Nobody Knows How Many Amigas Commodore Sold
Added 2024-08-29 23:53:20 +0000 UTCThe lack of accurate Amiga sales figures has always bothered me. They became particularly apparent when I was writing 'Flatline' back in 2018. I knew the Amiga had a slow start, but it was impossible to quantify with any real data - Commodore were not forthcoming with unit sales.
There was only one hope for any official information on the matter - Commodore's annual shareholder reports. Sadly, I was unable to locate them.
But around a year after Flatline's release, a chance listing on eBay meant that I was able to acquire four such reports - and they were from a crucial period of the Amiga's lifespan. Since then, they've been sat on a shelf, silently begging me to plumb their tables of data and financial spiel to uncover the secrets within.
This video is the result.
I'm not sure if it's the most interesting thing I've ever done, but the quest for historical truth is seldom glamorous. In any case, I'll probably do something lighter next - and I'm just happy to close the loop that my research for Flatline originally untangled!
Comments
Due to budget issues, won't be here for a while...
Miy Eterp
2024-10-31 14:03:05 +0000 UTCWOW amazing! Hope for vid about M2 Browning 50 cal HMG in the future!
Miy Eterp
2024-10-02 12:54:44 +0000 UTCThis is interesting! As a tyke, I’d never heard of processors, just went purely on graphics, and it usually followed that the Amiga had the edge here. The Bitmaps captured ‘cool’ for a while. Their branding and image was on point and made you feel like you were also cool. I’m calling up decades-old childhood memories here of course!
Andrew Laing
2024-08-31 09:11:20 +0000 UTCAgreed, even Speedball 2 was mediocre at best, and most of their games were… not great, Chaos Engine was probably the exception. But the style influence is undeniable! I would also argue (as an Amiga user, no less!) that Xenon (the first one) looks better on the Atari ST.
Alex Limi
2024-08-30 16:16:34 +0000 UTCI find it funny that after hundreds of comments, nobody has pointed out the hilariousness of this video — all the work, all the effort of reading the reports, reverse engineering the annual report numbers, the obsessive and amazing quality of the presentation here — we arrive at a number that is about ~1% off from the random magazine quote. (Yes, thatsthejoke.jpg) 😄 But, class act leaving it hanging in the video. 😄
Alex Limi
2024-08-30 16:14:22 +0000 UTCI enjoy a good investigative numbers-crunching video in a world where facts matter a little less every day.
Lunar amethyst
2024-08-30 14:10:46 +0000 UTCI think the ST was the better platform up until around 87/88 - it had more support, and the slightly higher clock speed gave the ST an advantage in some games. I have huge respect for the Bitmap Brothers and I'd like to do a video on them. But to my secret shame, I never enjoyed Speedball 2 all that much. Wasn't my jam. Still, a vid on the Bitmaps isn't out of the question. I'd quite like to talk about how their art style influenced other games.
Ahoy
2024-08-30 12:19:55 +0000 UTCFun fact - the paper texture footage I shot is actually the back of the 1993 report. The small black mark was unintentional, but I'm sure it will annoy a few folk.
Ahoy
2024-08-30 12:18:33 +0000 UTCAm I the only one who tried to clean my screen? 😂
Adam Leyshon
2024-08-30 09:57:38 +0000 UTCI mean this with the greatest of respect when I say that your presentation style, and quality of the art style, means that I’d probably watch you give a history of the phone book. That said, as an ST boy, I was always slightly envious of the Amiga’s power. It made every game we had look slightly better. If I can be so bold as to request a video type - please could you look at Speedball and it’s incredible sequel ‘Brutal Deluxe’ - it was a fun game, but it was the world building and absolutely banging theme tune and soundtrack which drew me in. Always thought it would make an excellent movie.
Andrew Laing
2024-08-30 08:16:18 +0000 UTCMy thoughts exactly… 😅
The Classy Ox
2024-08-30 03:44:58 +0000 UTCWho's going to be first to update the wikipedia article?
VoxelPrismatic
2024-08-30 02:43:51 +0000 UTCTime to go edit a Wikipedia page.
Connor Christiansen
2024-08-30 00:55:24 +0000 UTCTurns out all it takes to make me watch a fiscal report is Ahoy's narration and the power of Vaporwave music.
Wally Hackenslacker
2024-08-30 00:24:56 +0000 UTC
