I’m not feeling one bit badly for this company right now.

Left Behind: Eternal Forces is an RTS game based on the books by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins. I’ve written a fair bit about it, because I’m not impressed with the ideology behind/in the game. Nor have I been impressed with some of the cronyism, marketing or giveaways.

Entertainment pushes the limits all the time, I get that;  people of all walks of life believe this game has pushed too far and like them, I’ve made no bones about what I think is wrong with the fundamentalist predispensationalism being peddled in the game.  Groups and individuals have publicly rejected this game on it’s merits, be they technological or ideological. A friend of mine recently said he thought I’d like to see something like Left Behind: Eternal Forces banned. He’s wrong. I don’t. I want to see them in the marketplace, open and upfront, where their product can be critiqued, judged, bought or rejected on merit.

The game  has only sold 65 thousand copies.
Even at a discount (PC game 49.95/US suggested retail) the company may make money, but not even close to what the book market of the LaHaye franchise makes.  In a billion+ dollar game industry, you have to have a good product and creative marketing skills. All the creative marketing skills in the world aren’t going to help this dog bark. 

 Claims the games development cost range from 3 to 5 million up to 27 million dollars are confusing.  The game platform didn’t start off that great,  and the release of patches hasn’t helped boost reviews. The PR and marketing has gotten ‘creative’ because sales are flat. I’ll give ground in my grumbling and give Troy Lyndon a A+ for sheer tenacity in marketing, and it’s no secret Lyndon has a good rating at rent a coder, and no one can argue money and skill have been not been poured into this product.  

The stock of the company is not doing well either. 
Standard and Poors 

The company is in the industry for the long haul, Left Behind: Eternal Forces is a first offering, the company genuine believes they can corner a niche market. (note the 63 million books sold at the top of the game site:^)  Left Behind Games has plunged into hyping future development, the engine of the 2008 sequel is being built with development help from Big Huge Games.  
I’m not as convinced as I was about when I first heard about this game that there is much of a market. 65 thousand games after 3 months and plummeting stock says a lot about the niche.  No matter what way anyone tries to colour this, Left Behind Games is an agenda driven company, not a ministry, and the people that buy into this agenda may not be motivated to play games.

[As far as anyone knows the top 'Christian' video game in sales in N'Lightning Software's Catechumen. (80 thousand)]