It’s been a while since I’ve posted an updated on the Community Publisher program for DarkFall, mostly because nothing really noteworthy has happened concerning it until today. Sales slowed a bit after March, which seems like a rather random time when looking at major dates for DarkFall. That time is long-past the date I would have expected sales to slow if they were simply based of a set audience that reads this blog. My best guess is lack of a real promotion combined with the lack of a headline-grabbing expansion caused a decrease in new-user interest. And while the final release date of the ‘June’ expansion is anyone’s guess, today Aventurine has solved the ‘lack of promotion’ issue, reducing the purchase price of DarkFall to $30, with hints of online retail and boxed sales incoming.

I’m very curious to see how DarkFall being available on Steam or D2D will affect CPP sales here. Also of interest will be how the $30 price point plays out for CPP earnings; obviously per-sale profits drop, but will they be made up for in volume? And now that DarkFall is no longer priced at the expected ‘new release’ price point, will that have a general effect on people? Is there a crowd that was sitting on the fence with DarkFall, just waiting for a price drop to jump in? While I would say that seems somewhat unlikely, the CPP numbers will be telling either way.

Even if sales don’t increase from the additional exposure of Steam/D2D/Others, the amount of income generated already is miles ahead of things like donations or paid advertising, and this is for a niche title. If WoW had a CPP I have no doubt you could actually make decent part-time job money out of it, all from doing what many of us already do anyway, write about MMOs.

And while I obviously might be a bit bias, I’m far more comfortable making money from promoting a product I actually use and enjoy than getting money from random ads or just outright asking reads for it. If you became interested enough in DF because of this blog, or this blog has in some way helped you get more out of the game, I’m perfectly fine with Aventurine giving up some of their profits and passing them down to me. From the buyer’s perspective, you would have spent the $30/$50/$80 anyway if you bought the game directly. And while the actual money itself is a nice-enough side bonus, I’ve gained far more from the CPP in terms of buyer trending data, helping a product that ultimately helps me (more players = more dev $ = more content) and perhaps best of all, troll feed. Because while they might not be real people, trolls need love too.

Chuck-o-the-day: Chuck Norris has been to Mars, that’s why there’s no life there.