Economics of Aladdin's "Ten for OS X: Games"
| Author | Topic: Economics of Aladdin's "Ten for OS X: Games" |
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Apprentice
Member # 3846
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written Tuesday, October 5 2004 14:32
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I've been pondering registering Geneforge after all this time. But I also noticed that Aladdin software (the makers of the stuffit expander utilities) released a collection of Ten (actually 13) Mac games for $50. These are all complete versions of shareware games, including Spiderweb's Geneforge. Aladdin claims that these games are worth a total of $250, making it "a great bargain". Several of the games are pretty bad, but a few link Geneforge are gems. However I was curious about the economics of the deal. Aladdin required that each game creator treat owners of this product as if they had registered the induvidual game, that is people who buy these games should be able to get updates and support for free, as if they were normal registerered users. This product retails for $50. Presumably Aladdin sells it to the retailers for a lower price, perhaps $40. Of those $40, Aladdin probably pays a share out to the the shareware creators. I'm assuming that each game owner got some sort of royalty for each product sold, not just a flat payment. But if Jeff gets a royalty for each copy of Aladdin's software bundle sold, it's probably only a few dollars. So why did he submit his game? Probably becuase Aladdin's products have a much wider distribution and more people are familiar with the software brand. And I suppose that it is great adverising, if someone like Geneforge, they have a much higher chance of registering his other products. Has Jeff sent his games to any other software bundle? I'm not sure. But the point of this post is that I was curious that if I want to reward Jeff by registering Geneforge, am I gyping him by buying this bundle instead? I'm tempted by the other games (such as WingNuts and Bugdon 2), but I'm wondering if the aladdin copy of the game would give Jeff only a few dollars, as opposed to the $25 he's get if I registered it through Spiderweb Software. Posts: 27 | Registered: Thursday, January 1 2004 08:00 |
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Shock Trooper
Member # 3368
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written Tuesday, October 5 2004 14:39
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I would just buy Geneforge. The other games in the pack look questionable. $50 for Bridge and Pinball? -------------------- "Like most of life's problems, this one can be solved with bending" Posts: 287 | Registered: Tuesday, August 19 2003 07:00 |
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Apprentice
Member # 3846
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written Tuesday, October 5 2004 14:52
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In terms of what's the better deal gaming wise, I've found it for $40, and while several of the games are lower-quality shareware I think Freeverse's Wingnuts, Burning Monkey Puzzle Lab and Classic Cribbage are all good, so is Budgom 2 and Cro-Mag Rally. Posts: 27 | Registered: Thursday, January 1 2004 08:00 |
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Shock Trooper
Member # 3368
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written Tuesday, October 5 2004 14:57
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I think it would be cool if Spidweb made a bundle of their games. Like all the Exiles or Avernums or whatever. -------------------- "Like most of life's problems, this one can be solved with bending" Posts: 287 | Registered: Tuesday, August 19 2003 07:00 |
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Agent
Member # 27
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written Tuesday, October 5 2004 15:47
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you can buy them all at once for a discount. Posts: 1233 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00 |