Hi guys ive been a lurker for awhile, some of you will know me from the shmups forum
As others have said most ppl who are serious about buying shmups have already gone out and bought a 360, especially when the price of the console is so low. Imo most ppl who havnt done so dont have shmups high on their priotities or atleast not enough to buy the more that the occasional shooter which isnt enough to support the genre by buying every game at full rrp, those who do are on the 360. (Maybe one or two AAA shmups like Ikaruga or Deathsmiles could make a profit but no more)
That said I do think there is a good case for PC ports on steam. As unlike the PS3 the PC does have a a decent number of shmup players who are quite happy playing Mame and doujins games to be bothered buying a 360. However since most PC gamers pirate its still unknown if its worth CAVE and Grev porting their games onto the platform.
Although Jamestown seems to be a success and theres a bevy of doujin shmups making their way to steam there is a market there. Ive just a funny feeling that this sudden rush will saturate the market similar to how the 360 market was last year.
One common misconception from gamers thats common (ive kind of seen it in this thread too) is that CAVE is gouging or charging overly high prices for their games when it isnt true. The price of their shmups in Japan is std to other retail shooters and the prices of their localised 360 shmups are quite cheap been around £25 rrp that quicky drops to half that.
Although some might say that £25 is too much when similar shmups are on xbla but the fact is the best sellers are rereleases of older games. The others are a mix of hybrid or lower quality shooters leaving Strania (which IIRC Grev wasnt happy with its sales) and Trouble Witches Neo (a doujin fan game that made it big). Also MS are shitheads at marketing niche xbla games on their dashboard other than Treasure, Fez and Limbo