Nintendo has rolled out a new update for the Switch and it bumps the hybrid device up to version 10.1.0.
This is the smallest update that’s been released in recent months, and according to the official support patch notes, sees the return of sweet stability improvements.
Ver. 10.1.0 (Released July 13, 2020)
General system stability improvements to enhance the user’s experience.
Your Switch should automatically download this update while it’s connected to the internet, otherwise, you can manually update it from the System Settings menu.
This update follows on from version 10.0.4, which was released at the beginning of last month, and resolved an issue with credit cards. Have you installed version 10.1.0 yet? Noticed anything else? Tell us below.
Feature: How Do Switch eShop Discounts Impact Game Sales?
The success of Switch has led to a sea change in the way Nintendo approaches digital sales. While deep discounts on first-party titles are unlikely to materialise any time soon, it’s now relatively common to see the company’s big-name evergreen games with 1/3 off their normal price. Other companies discount their games much more aggressively, and it’s possible to pick up huge AAA releases from big publishers for very reasonable prices just a few months after release.
For smaller developers, however, Switch eShop has turned into the Wild West when it comes to sales. It’s not uncommon to see games discounted by up to 99%, selling for mere pennies, or even for free. How publishers and developers hope to benefit from making such little profit is puzzling, especially when the game doesn’t contain in-app purchases or DLC add-ons. Can the visability provided by selling your game for a single cent really make a dent in your sales numbers?
“The goal for the discount is to get into the top selling charts as that’s where a LOT of organic sales and visibility comes from,” SMG Studio’s CEO Ashley Ringrose tells us via email. “The steeper the discount, the greater chance you have to get there.”
SMG has been on Nintendo’s digital storefront since the early days and has steadily built a library of games on the console including Super One More Jump, OTTT and most recently co-op removals ‘sim’ Moving Out. It’s also three years exactly since the excellent co-op puzzler Death Squared debuted on Switch and Ringrose has been tracking its sales successes and failures and how they correlate with discounts since the beginning, all with the conscious goal of experimenting.
“What if I do the same percentage off three times in a row in quick succession? What does deep discounting do for the ‘tail’ end of sales? Does going on sale affect other platform sales?“
“There was no strategy other than to try and learn,” he continues. “That’s why we even did a 10% off sale. For instance: I wondered if the percentage off was less relevant and it was JUST the exposure on the sales section that drives the increase.” In his experience, such a small discount isn’t worth the trouble. “Don’t do 10% off. Hardly anyone noticed or bought it.”
Over the last three years, Ringrose has used the game to test theories and find the best approach to sales. “Other tests were trying to debunk myths or assumptions from myself and other devs about how sales work. What if I do the same percentage off three times in a row in quick succession? What does deep discounting do for the ‘tail’ end of sales? Does going on sale affect other platform sales? I have thoughts on these but no definitive answers, as each test doesn’t factor in stuff like the state of the world, other games and sales on at the time, etc. As someone who likes robust data, most of the stuff you get back has so many asterisks next to them it’s hard to form solid conclusions.”
SMG
SMG’s data in graph form showing how discounts and other events affected sales of Death Squared on Switch eShop over the past three years.
That being said, the graph above provides some fascinating data points to analyse. It appears that being available for ‘free’ on other platforms apparently didn’t affect the game’s Switch sales. In fact, if anything, it may have slightly increased sales on Switch over time.
“We’re on Xbox Game Pass now and I think [the increase is] because not everyone has an Xbox (with Game Pass), but many people have a friend who does. So they are having a good time playing our game and tell their friends. You get more coverage and mentions organically now as more people have access to the game.”
Death Squared launched elsewhere before arriving on Switch on 13th July 2017. The game’s primary coloured characters and local multiplayer focus immediately felt at home on the console, though, and good sales gave it (and the team) a much-needed shot in the arm.
Switch saved Death Squared from obscurity and financial failure.
“Switch saved Death Squared from obscurity and financial failure. That boost from Switch not only made sure the game made a profit but also gave us continued reason to keep talking about it and supporting the game to drive sales on other platforms. It also gave us more confidence to continue in the console space that lead to Moving Out. It wasn’t just the Switch sales but the new coverage and reviews of the game. We launched in 2017 just between Breath of the Wild (and the Switch launch) and Horizon Zero Dawn and just got ignored at launch.”
Things were looking particularly grim at the start of that year. “I remember going through with the team on a 2017+ plan and this was less than two months until release. And I said Well, we don’t know if we’ll do more console games because it depends on how Death Squared goes. Then after the initial launch happened I was like Ohh I don’t think we’re suited for console/PC dev at all. This is not good, but we had the meeting with Nintendo and slated for a July release. I still wonder what would have happened if we were a launch title (because we would have been ready). Ahh to dream.”
