How did (especially UK) Amiga and ST game sales compare, eg. Vroom?

[Megalomaniac]

When ST/Amiga Format launched in mid-1988, there were apparently 3 times as many STs in the UK as Amigas (understandable - as the first ST was half the cost of the A1000, and launched nearly 2 years before the A500, and still about 2/3 the price of an A500, and was still cheaper when you consider the free games until at least 1989). Presumably, most games that were released for both systems simultaneously sold more on the ST initially. At what point did the balance change? When did Amiga originals first outsell like-for-like (ie not coin-op conversions or licenses) ST ports?

I'm particularly intrigued by Vroom, which I'd assume sold considerably more on the ST, as the publishers and developer were much more fabled on the ST, and their version launched before ST Lotus 2 and F1GP, whereas those were both available on the Amiga first and were close competition. European companies (other than French) seemed to abandon the ST pretty sharply around that time, is there a clue in terms of how Vroom! sold?

[alexh]

I imagine all you can do is look at the charts in multi-format magazines like ACE or C&VG.

Unfortunately games which were on multiple platforms were sometimes "lumped" together.

[TCD]

It will be hard to find accurate data for this I'm afraid. You'd need to find sales figures published by publishers from that time and compare it over time. Would be interesting for sure if those documents exist.

[dlfrsilver]

Originally Posted by Megalomaniac

When ST/Amiga Format launched in mid-1988, there were apparently 3 times as many STs in the UK as Amigas (understandable - as the first ST was half the cost of the A1000, and launched nearly 2 years before the A500, and still about 2/3 the price of an A500, and was still cheaper when you consider the free games until at least 1989). Presumably, most games that were released for both systems simultaneously sold more on the ST initially. At what point did the balance change? When did Amiga originals first outsell like-for-like (ie not coin-op conversions or licenses) ST ports?

I'm particularly intrigued by Vroom, which I'd assume sold considerably more on the ST, as the publishers and developer were much more fabled on the ST, and their version launched before ST Lotus 2 and F1GP, whereas those were both available on the Amiga first and were close competition. European companies (other than French) seemed to abandon the ST pretty sharply around that time, is there a clue in terms of how Vroom! sold?

I met the Vroom programmer in Paris, during a conference regarding game preservation at the french national library.

Vroom amiga is better than the ST version : hyper optimised code, joystick play, and the game is faster.

France was the only country on the globe where the ST sold better than the Amiga. Everywhere else, UK, Germany, Italy, etc, the Amiga was the king.

[ImmortalA1000]

Not when the STFM was £499.99 AND £24.99 for the A520 vs £299 for the 520STFM up until Autumn 1988 it wasn't, at which point the A500 effectively dropped by £125 for an A500 with free bundled A520.


It all went pear shaped though with the DRAM price hikes forcing the ST up to the same newly discounted £399.99 A500 price from spring-autumn 88 that never affected Commodore and the very pathetic 'too little too late and nobody supported it anyway' STE update for an identical price to the superior Amiga OCS spec from 1985 at £399.99.

I don't like Vroom, the handling on the cars is as shit as a Citroen 2CV. F1 by Domark on the other hand is brilliant because the cars actually have the turn-in and grip of a Formula 1 car. F1 also uses software samples on the ST so on a portable TV's speaker you wouldn't be able to tell if it's running on an ST or Amiga. F1 is brilliant to play, Vroom is frustrating.

[dlfrsilver]

Originally Posted by ImmortalA1000

Not when the STFM was £499.99 AND £24.99 for the A520 vs £299 for the 520STFM up until Autumn 1988 it wasn't, at which point the A500 effectively dropped by £125 for an A500 with free bundled A520.


It all went pear shaped though with the DRAM price hikes forcing the ST up to the same newly discounted £399.99 A500 price from spring-autumn 88 that never affected Commodore and the very pathetic 'too little too late and nobody supported it anyway' STE update for an identical price to the superior Amiga OCS spec from 1985 at £399.99.

I don't like Vroom, the handling on the cars is as shit as a Citroen 2CV. F1 by Domark on the other hand is brilliant because the cars actually have the turn-in and grip of a Formula 1 car. F1 also uses software samples on the ST so on a portable TV's speaker you wouldn't be able to tell if it's running on an ST or Amiga. F1 is brilliant to play, Vroom is frustrating.

F1 from Domark use the Vroom source code. It's Vroom but with the F1 license...... It's not an english game, Domark bought the right to work on the Vroom program source to make F1.