Don Bradman Cricket 14 PC PLAYABLE NOW!

[arjwiz]

BigAnt have said their "best case" is break even, so fatuous much?



as i mentioned above, the subcontinent is a very minor part of the market for the franchise.

If the best case is to break even, that implies that they are expecting losses. Therefore, they have entered India not to make profits but to see if there is long term potential (as you mentioned in a later post) there based on units sold, even if that means taking a hit. If the very best case is only to break even, then it disproves Biggs' statement about "success being defined by money in bank accounts", because the bank balance owing to Indian sales will be negative or zero, as you stated.

Regarding your second statement, nowhere have I compared the subcontinent to other parts of the world. Your words echo mine - the subcontinent is a minor part of the franchise, but a part nonetheless.

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10k sales of FIFA in India, marketing guru... nobody builds a global franchise out of 10k sales.

FIFA release there because they have a global reach, and can swallow a lesser margin due to the size of EA.

BA are probably releasing in India because they expect the market to mature over the next few years, and if DBC14 is a success in the other markets, and gets minor penetration in India as it matures, iteration 4 or 5 would be well positioned in a maturing market.

blockerdave = john harvey jones.

Yes I agree about the possible reason to enter India.

But you're reading incorrectly there, blocker. I said 10k sales owing to a franchise in India, not globally. It was mentioned earlier in this thread that DBC expects more sales in India than FIFA. In India, FIFA is one of the most popular video games ever, and is therefore a franchise IN INDIA. If DBC exceeds that, I believe they want to build one in India as well.

Iteration 4 or 5 will help towards achieving that.

Let me reiterate, I am not comparing sales across marketplaces, only discussing the India strategy. That's what this forum is for - for fans to discuss things related to the game. Please don't do what Biggs has been doing and read selectively, thereby crushing any chance of discussion.

 

[barmyarmy]

I think @arjwiz is making some very good points. I suspect that Big Ant are expecting their reach in India to be high once the game can be pirated on PC. In the interim they may as well not lose money on sales they do make.
Volume of sales is important but for building a franchise word of mouth and pirated versions will also do that. I don't think the high price will have a significant effect on piracy (and the staggered release helps that).
I think someone said that the Indian pricepoint is about 40% of monthly wages. Perhaps someone could confirm that but if DBC was priced at ?800 in the UK market I would be complaining as well.

 

[grkrama]

A few points to kill this Discussion for good
1.BA are targeting the enthusiast market in INDIA (yes people who can afford 4200rs for a game are enthusiasts here) not the casual market in which case they have to market the game as well as have it sell at a much reduced price, sure if done right you can still make a killing here, which comes with the risks of
a.not selling despite marketing
b.shipping at the reduced price to other markets thus affecting their sales there.#beencoveredbefore

2.No of units sold is always more profit esp in software as long as you price it above your cd burning cost.Esp if there is potential for the market to be improved drastically upon a reducing price.
if you can sell 5 million units in india at say a 2 dollar you still have made it hypothetically speaking.

3.Dont worry guys we will soon enter tier 1 n become the the BIG three soon

 

[blockerdave]

If the very best case is only to break even, then it disproves Biggs' statement about "success being defined by money in bank accounts", because the bank balance owing to Indian sales will be negative or zero, as you stated.

not true - not expecting a profit doesn't mean you can't measure success in terms of losses minimised.

also, iteration 1 to an extent contains sunk costs that may not be required for the later iterations, in terms of the base engine and physics, and gameplay research etc. plus iteration 1 carries a heavier marketing cost, since it lays the ground for future iterations.

the main thing is you/pat/angad maintained volume of sales is all important, whereas it clearly isn't, otherwise the game would start cheaper and have discounts etc. the point is max sales at the right price, and they clearly prefer x sales at y price, rather than x+ sales at y- price.

 

[srk121]

Why did EA ever thought making FIFA. Sick and tired of all the comparisons. Give it a rest guys and chill.

 

[arjwiz]

Oh Jesus Christ. It's not going to be Fifa. Just stop, please. They're not building a global franchise. They're trying to guage the popularity of the product in India by releasing a few thousand discs and see if they can make a buck or two. Games success will be defined by Australian and UK sales. End of.

Biggs you have heard the word FIFA and chosen to interpret my statement the way you wanted.