To date, Death Squared has sold close to 300,000 copies across all platforms “with Switch being over 60% of those”. Breaking the 150K barrier on Switch is a significant acheievement and Ringrose still plans to honour a promise to make the game free if it hits 250K Switch copies sold.
Beyond discounting, we wondered if there were any other tools available to increase visibility and help draw attention on the eShop, whether through getting highlighted by Nintendo, being made Game of the Day, switching thumbnails, icons, and other methods.
SMG changed the Switch menu icons of its existing games to create an interconnected mural of icons if you line them up correctly.
“I’ve tried to be active on Reddit as much as I can or trying to find new ‘content marketing’ ways to talk about the game on social. Getting Highlights and Game of the Day is all out of our hands. With so many great games on the eShop now it’s hard to expect a 3-year-old game to get featured. I do look to see if there’s a ‘Games you can play with the whole family’ feature.
“What we haven’t had time for is more updates. We did a free one in January 2019 but it hardly shifted the sales up. It did fix some issues and we added a colour-blind mode so those are good features to have.”
Of course, if there are peaks, there must be troughs, too, and we wonder what a bad sales week looks like. Is ‘zero copies sold’ something Ringrose occasionally sees? “We’ve had some 0 days in certain regions but luckily haven’t dropped. In fact 3 years on we’re still going OK. On a good week (even 2+ years on) we’ll sell more on Switch than we did opening week on Steam! But that’s also because we did so badly on Steam’s launch. I still remember seeing the stats that we had sold just 2 copies in Latvia after 6 months.”
“I never got in touch with them. It would have been an amazing story. We’ve since sold 45 copies in Latvia so they must have told their friends!”
Ringrose has also been a vocal advocate of releasing demos if possible, something the SMG had at launch with Moving Out and which the team added for Death Squared as soon as they could. “It wasn’t a huge boost in sales but it did seem to increase the daily average. We did this six months after release (as it had tweaked story and had to go through certification again) so it was a good test to see what happens.
I think the demo works well in our case as we’re not a ‘beautiful game’ so we have to rely on people having fun with it.
“I think the demo works well in our case as we’re not a ‘beautiful game’ so we have to rely on people having fun with it. So people hear good things and the demo gives us a way past their ‘I dunno…’ barrier. So I credit a lot of the ongoing sales to this demo. And I’ve tried to tell other devs to join the demo club! But there’s plenty of reasons NOT to do a demo also from a risk factor for the devs. So I can understand.”
Although the demo seems to have had a positive effect on sales, the content update for the game didn’t really move the needle. Will this affect how and when SMG approaches updating games in the future?
“A little. It’s why we didn’t do ANOTHER update after this for the last year. I know we said ‘FINAL FREE UPDATE’ but it would have been funny to say ‘FINAL FINAL FREE UPDATE’. We’re lucky to have multiple titles to work on. As the team had RISK, Moving Out and No Way Home there wasn’t enough time to keep updating Death Squared. Plus any ‘big’ ideas we had we’d rather save for a sequel.”
As publishers struggle to be seen on the increasingly bloated eShop, there has been a sharp increase in games getting discounted in the extreme. Some publishers are experimenting with rolling promos or launching free for a limited time if you own certain other titles. What are Ringrose’s views on these strategies? Does he think they’re effective ways to grow sales in the long term?
“We’re just as guilty with the deeper discounting now,” he admits. “I think that Rolling Promos sale is interesting as again it’s something new. I’m not sure why giving away the games is a good idea though. But again maybe word of mouth is the end goal. I do think that a one cent game is silly. There should be a minimum floor to the price.”
Despite being relatively late starters in the digital sales arena compared to other platforms, Nintendo apparently gives devs more freedom than the competition over how their games are discounted.
“What I do like […] is having the control over our sales. Other platforms restrict this MUCH more heavily to the point if you’re not in control you have to apply to go on sale as it’s an editorial decision. This is very tough. As a dev you realise that even with all these people who have played your game you have a limited channels to talk to them. It’s even harder when you launch a new game and there’s no ‘easy’ way to tell existing players about that new game on most of the game stores.”
Death Squared is still more than holding its own against the rest of SMG’s Switch software lineup. “Death Squared is doing better than our other titles on the Switch (not including Moving Out) even though it’s older and more expensive. But it’s also the only title on so many platforms and Xbox Game Pass and the recent [Remote Play Together] update to Steam that allows online multiplayer […] is fuelling a late resurgence.”
