Steam release huge boost for NWN2

[Legacy_SuperFly_2000]

               Ok...this is not really scientific and I might be wrong or putting too much trust in statistics over at the Xfire site but for the first time NWN2 has past NWN1 in hours played online. See the graphs:

http://www.xfire.com...inter_Nights_2/

http://www.xfire.com...rwinter_Nights/

My conclusion is that the Steam release has really given a huge boost to NWN2 sales and number of online players.

Yes I know...NWN1 was released for buying and downloading on the internet for the first time by our beloved GOG. However...the boost that gave was almost not noticable in theese graphs....while the Steam release seems to have done quite a lot.

No shadow will fall on GOG. They are still the best in my eyes :-) but it seems they are a lot smaller player on the market than Steam. Steam has kind of had NWN2 on their front page for quite some time ...and even selling it for 10$ for a while (now they seem to be back at 20$).

A Steam release would probably do good for NWN1 as well....
               
               

               

                     Modifié par SuperFly_2000, 07 janvier 2011 - 01:38 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_SuperFly_2000]

               Found one more fact to support my theory. The release date for NWN2 on Steam was the 27:th of December. Now look at the graph for played hours on Xfire for NWN2...and you will notice that the curve changes a lot just after that date...

It seems avaliability is a big thing if you want to sell a game.

It is quite an acomplishment for NWN1 to still be played at all since we didn't have the sales opportunities lately that NWN2 had... (still in total numbers I am pretty sure the ratio is like 1 to 10 in favor of NWN1 but that is not important here and now...)

As I said...this is the first time I saw NWN2 go higher than NWN1 on thoose graphs...
               
               

               

                     Modifié par SuperFly_2000, 07 janvier 2011 - 01:49 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Balduvard]

               I suspect that this will be a spike that will subside when these new players finish the game and try to play online or re-play the game. Also keep an eye on http://store.steampowered.com/stats/ for more exact statistics on everyone playing NWN2 through Steam (currently 1,103). Having a potential audience of millions makes it a bit easier to garner players.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Mordaedil]

               Kinda shocked that NWN1 is still doing so well, 9 years after its first release.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Balduvard]

               NWN1 has solid mechanics, virtually unlimited customization potential, and a dedicated community of knowledgeable and helpful players and developers.

It is just lacking presence, though the recent GOG release helped this some; NWN2 may fall short on part of the above or elsewhere, but a Steam release provides a phenomenal amount of presence.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Lord Sullivan]

               You have to take in the fact that not everyone is using XFire and not everyone keeps the internet

connection on at all times And/Or such applications running(Steam, Xfire) while they are just playing

in single player mode.



But yeah, I can see why a steam release with a percent rebate during the holidays might have spiked NWN2 sales. I bet many steam users who have perchased NWN2 might have never even

heard of the game before, check it out and decided to give it a try at a fairly low price.



As far as NWN is concerned, not much as changed except for the Original forums close.

               
               

               
            

[Legacy_HipMaestro]

               I don't know if the rest of you guys fall into this category or not, but when I'm building I'm not playing, on-line or otherwise and vice versa.  It just takes too much of a commitment to do either.  But then, maybe many others multitask better than I do.

Nonetheless, I think it would be interesting to compare the total number of the community engaged in building, creating utilities, graphic design, etc. between NWN and NWN2.  Not sure how you would go about compiling this, but the ratio or absolutes will not likely be represented in the above compilation.  Whatever the number, it would indicate a level of activity in each game that probably goes unaccounted for.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Braethorn]

               Bought NWN2 when it was released , installed , tried playing it , uninstalled and it sits on my shelf collecting dust.

IMO graphics were overwhelming , enough to make it hard to play. Lack of map pins (has this been rectified??) , fact you have to switch to your companion to use potions/weapons etc. (don't trust the AI to be smart enough to do this on its own) and other things turned me right off NWN2.

NWN1 has staying power..I'm surprised NWN2 is still around.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_SuperFly_2000]

               Well, I am not a fan of NWN2 either...I'm just pointing the selling power that Steam seems to have. Hopefully we will see NWN1 there also....although...it should have been sold there already before NWN2....I don't know what happened...
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Vansen Elamber]

               Actually Cryptic is sort of resurecting NWN1, they are currently working on a sort of MMO version of NWN from what I can understand...anyway here is a link for anyone that is interested...



http://www.playneverwinter.com/about





What makes games like NeverWinter Nights have an active community for a decade or more is because it comes with a toolset that allows anyone to make new adventures free to play for anyone who owns the game. Bethesda's Elder Scrolls series is much the same, Morrowind released in 2002 still to this day has an active community and that is because of its toolset.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Vansen Elamber]

               

SuperFly_2000 wrote...

Well, I am not a fan of NWN2 either...I'm just pointing the selling power that Steam seems to have. Hopefully we will see NWN1 there also....although...it should have been sold there already before NWN2....I don't know what happened...

NWN is owned by Atari and they don't distribute their games on Steam.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Lord Sullivan]

               

Vansen Elamber wrote...

SuperFly_2000 wrote...

Well, I am not a fan of NWN2 either...I'm just pointing the selling power that Steam seems to have. Hopefully we will see NWN1 there also....although...it should have been sold there already before NWN2....I don't know what happened...

NWN is owned by Atari and they don't distribute their games on Steam.

Looks like someone is misinformed... check your facts friend
               
               

               
            

[Baaleos]

               @ Braethorn  - I completely agree,

I bought NWN2 the day it was released, in the UK, and I got a good 1/3rd into the game, and then got to a cutscene, and the cutscene never ended/returned to play mode.



They released the game with 'game breaking' bugs that made it impossible to play, and after that disappointing experience, I never touched it again.



I work in Quality Assurance, and would love to know what QA Process they were using over at Obsidian, where their QA Department all out drinking at lunch time when they missed all these bugs, and the fact that they continued to release the game in the state it was in was a joke.



In any case, all that aside, the reason I play NWN1 over NWN2, is because NWN1 is highly responsive, easy to navigate and fast paced. NWN2 is slow, sluggish, and thats even with 4gb ram, 3.2ghz quad core processor, and 1gb nVidia geforce 240gt Graphics Card.

Neverwinter nights 1 - a Module has hundreds of areas,  

Neverwinter nights 2 - a Module in the campaign seems to have about 20 areas.



Neverwinter nights 1  - Fast Load times

Neverwinter nights 2  - Loading an area takes the same amount of time, as loading a 300mb Module in Neverwinter nights 1.



The list goes on.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_NorthWolf]

               Steam is quickly becoming a general client with which to purchase games. I would actually consider buying NWN1 on Steam just because of how convenient it is to have all my games on Steam's library. However, I don't know how much invigoration would result, though a low price-point would probably make it reasonably enticing.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_SuperFly_2000]

               

Lord Sullivan wrote...
Looks like someone is misinformed... check your facts friend

Yeah...it seems like NWN2 also is owned by Atari.


I think what really happend was that NWN1 got more involved in the D&D rights lawsuit which at the time made it impossible to sell it on Steam and similar places and while it looks to be possible now it could be too late.

When I think of it NWN2 never had theese amounts of problems with the lawsuit that NWN1 had...like pulled premium modules and such.

It is a shame...but what can we do....a stupid prolonged juridical session seems to have been part of detoriating the NWN1 player base.


And guys....don't make this into an NWN1 vs NWN2 thread because it isn't....