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2013 Collector Edition Statistics and Developer Information
Noticeable trendsBFG is not picking up as many games as offered from these developers and/or won't/can't offer the premier editions available: Playrix, Alawar, Youda, Fenomen.
Free To Play (F2P) games. It seems many developers have been sold on this idea as a cure for piracy. Given that the largest part of the casual game market is in the 45 and up age group, it will be interesting to see how this pans out money-wise for the developers. Another BFG recommendation via Casual Connect.
There are more developers showing early signs of becoming "cookie monsters". Aside from the well-known "cookie monsters, ERS and Elephant Games, Eipix is showing early symptoms, with 8 games in 1 year.
Number of CEs and Time Between CEs/SEsThere were a total of 99 Collector Editions issued this year, a 23% increase over the 80 issued in 2012. There were 100 SEs issued this year, a 23.5% increase over the 81 issued in 2012, although the average number of days/weeks between the release of CE/SE remained virtually the same: 4.1 weeks in 2012 vs. 4.2 weeks in 2013. The longest SE release in 2013 was 81 days (11.5 weeks) for Elephant's Grim Tales: Bloody Mary, compared to last year's 54 days (7.71 weeks) of AliasWorld's Kingdom Chronicles.
Developer InformationThis is the first year since the introduction of Collector Editions in 2009, that a CE was not developed by Big Fish Studios. In 2009, they introduced the first CE, Mystery Case Files: Dire Grove. In 2010 they had 2; In 2011 they had 3; In 2012 they had 1. All BF Studio Games are either dead or farmed out to other developers now - Azada to ERS; Hidden Expeditions could be assigned yearly to a different developer (2012 it went to Floodlight; in 2013 it went to Eipix). Mystery Case Files is anyone's guess, if it even continues, and Drawn is, by their own announcement, 'done'.
Thirty-nine developers were responsible for the 99 CE games released this year. Twenty-eight of the developers were 'seasoned' or veteran CE developers. Eleven of them brought us CEs for the first time, while 15 of them released more than once CE.. Seven developers were responsible for 54.5% of the CEs released this year.
15 Developers submitted more than 1 CE in 2013
| Developer | CEs in 2013 | CEs in 2012 | +/- |
| Alawar | 4 | 5 | -1 |
| Artifex Mundi | 4 | 1 | +3 |
| Blam | 6 | 2 | +4 |
| Blue Tea | 3 | 2 | +1 |
| BoomZap | 5 | 4 | +1 |
| Chayowo | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Daily Magic | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Eipix | 8 | 1 | +7 |
| Elefun | 3 | 2 | +1 |
| Elephant | 12 | 10 | +2 |
| ERS | 15 | 14 | +1 |
| Gogii | 3 | 3 | 0 |
| Mad Head | 2 | 1 | +1 |
| Orneon | 3 | 4 | -1 |
| Vast | 3 | 1 | +2 |
| 75 | 52 |
|
Seven Developers were responsible for 54.5 % of 99 CEs in 2013.| ERS | 15.25 |
| Elephant | 12.25 |
| Eipix | 8.00 |
| Blam | 6.00 |
| BoomZap | 5.00 |
| Artifex | 4.00 |
| Alawar | 4.00 |
| 54.50 |
Eleven First Time CE Developers/Developers with One CE This Year| Developer | CEs in 2013 | CEs in 2012 |
| 4 Friends | 1 | 1 |
| 8 Floor | 1 |
|
| Artogon | 1 | 2 |
| Big Top Games | 1 |
|
| Boolat Games | 1 | 0 |
| Fenomen | 1 | 0 |
| Foxy Game Studios | 1 |
|
| Friendly Cactus | 1 |
|
| Grandma Studios | 1 |
|
| Gunnar Games | 1 |
|
| Hot Lava Games | 1 |
|
| MagicIndie | 1 | 1 |
| MariaGlorum | 1 | 1 |
| Meridian 93 | 1 |
|
| Organic to Digital | 1 |
|
| PlayFavorite | 1 | 0 |
| Playrix | 1 | 0 |
| Puzzle Lab | 1 |
|
| Silverback Studios | 1 | 2 |
| Sulus Games | 1 | 1 |
| Sunward Games | 1 |
|
| Taba Games | 1 | 2 |
| Vendel Games | 1 | 0 |
| Youda Games | 1 | 0 |
| Devs released just 1 | 24 |
|