People buy what they want, when they want to play it, or when they see a good deal. Someone says ‘Hey you should play this game it’s great’ they’ll go get it. Most won’t pull up a site and study the historical sales data
As we stated at the top, after over 36 months of experimentation, Ringrose is convinced that minor discounts don’t do much, especially following a deeper discount (as borne out by his data) – that is unless you’re a massive breakout indie smash like Cuphead or Untitled Goose Game.
“Oh I think 10% in general is a no go. It’s just too small of a discount for anyone to care about. My current theory is 95% of people don’t pay close attention to a games previous sale price (this would increase the more popular a game is but I think it’d max out at 90%). People buy what they want, when they want to play it, or when they see a good deal. Someone says ‘Hey you should play this game it’s great’ they’ll go get it. Most won’t pull up a site and study the historical sales data and tell their friend ‘Ok I’ll play this in the next 30-65 days as I feel we’re close to a highest discount ever trend‘. Some DO though!”
On the whole, Ringrose seems upbeat and energised by his findings, no doubt buoyed by the warm critical reception to SMG’s dual co-op jewels. However, Death Squared’s success was hard-won and there are several things he would change given the opportunity to start afresh with the game and its marketing. He mentioned in a previous conversation wishing that the name didn’t mention ‘death’.
“Oh yeah I still regret the name,” he confirms. “And that ‘alcohol reference’ on the ESRB rating. The biggest barrier I think was the art/visuals. People just react so differently to a ‘beautiful’ game. Sadly the gameplay can be much more shallow if the game looks gorgeous but it also fuels all the marketing, the gifs, etc. Our game shined when people played it but that is the biggest barrier.
Unless you’ve got a bonefide indie hit on your hands, Ringrose believes that minor discounts have a negligible effect on sales.
“So, if [given a] fresh start I would have focused more effort on bringing the art to a ‘WOW it’s beautiful’ level, a more universal name, and the extra time for online multiplayer. Oh, and removed the one line that references ‘ethanol’ so I didn’t have that alcohol reference.”
In this day and age, however, constant updates and rolling content drops mean that games are constantly evolving, ever-changing beasts that can be near-unrecognisable a year after launch. “In fact, that is one thought I’ve been tossing around for a while is what would happen if I just commissioned new art and re-released the game with a new name,” Ringrose muses. “Like a marketing remaster! Or if I just make it an update. But that’s easier said than done and we’re better off putting that energy into a sequel or a NEW game.”
So, while three years of collecting data and experiementing has yielded some fascinating results, there remain many unclear factors for indie devs when it comes to successfully strategising your way through the eShop sales gauntlet. Anything from a mistimed promo to a poorly thought-out title could prove the difference between making or breaking your game. While having ‘death’ in the title might put parents off buying it for their kids, in the course of conversing with Ashley for this piece we found ourselves accidentally typing ‘Death Stranding‘ an embarrassing number of times. Perhaps it’s our lockdown fogginess still in effect, but that repeated mistake on our part may not be a bad thing for SMG.
“Haha I wonder if that has helped our SEO in the stores?” Ringrose ponders. “People start typing and see us…”.
Our thanks to Ashley for his time. Death Squared is obviously available on Switch eShop; Death Stranding is not.
During its recent Stadia Connect livestream, tech giant Google announced a partnership with several developers that will create games exclusive to the cloud-streaming platform. The company has detailed two of the five exclusives that will come to Stadia, alongside 15 other titles that will arrive throughout the year.
The first is from developer Splash Damage, the studio responsible for Brink and Gears Tactics. The game is Outcasters, a "vibrant and accessible competitive online multiplayer game set in a distinctly stylized vinyl world." It includes millions of customizations options for you to create unique casters as you compete in matches with up to eight players for glory and rewards. You can expect tons of sharp-shooting, bouncing, and springing on the multiple hectic battlefields. An official release date has not been provided.
Developer Robot Entertainment, creators of the Hero Academy and Orcs Must Die franchises, is also working on Orcs Must Die 3 as an exclusive for Stadia. Fans familiar with the series will know what to expect. OMD3 is an action-tower defense game where you defend Rift towers from "largest orc armies ever assembled." This sequel features new War Scenarios, mountable War machines, and more. It is free for Stadia Pro subscribers.
LEGO Mario Starter Course Goes Up For Pre-Order At The Nintendo UK Store
If you’re wanting to get your hands on the LEGO Mario Starter Course, you’ll be pleased to know that it has now popped up for pre-order at the Nintendo Official UK Store.
