Left Behind Games leaves behind money

According to Next-Gen, Left Behind Games posted a $4.1 million loss for its fiscal third quarter. This was on top of a last year's loss of $934,000. It really doesn't mean much given their first product, Left Behind: Eternal Forces, just debuted at the end of the last calendar year.

Troy Lyndon, CEO of Left Behind Games, says the company will be profitable within the year, "We are expanding our sales channels beyond major retailers to include more Christian bookstores, ministry sponsorships, church outreaches, Christian conferences, LAN center licensing, viral online and Internet sales, music concerts and trial versions. We look forward to a very prosperous year."

Left Behind Games is already fixing previous mistakes by using Big Huge Games' (Rise of Nations) RTS engine and some of their staff to make a better sequel -- it's not like the next game could be worse.

Reader Comments (14)

All that hype for a game that horrible. Shows you how the internet can become the ultimate in Viral marketing for zero cost, but still won't make you any money if your product is A:Godawful (no pun intended) and B: Unfindable (Have you seen it in stores?)

They need to quit while they are (very VERY) behind.

"Where's your Messiah now?"
-Edward G. Robinson

props for the Far Side cartoon

Gary Larson is my hero.

Frankly, larger distribution through Christian book stores isn't going to do them much good.

I audited a major chain of christian book stores at one point, who sold a mixture of straight to channel and 2nd stock. They used to buy lots of overstock from retailers like walmart.

The customer profile, based what sold and what didn't wasn't what you might expect. Left Behind books and Bill O'Reilly's latest didn't move units at all.

People who were picking them up were getting them elsewhere.

Shouldn't the headline have read "Left Behind is Left Behind"? The real question is why do ad-games succeed while prostheletising-games fail miserably.

The answer is clear. Market the game for what it is. Burger King can charge an appropriate amount for its games and succeed, but Left Behind is marketed as an actual games. Sorry, but it's a tongue-in-cheek sales pitch more than a game. If you want to market a sales pitch, don't charge full price. Learn a lesson from the US Army and give the game away. Consider the loss an investment and not a business venture. Or, better yet, just stick with what works and stay out of the gaming field.

GOD IS LEFT HANDED!?

I plan to someday make the atheist add-on pack for this game.

. . .It deletes "Left Behind: Eternal Forces" from your hard drive completely, and then proves that it never existed in the first place.

ZeroCorpse, I'll overlook any of your past less-than-stellar posts for making me laugh with this one. I was sitting here with a dopey grin after reading it.

The moral of this tale - writing games for the wacko fringe of a religion may not make for very big profits.

Perhaps they should write some wholesome, non-violent, secular games that appeal to a wider demographic without trying to shove religion down gamer's throats. They might sell more.

Oh and dump the in-game spyware too.

Have you guys played "Left Behind"? I own it (had to buy it from Amazon) out of morbid curiosity, and let me tell you it is the worst piece of trash ever. It's so bad that the initial release had a fatal bug in it that wouldn't let you get past the fourth level. The idea for that level is to recruit a ton of guys to your side, but they don't give you enough building options to support that many guys. Hence, unbeatable without a patch.

I never beat it. It's very boring and repetitive, and all of the units look exactly alike. The cover says that the same graphics designer worked on it that did "Madden 96," it's funny because the graphics look about right for that time period.

"No man can serve two masters, for he will either hate the one and love the other, or else he will cling to the one and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon." -Matt. 6:24

Looks like they're doing a pretty good job getting rid of the mammon...

I downloaded the hacked copy of this game and I was quite amused. Religious games, despite a huge budget, have still not grasps the very simple fact that, should your game be preachy, at least make it fun, or loaded with androgynous teenage protagonists with "big swords."

I could be playing a game trying to convince me to give my first four children to the arms of Shullvalla, the desolate destroyer of wombs and dampener of apolestry, and so long as the game is fun... I'd continue playing.

Dear Christian Movement,
Before trying to deliver a message, fix the package. It usually looks like a Columbian Drug Dealers Chalupa Loaded Bowel Spray...

I fail to see how this game was marketed to the "wacko fringe". The Left Behind books have sold incredibly well, and it's marketed to that group.

Problem is, gaming is still very much both a non-religious area (unless it's Satanic in nature), and also an area where teens and young adults are most prevalent. So the same market for the books does not exist for the game. The book market was their target market, but they're not going to convince them to get into gaming.

I haven't played the game, but had it reviewed well, I would have picked it up. But I have the sneaking suspicion that if it were "random RTS" instead of some Christian theme, it would have scored slightly higher.

Sarge out.

The Hindu add-on pack:

It deletes "Left Behind: Eternal Forces" from your hard drive, and then brings it back as "Lemmings 2."

Left Behind Games leaves behind money

Reader Comments (14)

Posted: Feb 21st 2007 5:20AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Feb 21st 2007 6:21AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Feb 21st 2007 6:47AM Marzz said

Posted: Feb 21st 2007 7:31AM falcomadol said

Posted: Feb 21st 2007 10:43AM CowboyUGA said

Posted: Feb 21st 2007 10:46AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Feb 21st 2007 11:34AM ZeroCorpse said

Posted: Feb 21st 2007 11:49AM CowboyUGA said

Posted: Feb 21st 2007 11:58AM DrXym said

Posted: Feb 21st 2007 12:40PM dabamf said

Posted: Feb 21st 2007 2:53PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Feb 21st 2007 3:55PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Feb 21st 2007 5:57PM Sarge said

Posted: Feb 21st 2007 5:21PM ZeroCorpse said

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