Developers with no CE in 2013
Awem Studios - No PC games released in 2012 or 2013. Actively working on Island Castaway 3 and getting all their other games onto mobile apps. Castaway 3 will be released in mobile app version first. PC version will be different.AliasWorlds - Kingdom Chronicles in 2012; They've spent the year getting all their games onto mobile apps.Cerasus Media - Dark Mysteries: The Soul Keeper; They're still around, but fixating on mobile apps.Big Fish Studios - They're leading a happy life in the world of mobile apps (sorta like PlayFirst), as well as playing 'Godfather' to a couple of "lucky" developers. We wish them happy.DarkBlue Games - Witch Hunters: Stolen Beauty; Haunted Manor: Lord of Mirrors - Web page says they have a new game in development (no posting date), but Facebook link on page is a dead end.Fuzzy Bug - Haunting Mysteries: The Island of Lost Souls; the last post on their website was when this game was released - 5/12/2012 and they said it took them 14 months. I'm giving them a caution light until next year.Gi Games - Fantastic Creations: House of Brass; This talented Spanish team opted for the world of MMORPG.Gleanergames - Angelica Weaver: Catch Me When You Can - disappeared.Inertia Software - Margrave: The Blacksmith's Daughter; may just be retiring Margrav series. This UK team is still offering a bevy of sudoko, mahjong, jigsaw, solitaire and other puzzle games on their own website.Joy Bits - We may never see another CE from this team, as they are living high in the mobile app world with their "Doodle" series. They also have an F2P game.Lesta Studios - Another talented team who is now focusing on MMORPG and F2P.PlayPond - Mystery Legends series (Phantom of the Opera, Beauty & the Beast) Penny Dreadfuls Sweeney Todd; nothing since 2011. And I mean nothing.Space Monkey Games - Sisters Secrecy: Arcanum Bloodlines; I'm giving a caution light here because I can't find them anywhere on the web or Facebook. It would be a shame to lose this developer.Top Evidence - Witch Hunters: Stolen Beauty; Haunted Manor: Lord of Mirrors - Web page says they have a new game in development but that post has been there over a year. FaceBook link on page is a dead end.Updates From 2012 Report:
Vogat Games - Last game 10/16/2011. Well, well - the boys are back in town. The team has spent the year converting their past games to mobile apps and they are now entering the F2P market. Welcome back, guys!FunSwitch - 0 in 2012 (1 in 2011) - After getting shutout by Gogii with no sequel to Voodoo Whisperer, there's been no more word from this exceptionally talented team. They were working on a new iHog on their own in 2011, but evidently couldn't get funding.Mumbo Jumbo - 0 in 2012 (1 in 2011) Turned Midnight Mystery series over to Hot Lava Games. They are producing and doing other thingsKatGames - 0 in 2012 (1 in 2011) - although they did release an SE - The Cross Formula. They can't finish Dream Chronicles because they don't own the rights and PlayFirst won't put up the production money or reassign the rights.Codeminion - 0 in 2012 - Small group banded together and produced Cinders. Some of Codeminion game rights signed over to other devs.Floodlight (1 in 2011) - teamed up with another studio.Color Key for Developers Report:
Dev is alive and well, even though they haven't produced any PC games lately.Dev hasn't produced anything in 2 years. I consider this dev at risk.Dev hasn't done anything in 2 years and has no website update and no FaceBook info.Dev has officially shutdown/merged with another studio/no longer operational.
No? Neither did I! I had to change it to images, but at least you can still her her amazing list! Check it out:
I absolutely loved that game.