It’s available at the RRP of £49.99, but also includes a free gift while stocks last. At the time of writing, any pre-orders you make will also come with a Super Mushroom Surprise Expansion Set at no extra cost. Wa-hoo!
Please note that some links on this page are affiliate links, which means if you click them and make a purchase we may receive a small percentage of the sale. Please read our FTC Disclosure for more information.
Earlier today, images of an unannounced LEGO NES console set leaked online. The set will reportedly work with the Mario figure in the Starter Course set, so it might be worth keeping an eye out for that, too.
Are you thinking of treating yourself to the LEGO Mario Starter Course? Let us know with a comment below.
Indie Dev Says Switch Sales Increased After Their Game Went To Xbox Game Pass
Death Squared, an indie co-op game that launched in 2017 and has had more success on Switch than on other systems, has gone on sale on the Switch Eshop several times since launch. In a new report by Nintendo Life, SMG Studios CEO Ashley Ringrose has discussed how discounts have impacted the games sales, and has drawn an unexpected correlation between the game's availability on another system and its sales on Switch.
As you might expect, the game's biggest sales came when the price was discounted by 90%, but big discounts weren't the only sales driver. The game joined Xbox Game Pass in February 2020, and Ringrose attributes this with a rise in Switch sales.
Ringrose says that they've seen a slight increase since the game went to Xbox's service, which he think is because, while not everyone has an Xbox, "many people have a friend who does," and have likely discovered it while gaming with them. "You get more coverage and mentions organically now as more people have access to the game," he says.
The full article at Nintendo Life is full of great insight from Ringrose. The game has sold over 150,000 copies on Switch, and close to 300,000 overall; Ringrose says that the game will be made free if they reach 250,000 sales on Nintendo's platform.
Earlier this year, SMG Studios released Moving Out for Switch, PS4, Xbox One, and PC. It's also available on Xbox Game Pass.
I have seen many around the community experiencing the Splash Screen freezing. If you are trying to update and expereicing this please try the button combination below.
8th July 2020
Today we are releasing a hotfix for PlayStation 4 that will enable you to clear your sign in data when launching the game, which we hope will avoid the issue where the game is getting stuck on the loading screen and potentially crashing.
Implemented a workaround button combination on startup to clear the player’s download cache on PS4 (MCPE-84790)
You may wish to try the following after the game has updated to version 1.16.1.03:
Launch Minecraft
When the initial loading screen appears, hold the following buttons:
Button combination is L1 + R1 + L2 + R2 + OPTIONS + Touch Pad, and must be held until the initial splash screen is removed
Celebrate Five Years of Rocket League with the Fifth Anniversary Event
It’s hard to believe we’re approaching Rocket League’s Fifth Anniversary! It feels like just yesterday that we were hitting the pitch for the first time, and learning the basics. Now we’re dishing assists and scoring goals with (relative) ease! To celebrate this momentous occasion, we’re throwing a two-week in-game event featuring all-new items and Limited Time Modes!
Rocket League’s official Fifth Anniversary may not be until July 7, but we’re celebrating early starting today! Start earning Balloons following Online Matches, and redeem them for Psyonix- and Rocket League-themed items in the Event Store. Sport items like the Psyonix II Wheels, Party Horn Boost, and many more new and remixed items from the history of Rocket League. Plus, earn and unlock Golden Eggs, which contain items from Champions Series 1, 2, 3, and 4!
It wouldn’t be a party without some Limited Time Modes. That’s why Spike Rush and 2v2 Heatseeker are returning and will be featured for one week each throughout the event. Check out the full schedule below:
Spike Rush: June 30 (Event Begins) – July 6
2v2 Heatseeker: July 6 – 13 (Event Ends)
Celebrate five high-flying years of Rocket League starting today until July 13. From all of us at Psyonix, thank you to the Xbox Community for your continued support and for being a part of this incredible journey! Good luck, and see you on the pitch!
Ubisoft executives resign amid sexual misconduct allegations
Three Ubisoft execs accused of participating in or allowing the sexual and professional misconduct that’s been detailed over the last few weeks have been ousted from the company.
The company announced the departures of Serge Hascoët, Yannis Mallat, and Cécile Cornet via a press release. Each faced different accusations that aligned with their respective positions.
These three departures are a shocking ouster even in the wake of previous accusations. Multiple reports have alleged a “mafia-like” culture at the company, that will go to great lengths to protect key studio members, while forcing out employees who attempt to file complaints.
Ubisoft says these departures are “voluntary,” not going so far as to declare that they are firing the three execs.
