/mouse control configuration is much more efficient and practical for those games. On the other hand, fighting games are traditionally one of the weakest (if not THE weakest) genres on PC. NRS simply does not see the current demand as being enough to be worth porting to PC. You say porting a game would not cost very much, but you don't quantify it. For all we know the cost of porting is more than what sales there would be. It makes sense; WB isn't shy about releasing games for PC, yet Mortal Kombat hasn't been ported. Secondly, yes, I know console piracy is happening too. You missed MY point that it is FAR more prevalent on PC, and saying "only people who purchased it can play online" is hopeful at best; pirates so far have been able to beat most DRM. If you need a reference, here you go: http://www.tweakguides.com/Piracy_4.html

Comment on Mortal Kombat on PC? Don’t bet on it. by Noobde

Noobde — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 23:31:00 +0000

I must don’t agree with Mr Bishop. You are missing the fact that Piracy is on X360 also. Many people have 2 consoles – one for online safe play and one for illegal copies. Mortal Kombat leaked 2 weeks before official release.
On Pc platform Devs dont have to give 10% of the profits to MS or Sony. Steam do not release their sales figures but actually Digital Distribution make up 60% of sales in the USA.
You can not go wrong with a Steam release …. over 30 million users you cant go wrong!
Where for e.g. Portal 2 sales better on consoles or Pc ? Much more ppl buy Pc versions that said Valve.
One more fact is Capcom create some market for fighting games on Pc. They make enough money to continue their journey because their sale this game on Steam. Maybe they don’t have to work so much on the port but porting a game don’t cost very much.
You miss the point that for e.g. Counter Strike is selling very well on Steam for years and make big money. MK Komplete Edition on Pc will be selling on Steam for another couple years and where gets cheaper (20-30 dollars) then many people would buy this game.
Your argument about MK never make money on Pc is maybe true but when was it ? 97-98? Where is digital distribution ? Where is online ? Pirates don’t have online so many of them must buy this game.

Comment on Mortal Kombat on PC? Don’t bet on it. by We Still Believe :)

We Still Believe :) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 16:07:00 +0000

And my last comment it this site I also don’t reply to you b/c your only argument is Pc gamers are pirates and don’t buy this game. You don’t have selling rates from Capcom and I also don’t have it…But it doesn’t mean that many Pc gamers buy this game. It’s been in top 10 in sales on Steam in 2011 and for sure 4th most playable game on Steam. This means there is market for fighting games. Pc port don’t cost much b/c it uses Unreal Engine – that’s the reason. Of course It cost something but every game cost something This don’t mean that it cost MUCH. People like me who twitt Ed Boon, Warner Bros etc. just want this game on every possible platform. That’s why console guys want DIABLO 3 which is pure a Pc game. And even Ed Boon said that there is a market for fighting games on PC and it don’t cost much. Maybe he is not a developer now but I bet he’s know what’s he saying. If SSF4AE don’t sell enough Capcom won’t realese SFxTekken – it’s simple. They will realese it so your arguments can go to trash. Bye bye Pirate ))

Comment on Mortal Kombat on PC? Don’t bet on it. by We Still Believe :)

We Still Believe :) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:09:00 +0000

Your just funny man. I want to answer you and why I must enter my real e-mail address ?? You just funny. And you discovered America saying MAME is not legal…Really ? Oh wow! I just say that people play on MAME and this is a fact b/c MK Arcade Kollection is not here on market. Many, Many PCers play fighting games on Emulators – that’s the fact. You talking about Usenet – I don’t know what this site is. And 70& of 60$ goes to WB pocket b/c 30% goes to Steam guys. This 42 $ goes strictly to WB and nothing else. On consoles don’t don’t have that option so maybe 30-50% of 60% goes to WB. This is not magic but facts. And this guy who say that SSF4 AE is on 4th place on Steam – that don’t say nothing ? Yes that say there is a market for fighting games on PC and you just can’t deal with this. Maybe you are right WB don’t realese MK on PC but if don’t mean that there are right…They want a lot of money but PC port will give them maybe 1/10 of Xbox – But It’s still EASY MONEY. AND last but not least – You just want to pull sb down with Piracy argument and talking about Usenet. Piracy is everywhere but this don’t mean every PC gamers are a pirate.

Comment on Mortal Kombat on PC? Don’t bet on it. by D'Arque Bishop

D'Arque Bishop — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 14:44:00 +0000

I’m going to make three points, and then I’ll leave it at that, as you’re not convincing anyone.

1) That “60-70%” WB would get from a PC port of Mortal Kombat would not be pure profit. A lot of it would need to go to development costs; despite your assumption that it would be “easy” and “inexpensive”, you still have to pay the employees to port it, pay for the development tools, etc. You may say it’s “easy” and “inexpensive”, but that’s usually an attitude taken by those who have never done programming. Cross-platform porting is a real pain in the ass, as anyone who’s done it can tell you.

