http://www.penny-arc...evelopers-and-p
Quote
“The bulk of our revenue to date has come from sales,” he explained. “On the first day of the Steam summer sale, we earned more money than Jamestown’s entire earnings up to that point times three. The importance of those events to our company’s surivival can’t be overstated, and because we are poor, our survival is predicated on that kind of short-term thinking.”
Another example, I picked up 15,000 station points (~$150 worth) from Sony on a 3:1 weekend, so I ended up shelling out 50 bucks. Recently, they had the veteran's day sales where almost all items were 50% instant refund. I picked up 3 sets of wings, 2 mounts and a premium house, around 7,325 points or $73 odd for $12.20 (1/3 x dollar to points x 1/2 price sale = 1/6th of the total cost). I wouldn't normally have splashed on such big premium items as I picked the points up to pay for sub and expansions later down the track, but the deal was just too damn attractive.
And the company is selling virtual items that don't cost anything beyond the original design and dev. Every thing after that is just a copy which is pure profit minus the cost to operate the shopfront.
Plus, the more currency people have, the more they don't generally mind about frittering it away. I don't buy gold ammo but I do spend a fair bit on training + a couple of prem tanks, but if I'm a bit short on xp for a vehicles I don't like, I'll sink a few bucks to xfer free xp to get me over that hump. With the current dearth of good options, I'll either just buy gold, keep grinding or go play something else if it becomes too onerous.
Great returns can be reaped with a smart use of sales and discounts, so I'm not sure why they are trotting out these very ordinary deals.
