Developer Different Cloth reveals poor sales figures
Nintendo will not pay royalties to the developers of Lilt Line unless sales double, the game’s original creator has said.
UK mobile studio Different Cloth released Lilt Line in 2009 on the App Store, before US outfit Gaijin ported the code to WiiWare in the US.
Nintendo doesn’t pay its WiiWare developers unless certain sales targets are met. In the case of Lilt Line, sales will need to double, Different Cloth said.
And, in what should be a warning to game developers eager to join the mobile games race, Different Cloth has also revealed sobering sales figures for Lilt Line on smartphones.
The game, which has been praised by consumer games press outlets such as Edge, has shifted less than 4,000 units on the App Store since its 2009 release.
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The App Store title “has remained pretty steady at £1.79 and $2.99”, said Different Cloth boss Gordon Midwood.
“You can probably work out by yourself that I’m not a millionaire,” he added.
“So far the Wii version has sold 3,756 copies in the US. If we don’t get past a threshold around twice that in America, Nintendo will never pay us anything”.
Midwood said he will take a cut of royalties for the WiiWare edition is sales targets are met. Now Lilt Line is launching in the UK, where a separate and similar threshold will need to be met.
Are developers allowed to reveal sales figures? Or have they just terminated their NDA with Nintendo?
@MK_R: If you're selling stocks, you're even obligated to reveal sales figures. So yes,
*should rather read: "are [WiiWare] developers allowed to [publicly] reveal sales figures [without violating their NDA]"?
Wolfos: """If you're selling stocks, you're even obligated to reveal sales figures. So yes,"""
Yes, but there are NDA's that require developers/publishers not to publicly reveal sales figures for certain digital platforms as doing so terminates their NDA. (without naming any platform in particular, since I'm under certain NDA's I don't want to violate/jeopardise).
Nintendo lets a lot of crap seep onto the Wii, for the sake of the almighty dollar, but there really isn't a reason to develop for WiiWare unless the game is really awesome. Other wise the dwindling sales will not be invested in your product.
Nintendo wants you to develop premium quality titles, but presents you with too many hoops to jump through.
What happened with Wii Speak and why don't many titles use this peripheral? Why in the hell doesn't Nintendo even use the peripheral?
Why didn't Nintendo make New Super Mario Bros online playable and Wii Speak compatible? That would have been the perfect game for online play and chat.
They don't even know how to break down the walls of their own silly structure when it comes to chat capability. You can't set your own chat options, consumers are treated like children, so you have to enter a code in order to chat with others during a game if any of your friends own the peripheral. The complication is unnecessary for a system claimed to be simple.
They can alter old GameCube games, but can't update Mario Kart Wii to be Wii Speak compatible?
(Raise your hand if you want lack luster game play?)
PS3 is the Wii HD!
This game isn't all that interesting, you have to avoid making games that are so off the grid to the point that they won't hold interest. There is nothing to this other than tilting the controller. The visuals are dull, and there is no reward for beating the game.
I'd buy Metroid: Other M before Lilt Line.
I make a game, effectively paying to publish, then get nothing unless I sell enough to cover the publisher's costs. Isn't this the worst kind of vanity publishing? Compare to minimal costs of Android, iPhone and WP7 and a guarantied 70% return. Hmmm
