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From: docken@convex.com (William Dockendorf)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.games
Subject: Re: M.U.L.E.
Message-ID: <1991May01.214722.18015@convex.com>
Date: 1 May 91 21:47:22 GMT
References: <1991Apr26.102303.30074@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu> <24487@well.sf.ca.us> <1991May1.202902.19269@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu>
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  I too would love to see MULE ported over to the Amiga, but one big
reason why we may never see this is that, sales-wise, it was a big flop.
It has sold less than 30,000 copies TOTAL over all formats.

  According to the editorial on page 80 of the April 1991 issue of
Computer Gaming World, MULE was very heavily pirated.   Here's a few
quotes from the article (lifted without permission).

      "Dan Bunten believes the reason so many copies of M.U.L.E were
       pirated was a combination of the fact that the on-disk copy
       protection was antiquated enough that virtually anyone who
       wanted could break it, and many retailers were not convinced
       enough that it was going to sell (thus, they pulled it quicker
       than they did his 150,000 unit seller, 'Seven Cities of Gold'),
       so M.U.L.E. ending up going "back channel""

      "Early copies of Computer Gaming World bear out Bunten's theory
       of piracy because the numbers of responses from gamers rating
       the 30,000-selling M.U.L.E. and 150,000-selling 'Seven Cities
       of Gold' were nearly identical.  Bunten argues that in one sense,
       M.U.L.E.'s success killed it.  It received great "word of mouth",
       but as Bunten notes, "At that time, word of mouth was 'Have a
       copy'""
  

  What they are saying is that since the same number of people rating
both of these games in their surveys, then approximately the same number
of people had played both games, and by implication, approximately the
same number of people had a copy of each game (in some form - legal
or pirated).  Since the sales figures were 5 to 1, then it would seem
that there are at least 4 pirate copies of M.U.L.E. for every one bought.

  The actual figure could be higher, or it could be somewhat lower since
M.U.L.E is a game that works best with multiple players unlike most 
computer games, so not everyone who plays it neccessarily has a copy.
(How many people have played the board game monopoly and how many of
those have the game?  I've played many times but I don't own Monopoly
- my parents have a 20 year old one.)


  William (one of the 30,000 store bought copies) Dockendorf