RMC Posted July 5, 2000 Share Posted July 5, 2000 I might be making a boo boo by doing this but.... For all the armchair marketing specialists out there: My invoice for CM (orderd 21 June) has number 14799. The company is shown as Battlefront not BTS so this number reflects all BF.com sales, I would think. So the question becomes how many of this number were for the other Bf.com products and how many for CM. I think everyone would agree that CM has the lion's share. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boris Balaban Posted July 5, 2000 Share Posted July 5, 2000 Please do not try and find out how many CM were sold. Steve and Charles do not want it published. If you do figure it out please do not post it in any way. By the way I too would like to know (and many others) but I accept what BTS/Battlefront wants. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moon Posted July 5, 2000 Share Posted July 5, 2000 Looking at invoice numbers is not going to help you much. Don't forget that there can be multiple items on the same invoice number. I, for example, just ordered 5 copies... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuka Posted July 5, 2000 Share Posted July 5, 2000 It's not really anyone's business how many copies are sold. I just hope its enough to ensure CM2,3,4,5 etc Selling the whole first batch inside a week should provide a clue, to which the answer is "plenty" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Stone Posted July 5, 2000 Share Posted July 5, 2000 Yeah, I am curious too; but I respect BTS's business affairs and don't wanna be intrusive. This game is what so many of us have wanted in a wargame for years, and I just hope Steve & Charles are reaping the benefits. Later Stoner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMC Posted July 5, 2000 Author Share Posted July 5, 2000 Gotcha moon. Hadn't considered that even though my invoice accounted for two copies. I just thought it was interesting that I had such a high invoice number. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxm2 Posted July 5, 2000 Share Posted July 5, 2000 Question: Exactly WHY would a game business want to keep sales figures a secret?? I can see the point when, say, a copier manufacturer might not want to save a rival the trouble of determining which part of the line of products is doing better or worse. I can see the point if one is thinking of selling the business and, if there were a poor showing, one wouldn't want potential buyers to know up front that a certain product was a flop (or maybe exactly how big a success it was). I could even see it if there were stockholders....but there aren't any stockholders to keep in the dark about the current situation if it's a flop (so you can hope for a later success to sweeten the annual report). We're talking about a game from a small compay ("not that there's anything wrong with that"--J. Seinfeld) which is not positioned in a head-to-head competition with some other company (is it?). There isn't even another game that compares (in feature mix and quality) with CM. So what if another small game company selling military games is doing better or worse? Steve/Charles--or anyone out there with a game business background--what are the considerations? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Madmatt Posted July 5, 2000 Share Posted July 5, 2000 I have to admit that some of the requests that people have been asking for are getting a little out of hand. I don't mean to single this particular thread out but they said they aren't going to release their sales figures and the topic should be closed. They have their reasons. Speculation on their motives are not going to magically produce the numbers and Steve and Charles's time is better spent optimizing the product and preparing for the future. No go on and play the game! Madmatt ------------------ If it's in Combat Mission, it's on Combat Mission HQ! CMHQ-Annex, The Alternative side of Combat Mission Combat Mission HQ CMHQ-Annex Proud members of the Combat Mission WebRing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikester Posted July 5, 2000 Share Posted July 5, 2000 maxm2, A private company (no public stock) has every right to not publish financial or sales figures. And most of them don't. I worked for one a couple of years ago w/ over 20,000 employees all over the world. They never made public their financial information. So why should BTS? It isn't anyone else's business but theirs so long as they don't have any stockholders. Mikester out. [This message has been edited by Mikester (edited 07-05-2000).] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spook Posted July 5, 2000 Share Posted July 5, 2000 I guess that you, Madmatt, and quite a few others are gonna be pissed that I'm posting on this touchy subject and pushing it up the topic list again. But I wish to add, at this moment, the following comments that do have bearing on CM gamers and their curiosities. 1) Like many others, I too am curious as to how well CMBO sells when the year closes out. But knowing this figure has no bearing whatsoever on the personal value I apply to CM. Thereby, there is no reason for me to know. 2) What I DO know as public knowledge is that the first batch of CMBO sold out in a matter of days. This indicates that BTS's planning on a minimal return for their investment & capital was very sufficiently outstripped. 3) As such, BTS has publicly assured that the resultant sales & revenue will guarantee the continuation of the CM series, or at least the development of CM2 with its East Front setting. And beyond the motives of BTS, I will state one good reason for not releasing sales figures. When such figures are released, these can be grabbed by the computer game news media and easily taken out of context through apples-to-oranges comparisons of CM sales against other computer strategy games or even other computer game genres. Why bother to feed that nonsense? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Big Time Software Posted July 5, 2000 Share Posted July 5, 2000 Hehe... OK, folks... let's not jump to conclusions. I will say that the our invoice numbers are not indicative of sales exactly (+ or -) since we use a convoluted system. Nothing more to say Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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