Rubicon owner says it will not be working on the platform again
A UK developer has attacked Microsoft after a port of his warmly received game Great Big War Game for Windows RT made just £52 on the platform in its first week on sale.
Paul Johnson of Rubicon believes the port, produced for Microsoft’s tablet OS only and sold through its app store, may have cost the company somewhere in the region of £10,000.
In a blog post on the developer’s site, Johnson vented his frustration at the lack of support he felt he received from Microsoft. What’s more, he recommends that other developers avoid RT, and says that Rubicon will never be producing a game for the Microsoft platform again.
"A week after release we have made the princely sum of £52 in sales," he wrote. “That’s not a typo. And despite this, and the fact that GBWG is one of only several halfway decent launch titles, Microsoft have confirmed they will not give us any promotional features or help us with visibility in any way.
“If you're familiar with their new store, this means our app is forever consigned to the garbage bin, presumably earning us less than £52 a week in future. Even if that rate is sustained, it will take just under two years before we recoup the salary paid to the guy who did the port.”
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Johnson feels Microsoft is putting out titles on its tablet OS to perish, by failing provide any measure of promotional support.
“Apple regularly promote our apps,” he continued. “Android regularly promote our apps. Even RIM (Blackberry) regularly promote our apps. We enjoy working with those companies and it’s nice to see them acknowledge that we bring them some small amount of additional value to their setup. Firms our size need a bit of a leg up, and we go out of our way to show our gratitude to the above for helping us out in this way from time to time.
“Microsoft on the other hand clearly do not value us at all. Even whilst there's almost nothing to promote, they will not feature our title for bizarre admin reasons. And this is whilst their store is empty and they need developers like us to fill their store far more than developers like us need them to pay us £50 a week.
“Needless to say we will not be working with Microsoft again to bring any of our titles, old or new, to this platform. A snub is never a nice thing to receive, but when it’s from someone who needs you more than you need them, it’s doubly insulting.”
Windows RT is only available on tablets, such as Microsoft’s Surface, which was first released in October. The Microsoft tablet has reportedly been suffering from slow demand, which will have impacted on the system’s potential games audience. Windows RT is coming tablets created by other manufactures, including Asus, Samsung and Dell.
You're confusing Windows 8 and Windows RT.
Rubicon has not launched on the Windows 8 Store - it's an RT only game, which means it naturally has an especially limited audience, given RT is limited only to Surface right now.
I really don't get these guys. I'm a dev and have been recently looking into Windows 8 development and from what I can see making a game work on x86 and ARM is pretty simple so why on earth would they make a game Windows RT only? I've searched for the game and can't find it but I'm using Windows 8 which I suspect is a much much bigger market. Anyway these guys shot themselves in the foot and are now whining about it.
I have removed the misleading paragraph at the end which referenced Windows 8 and the titles for its own app store.
Thank you for pointing that out, Keith.
my understanding is that the whole point of the 8 line of products is to allow quick development and portability between the various MS platforms... why did they make an app only for RT? they should have focused on the main product which is guaranteed to have many more users... why not simultaneous win 8 and win phone 8 game first and THEN jump to RT and xbox arcade if appropriate. honestly the devs logic is so flawed it would seem the article is more an attack at MS from an apple/android fanboy trying to stimie any momentum they are building rather than anything truly informative...
To the ill informed, Microsoft and Nvidia 'had' been pushing hard for RT exclusive ports under the guise of New platform, limited selection of titles available and a big splash of new eager users with credit cards ready to buy. Usually this would be worth a punt but hardware sales have been poor and as the developer states, no promotional activity or help is on offer. A real shame as developers need choices beyond iOS and Android - both of which have problems.
As a new game dev company to the scene developing for Windows, all I can say is this isn't the case with us!
We have had tremendous support and help from Microsoft for developing for their platforms. Far more then the other platforms to be honest. So don't judge them on this one persons account.
Have to give this studio the benefit of a doubt since I've been in a similar situation. I worked on a launch title for an exciting new MS platform once and the exclusivity to the new platform isn't a choice on the the studios part, it's part of the package of getting the launch title. MS makes it sound like its the best deal you've ever gotten and promises a lot that they can't really guarantee. Easy to get sucked into the hype.
It sounds like he's upset because Microsoft didn't promote his app to thousands of viewers. He might just be getting used to the low visibility and self marketing allot of smaller less known titles have to attempt. There are also allot less tablets out there...
u goofed, now ur whining..u should have done some research u idiot.
ok, so your spoiled ass now has to work super hard like all other indie devs ?!
grow up.
I recently downloaded the game in question. First of all, after playing I decided that I was not interested in paying for the full version.
Secondly, I only found it because it was showcased in the Windows App Store - so did something change between December and now?
(still - slightly funny, cute little game - but nothing to write home about)
Justin