I clearly mentioned FIFA sales in India. FIFA is huge in India, and BigAnt expects DBC to surpass that in terms of units (unless the information I read earlier in this thread is incorrect). I believe that this shows that BigAnt sees potential in India as a market. Again - I am not comparing it to other markets - India could be a small fraction of the biggest market yet be the 3rd or 4th largest market in the future.

In India, in terms of sales, DBC is going to be bigger than FIFA. This is a fact as mentioned earlier in this thread, not my opinion. Please stop using ultimatums like "end of" when we are here to build discussions, not kill them, especially when my point was valid.

 

[blockerdave]

2.No of units sold is always more profit esp in software as long as you price it above your cd burning cost.

The cost of burning the CD is I suspect a vanishingly small percentage of the cost of sales... I guess you meant the whole production cost, but you didn't word it well at all.

 

[srk121]

I think @arjwiz is making some very good points. I suspect that Big Ant are expecting their reach in India to be high once the game can be pirated on PC. In the interim they may as well not lose money on sales they do make.
Volume of sales is important but for building a franchise word of mouth and pirated versions will also do that. I don't think the high price will have a significant effect on piracy (and the staggered release helps that).
I think someone said that the Indian pricepoint is about 40% of monthly wages. Perhaps someone could confirm that but if DBC was priced at ?800 in the UK market I would be complaining as well.

A middle class family will live on 7000 to 9000rs approx in India.

 

[Gone4aDuck]

Thanks for the lovely insight.

We east anglians are simple folk.

 

[barmyarmy]

A middle class family will live on 7000 to 9000rs approx in India.

And what is the expected price again?

 

[blockerdave]

Biggs you have heard the word FIFA and chosen to interpret my statement the way you wanted.

I clearly mentioned FIFA sales in India. FIFA is huge in India, and BigAnt expects DBC to surpass that in terms of units (unless the information I read earlier in this thread is incorrect). I believe that this shows that BigAnt sees potential in India as a market. Again - I am not comparing it to other markets - India could be a small fraction of the biggest market yet be the 3rd or 4th largest market in the future.

In India, in terms of sales, DBC is going to be bigger than FIFA. This is a fact as mentioned earlier in this thread, not my opinion. Please stop using ultimatums like "end of" when we are here to build discussions, not kill them, especially when my point was valid.

10k sales is not huge, if it's huge it's because of piracy, and that is why the market is insignificant.

 

[AngryPixel]

I suspect most probably they are targeting the Indian mindset which is very easily affected by "SALE" and "DISCOUNT". Put up a outrageously higher price than the fair price as MRP, then reduce the price and say " Look, we are giving you 1000 bucks discount". Thus people would observe that since the mrp was 4500, it must be some premium product and getting it for 1000 bucks less is a bargain. I've seen the simialr concept working in cloths, shoes, books etc markets here. So i wont be surprised if BA is following the same approach.

 

[arjwiz]

A few points to kill this Discussion for good
1.BA are targeting the enthusiast market in INDIA (yes people who can afford 4200rs for a game are enthusiasts here) not the casual market in which case they have to market the game as well as have it sell at a much reduced price, sure if done right you can still make a killing here, which comes with the risks of
a.not selling despite marketing
b.shipping at the reduced price to other markets thus affecting their sales there.#beencoveredbefore

2.No of units sold is always more profit esp in software as long as you price it above your cd burning cost.Esp if there is potential for the market to be improved drastically upon a reducing price.
if you can sell 5 million units in india at say a 2 dollar you still have made it hypothetically speaking.

3.Dont worry guys we will soon enter tier 1 n become the the BIG three soon

Don't kill discussions on a discussion forum.

Blocker mentioned that Ross mentioned that break even is the best case scenario in India. If that is true, I wonder if what you are saying is completely true. On the face of it, you're right, the high price indicates that they are targeting The enthusiasts. However, no one would enter a market just to break even if that is the ultimate goal - it is profitability either today or tomorrow. So, I think DBC is looking at India from a long tier perspective based on the results of this outing. It will be very interesting to see how big it becomes, and I wish them luck.

 

[Gone4aDuck]

Off topic but I need to rant: England are just shit at cricket, really shit. were 100 off ten overs for the loss of none: are now 129 for 5 off 17: Ashley Giles you cannot bowl and you cannot coach. God help us if he gets the test team.

You seem to forget you're playing the west indies. We can collapse with them best of them!

 

[Snowy]

So what's the next complaint/hot topic? Box art? Shelf facings?