According to an article in French magazine Liberation, Hascoët, head of Ubisoft’s editorial team had been accused of misogyny, homophobia, and attempting to drug teammates. Mallat himself has not faced any accusations, but as head of Ubisoft’s Canadian operations was oversaw the toxic environments described at Ubisoft Montreal and Ubisoft Toronto.
And up until this announcement Cornet led the company’s human resources department, and was involved in a “multidisciplinary working group” aimed at improving life at the company. Liberation’s reporting alleges that HR, under Cornet’s watch, made allowances for Hascoët and other employees’ behavior.
Cornet herself appears to have implicated by Liberation’s article. According to Liberation, the head of HR said that “Yves [Guillemot] is okay with a toxic management as long as these managers’ results exceeds their toxicity level.”
That allegation stands in contrast to Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot’s concillatory statement included in the press release.
“Ubisoft has fallen short in its obligation to guarantee a safe and inclusive workplace environment for its employees. This is unacceptable, as toxic behaviors are in direct contrast to values on which I have never compromised — and never will. I am committed to implementing profound changes across the Company to improve and strengthen our workplace culture,” he wrote.
“Moving forward, as we collectively embark on a path leading to a better Ubisoft, it is my expectation that leaders across the Company manage their teams with the utmost respect. I also expect them to work to drive the change we need, always thinking of what is best for Ubisoft and all its employees.”
Disbelief is a game development studio focusing on contracting and consulting services. We’ve worked with both AAA and independent studios to help their projects ship. Notable projects we’ve worked on include Gears Tactics, Gears 5, Borderlands 3, and Torn.
At Disbelief we value work-life balance, and want to create an alternative to the crunch-culture prevalent in game development. We also believe strongly in investing in our talent and our team. Disbelief is a place to puzzle out the solutions to cutting-edge problems for industry leading projects, but also a place where people can grow their careers and skills as valued members of a stable and close-knit team.
Currently, we’re looking for a Senior Technical Artist. This opportunity is for a full-time position in Chicago, IL. Senior Technical Artists at Disbelief are leaders and key contributors on their project. They act as a bridge between the technical and artistic aspects of game development, empowering both programming and art to achieve more than either could on their own. Beyond solving tough problems on their own, tech artists act as mentors and teachers. As a Senior Technical Artist, you will be responsible for performance while maintaining visual quality. You will work in a variety of areas including modelling, materials, texturing, animation, FX, gameplay, UI, as well as building art tools to improve workflows.
We work with leading edge technologies to make them perform at the top of their capabilities, and we take pride in solving problems others can’t.
Key Responsibilities
Solve technical problems from an artist’s point of view
Solve performance problems while championing visual quality standards
Act as a primary bridge between art, engineering and gameplay teams
Teach and mentor other artists
Continue to explore new software and techniques, including novel solutions
Prototype new workflows and systems
Make improvements to existing pipelines as part of a team
Clearly communicate internally and externally with clients
Estimate the time it takes to complete tasks with a big picture of the project schedule
Skills and Requirements
Degree in art, computer science, or equivalent experience
Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written
5+ years in game development, or 10+ in a related industry
Deep understanding of real time rendering
Experience working on at least one large project
Experience with version control with Perforce, Git, or equivalent on multiple projects
Portfolio demonstrating
Shipped AAA quality game art
Gameplay or pipeline scripting
Proficiency in cross disciplinary tasks
Remote: Currently all of Disbelief is working remotely during the pandemic. Post-pandemic our plans are to return to a hybrid model where we still report into the office but often work from home. Some of our projects require access to physical infrastructure.
Visa Sponsorship: No
Technologies: Our DCC tools vary depending on the project, but will typically involve a combination of 3ds Max, Maya, Substance, Photoshop. Our real-time work often requires knowledge of animation, physics, material and particle systems. Primarily we work with Unreal Engine, but we also work with Unity and custom game engines. Scripting in Python, Maxscript, Mel, Javascript, C# and Unreal Blueprint is often required to solve pipeline and workflow problems.
Whether you’re just starting out, looking for something new, or just seeing what’s out there, the Gamasutra Job Board is the place where game developers move ahead in their careers.
Gamasutra’s Job Board is the most diverse, most active, and most established board of its kind in the video game industry, serving companies of all sizes, from indie to triple-A.
Posted by: xSicKxBot - 07-14-2020, 08:53 AM - Forum: Python
- No Replies
The World’s Most Concise Python Cheat Sheet
Do you want to learn Python but you’re overwhelmed and you don’t know where to start? Learn with Python cheat sheets! They compress the most important information in an easy-to-digest 1-page format.
Here’s the new Python cheat sheet I just created—my goal was to make it the world’s most concise Python cheat sheet!
