Panzer Corps gets a Greenlight

[Philkian]

Thousands of votes were collected over a period of nine months and finally the community has achieved its goal: Panzer Corps will soon be available on Steam.

With the imminent release of the iPad version, the highly praised strategy gaming franchise gets an extra boost of popularity and exposure that will expand and strengthen the community, with both wargamers and occasional strategy gamers.

“First and foremost a big thank you to our very active community”, said Iain McNeil, Development Director of the Slitherine Group. “We know that Steam is a very important distribution platform and many players were very vocal in pushing this to happen. We are excited by this great new commercial opportunity and we look forward to the launch of Panzer Corps and the other great titles we have lined up for a Steam release”.

Developed by Flashback Games and The Lordz Games Studio, Panzer Corps was launched by Slitherine in July 2011 and since then has sky rocketed to the top of the charts in this genre. It sparked a new interest in this niche area of the market and has attracted a wealth of player, old and new, to wargaming. The Panzer Corps franchise now includes, a main game, ten downloadable content scenario packs covering the entire war in a linked Grand Campaign and two stand alone add-ons: Afrika Korps covering the North African campaign and Allied Corps, released in June this year.

Panzer Corps will be the first game from the Slitherine Group to be released through the Steam distribution channel, but three others are already in preparation and are due to land on the platform soon.

“Both Flashback Games and The Lordz Games Studio are very proud of being Greenlit on Steam”, said Tim van der Moer, Managing Director of The Lordz Games Studio.“The Panzer Corps games are truly community built, organic and evolving projects. We work closely with both Slitherine and the community to keep improving the series as a whole”.

No further information has been disclosed on release timings and content of the release.

[MrsWargamer]

Only one request.

Don't go and devalue your traditional methods of selling your games.

A. nothing beats digital downloads of a no DRM crap installer. I buy from Slitherine Group primarily because I get the whole program, the real program and no crap aside from an installer serial required. I pay full price and pay it gladly because it is worth it this way.
B. Steam is an option, a good option, but it is more useful as a means of exposure than anything else in my opinion. I don't buy on Steam because of crazy sale prices, I buy on Steam only when they don't have the game anywhere else. If you lose Steam, you lose everything.
C. Steam is a good portal to the broader gaming world. Many don't mind using Steam. But many use Steam partly by force, as they have no alternative. Hey I only started by force myself.

I don't require and sure don't expect and certainly would not entertain the idea that everything you have needs to be on Steam.
I don't want to be part of any mob clamouring for your catalogue to appear on Steam just because Panzer Corps has made it there.

But I do certainly have my hopes this works out well for Slitherine Group and the makers of Panzer Corps.

[doc99]

FINALLY!!!!!!

[MrsWargamer]

I won't be looking to add it to my Steam list of course. The install is simply not that much of a hassle.

I AM looking forward though to dragging my friends attention to it as much as is possible.

Pity I am still out of luck with a tablet using Windows (that doesn't make an iPad look cheap). I don't neeeeeed it to go to Android, but I likely would buy it all over again just to have it on my tablet.

Chances are, I will end up getting an early generation iPad and just deal with it. I have seen a few games on it that I am interested in that are not from Slitherine Group.

[kirk23]

I used to play Football Manager before it joined the Steam community, but since it uses DRM crap I'm now a past player, I will never ever play a game with DRM, I sincerely hope Matrix games & Slitherine, Lords Studio don't go down this DRM coding route, because if they do I'm out of here!

[IainMcNeil]

If the game is on steam it doesn't mean anything changes on our own site. We don't use any DRM if you buy direct from us.

[kirk23]

I always buy direct from Matrix 25 games and counting, with many more to come in the future, its great to know that the dreaded DRM will not be a problem, because I hate the concept.

[MrsWargamer]

Well a serial is essentially a 'drm', the thing is, a serial is a no strings approach.

I like that with my serial, I can install as often as I like as many times as I like where I like. The notion that Steam is more convenient is just a matter of limited thinking.

I already have anything Steam can offer with every last Slitherine Group game. I have access to cloud storage just from using Asus products. I can store all my games online if I feel like it, and then access them from anywhere on anything if I feel like it and thus install to any machine I desire on the slightest whim I create and never once require any assistance from Slitherine Group either. And my installer will download faster to me from a private source and install, I can assure you as fast as Steam can manage if not faster.

The ONLY thing I see Steam offering Slitherine Group, is massive levels of market place exposure, and advertising is NEVER cheap, as any business knows.
Because sadly, the reality is, no one has ever heard of Matrix Games or Slitherine in almost ever conversation I have ever had with mainstream gamers. 200+ games to their credit and having been in wargaming more than a decade, and they are essentially still largely invisible to all but us hard core wargamers.

Panzer Corps is a good game though to be a lead entry into the Steam arena.

But the word 'arena' is an appropriate one.

[Nameless]

What about releasing Panzer Corps on GOG ? (www.gog.com). Full packing of course (game + all DLC)

[MrsWargamer]

What about releasing Panzer Corps on GOG ? (http://www.gog.com). Full packing of course (game + all DLC)

I'd rather seen PC on GoG than on Steam to be honest.

I like the DLC notion above. I already own the whole lot, but I can see it being an attractive notion.

I also support GoG for the way they have taken an old classic, and made sure it runs on today's OS.

I have original Panzer General 2. My original disk, not sure why I keep it. It is no good any more. My PG2 from GoG is how I load it now.

I sure would love to see GoG take a shot at cleaning up Steel Panthers so it is a no hassle install. But yes I know, it is not going to happen, ownership, yadda yadda yadda, I am already aware of the reasons. I hope Gary doesn't drop dead before he does what he hinted at earlier with re releasing it.

[returntoforever8]

im glad! i made all my steam buddies greenlight it regardless of whether they were into wargames or not

[BiteNibbleChomp]

What about releasing Panzer Corps on GOG ? (http://www.gog.com). Full packing of course (game + all DLC)

+ GOG is a website for games that were made 20 years ago, not 3!

- BNC

[MrsWargamer]

Most think of GoG for games that simply can't be found elsewhere and in my case for games that simply don't like current hardware and or OSs.

I for instance like it for Panzer General 2, as my original won't install correctly but the GoG one does.
I also have bought a few rpg type games with them like Baldur's Gate.

Those needing 'convenient' might wish to consider employing Steam. The single installer for the Mega DLC was nice too.

[Muddy]

What about releasing Panzer Corps on GOG ? (http://www.gog.com). Full packing of course (game + all DLC)

+ GOG is a website for games that were made 20 years ago, not 3!

- BNC

GOG sells new games and most indie games now, they even have Age of wonders 3. GOG is a great site and I buy many-many games from them, but have only bought a couple from steam, and those I had to because I couldn't get them elsewhere.

[iceFlame]

GOG sells new games and most indie games now...

Yeah, I guess there's not enough money in just 'old' games so they've had to expand their horizons... Kudos for rewriting code to get the classics to run on modern OS's though. IMO it's a great service to the veteran gaming community, so I try to support them whenever I can.

[MrsWargamer]

Was not aware they were doing new on quite that magnitude.

Kudos to them for that.

I like their stance on drm. None.

Piracy WILL happen, they chose to not let it keep them from selling to those that will buy.

[BiteNibbleChomp]

Piracy WILL happen, they chose to not let it keep them from selling to those that will buy.

Well, obviously that doesn't concern them. (I'm not suggesting you should - in fact quite the opposite!)

- BNC