2) Playing any Mortal Kombat game on MAME is in fact illegal unless you own the actual game ROMs. So, thank you for the point that gamers would much rather pirate fighting games on PC than pay for them.

3) I have to ask, is the email address you submitted for these comments your actual email address? If it isn’t, then you do yourself and your cause no favors by hiding behind anonymity, as it counts against you when weighing demand. If it IS, well… a Google search on that address finds links to pirated materials posted on Usenet. Based on that, I and others seriously question your motives.

In any event, I’m not going to reply to any more comments. Despite what you might think, you’re not convincing anyone and people with access to far more data and expertise appear to disagree with you. Consider this a lost cause.

Comment on Mortal Kombat on PC? Don’t bet on it. by We Still Believe :)

We Still Believe :) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 05:56:00 +0000

At least 70% of 60 $ = 42 $ of course

Comment on Mortal Kombat on PC? Don’t bet on it. by We Still Believe :)

We Still Believe :) — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 05:53:00 +0000

Say this to many people who twitt and comment on each MK Topic:)…They are young or have never had any experience in business? Of course WB is not a charity but this port is not EXPENSIVE, right ? When we see Xbox360 version we can get realativly chaep port of this version. If they are smart they will put this game on Steam and it will make money. Of course maybe 1/10 of Xbox but it is still right move for them b/c means EASY MONEY. MK AK will show how many ppl can buy NRS fighting games. You don’t see that most PC’ers have MAME and play MK1,2,3 for years. If they buy it, it means that they want to support MK project on PC. And every kid in the world or adult know that they have a money to port MK9 to Pc. They will make some money for sure but maybe Pc gamers must wait to time when MK9 stop make profit b/c Console gamers buy this already Let’s do some maths At least 70% of 60% goes to WB pocket = 42 dollars. Xbox or PS3 don’t have that option some they get maybe 20-30 dollars from each copy…So even if 200 000 people buy this on Steam it means about 350 000 on Xbox for example = Easy money.

Comment on Mortal Kombat on PC? Don’t bet on it. by D'Arque Bishop

D'Arque Bishop — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 20:23:00 +0000

I'm going to hazard you're either relatively young or have never had any experience in business. The fact of the matter is that sales of MKAK are not needed to fund a port of Mortal Kombat. What is needed is enough demand and potential revenue to make a port of Mortal Kombat profitable. Comparing it to MKAK is foolish, as while Mortal Kombat is very large and very complex piece of software that would cost $60 on a platform that historically is not friendly to fighting games, MKAK is a cheap $10 game that essentially emulates three arcade games using existing assets. Just because people will buy the cheap fighting game does not mean they will buy the far more expensive one. Warner Bros. is not a charity. It is a business where the products it releases need to have the potential to make money. I'm sorry you can't understand that while you personally think the game would sell, WB and NRS (who have access to far better data and more experienced analysts) do not agree. At this point, your beliefs are not trumping cold reality.

Comment on Mortal Kombat on PC? Don’t bet on it. by We Still Believe :)

We Still Believe :) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 19:15:00 +0000

But all in all IF MK Arcade Kollection sells well on PC and make some money there is a chance But it is not big. When 100 000 people buy this on Steam it will be possible to port MK9 b/c they will have money I see that IT IS DEMAND…We will see soon but WB/NRS must realese MK AK! Pc gamers still must waiting for this which is irritating.

Comment on Mortal Kombat on PC? Don’t bet on it. by D'Arque Bishop

D'Arque Bishop — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 15:28:00 +0000

The two words that need to be emphasized in that quote from Ed are "I guess". That is not a definite. That means he thinks it might not be hard or time-consuming to port it. The thing is, Ed is a manager now, not a hands-on developer. It's very likely (especially seeing as we haven't seen the port yet) that after they did the research and crunched the numbers, he ended up being wrong about what it would take to port it. Besides, you've missed the point I was making about the Street Fighter 4 port: the PC version wasn't made specifically for the PC gamers. That was just a side effect of the fact that they needed to make a PC port for the arcade version. In other words, before releasing the PC version, they did a lot of the work that NetherRealm would still need to do anyway. Thus, the costs of Capcom releasing a PC version would be significantly lower. As for Mortal Kombat Arcade Kollection, note that Midway released the original arcade versions before for PC as part of Midway Arcade Treasures Deluxe Edition. It's safe to assume that the costs of porting the arcade games (which simply run an emulator) are much less than porting a massive game like Mortal Kombat. That's why they could be included on the Midway Arcade Treasures collections and sold for $5-10 on Xbox Live Arcade and Playstation Network. In all, if there were a profit to be made on a PC version, we would see one released. Like I said above, though, it's pretty apparent that WB and NRS feel that the current demand is not enough to offset the costs of such a port.