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RE: price hike France 40
Robert,
I think it is going to be tough for APL to get games to stores due to the pricing. As we are seeing the webstore pricing on the games, now is approaching and breaching $100. I think that it is fair to say this is the lowest cost you are going to find because I cannot see APL cutting any volume deals with distributes. There margin is so low already on the stuff you get from the webstore. So even if a distribute takes mercy and buys at the retail rate, you will be looking at a 10-15% price about that for there margin. This will put all games, even the one at the $75 level up at the $100 mark which will make them a tough sell.
Going along with distributors, this means that APL will need to print extra games besides any that people continue to preorder. In the new "print on demand" model that APL is doing this will not fit as they will have alot tied up in inventory. This was another issue that put APL in the red. Having 10k copies but only selling 2k, alot of money tied up in "cardboard futures".
Lastly, having distributors will require management of them. Granted it will not take much effort, but it will require some. Given the 1.5 person company model at the moment, there is not much room to add more work, even this.
So in the end APL is what it is a very small boutique game business that runs hand to mouth. Unless there is a buyout or a windfall of cash to the organization you can expect it to run the same as you are seeing for a bit.
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