<>@2 -÷-÷-÷-÷-÷-÷-÷-÷-÷-÷-÷-÷-÷-÷-÷-÷-÷-÷-÷ *4@3 AMIGA GAMES SALES WHOSE TO BLAME? *3]5@4 by Converse / A51 *1]1@2 ÷-÷-÷-÷-÷-÷-÷-÷-÷-÷-÷-÷-÷-÷-÷-÷-÷-÷-÷- @1 118 copies of Gloom? Surely I was lying! Well, yes I was, it was 117 copies actually. But I just bought a copy, so it's not a lie anymore. Thank you! *2 ]3So whose to blame for these bollox sales? ]5Mr Escom for persuading people to buy PC's? Was it Commodore for underequipping the A1200 when it needed more to attract more users? Is it the software houses for not marketing the games very well or for not getting the games into the stores? Is it us, the "loyal" Amiga users? Is it the PC? Is it the PlayStation? *1]1 The true answer is that no one knows for sure, but discounting piracy I'd say it's a bit of each of the above. The amount of people who own and actually use Amigas is roughly 55,000. So that's still a pretty impressive number of users. Roughly 20,000 of these users use the Amiga for serious use (i.e. supporting the PD scene with quality software). Hats off to these people as they are true Amiga freaks. Next [4 up, there's roughly 20,000 gamers out there, which doesn't include the occasional gamer who may fall into the serious user category as well. Finally, there's probably quite a few people from each of the following groups who regularly obtain PD, plus people who only buy PD. Perhaps the most misguiding figures of all time are the ABC figures which tell how many people are actually buying a particular Amiga magazine. The current figures for Amiga Format are 42,600 and something. If you take a closer look, you'll find that those figures are for 6 months back, so that's around early 1996. The actual figures are more than likely to be just over 30,000 readers. CU Amiga's figures are way behind, they're almost a year behind. Currently they're saying 47,000 readers, but the truth is that they're probably struggling to pass the 30,000 mark. Take a look at the ABC figures of both mags from the past year or two, you'll see that CU has always been behind by a good few thousand. So the point of the above? No particular reason, I think it's just nice to show readers the truth for a change. Finally, on the subject of figures, I should tell you that every 6 months Amiga Format's readership drops by just under 20,000 readers. So, let's put on our thinking caps and estimate the life of our dear Amiga.... Hmm, mid 1998. To further back up my dismal figures, Amiga Power graced the newsagents stand for the last time, last month. I have to admit, that Amiga Power is the only Amiga mag I've never ever bought in my life.... what a shame. @6 -=-+-=- @1 Anyway, I hope I haven't dampened your day (or night) with these figures. I really think that the amount of false claims and figures made by biased mags should be exposed more often. Don't get me wrong, I love the Amiga, but seeing such crap in mags has peeved me off so much I had to write a few articles on the subject. Finally, I'll end this article with some more games figures: *3@5 496 copies of Worms were sold this summer. Incidentally, Worms was the top selling game this summer. 352 copies of Premier Manager 3 were sold this summer. This game held the number 5 slot in the game charts.