MOO3 4 January: marketting suicide?...

[Xentax]

Thanks, Dave, and I hear what you're saying -- I suspect there are reasons that are not being shared.

I just hope that wait doesn't alienate too many potential customers in the process, because it IS a fun game to play. Up until MOO3, I'd go back to MOO2 or MoM from time to time when I needed a strategy fix. After MOO3, I won't have to except when an especially nostalgic streak kicks in.

[ravagon]

Originally posted by MasterDave
It just does not make sense to miss out on Xmas sales for the sake of a single "elusive" bug. Executives of a game company disappointing fans and missing out on real sales to improve some artificial bottom line does, unfortunately, make all the sense in the world.

I was thinking about this and would hazard a guess that overall sales probably won't be affected that severely by the delay.
Consider the portion of sales attributed to long-time fans and those who pick it up on the name basis. Similarly wrt Civ3. The large majority of such will buy it, pretty much as soon as its out - regardless of whether its out in the pre-Xmas boom or not.
Additionally, 4 Jan will be just about the time people are getting sick of all of the buggy, dysfunctional games they got for Xmas (Note: I didn't mention Ptw here ) and are returning in droves - only to gape in awe at the shiny new Moo3 boxes lining the shelves.
This is surely much larger than the number of casual Xmas shoppers who would have otherwise just picked up a copy of whatever was available - including Moo3.

[Kc7mxo]

Rumor i heard is that its a late game save bug. And that if affects both multiplayer and singleplayer. It probably wouldn't be good for the game if the release version was unfinishable. *cough* black and white *cough cough*

[Harry Seldon]

That's cool if they're holding back for a SP crash fix, but I could give a crap about MP. I don't have the coveted fast connection and none of my friends will play a game like this with me.

I'm not happy with holding the game strictly on MP but would understand if they want to make it work as I'm sure there are those out there dying to play it. Woe to IG if conclusive evidence comes out that holding this game is to give breathing room to PTW or for some accounting gimmick...

[Skanky Burns]

I don't believe a pre-Christmas release would help a title like this much as opposed to a January release. Ravagon covered the reasons pretty well.

I'm sick of the "release now and worry about making it playable later" approach that most game releases seem to follow, but reading Xentax's review of his beta-version, it doesn't seem that this is the reason for the delay. Besides, we all know that infogreed doesn't let a little thing like product quality interfere with their marketting plan. While this delay is strange considering, I can only hope that QS take this extra time and polish the game well.

[H Tower]

*sigh* if only we were blizzard fans we would be able to take the waiting so much easier. that or we would die from a nervous breakdown from all the waiting

[Jamski]

I already died of nervous exhaustion from the waiting. I'm hoping to be feeling better come January, or February or March...

(My girlfriend has started to call me Moo-this is TRUE)

[rob.derosa]

Originally posted by Xentax
If it was a situation where it would *auto* patch, I'd agree (e.g. Battle.Net).

But I don't think "internet" play (Gamespy Arcade) would require or even support auto-patching, so they'd be worried that people wouldn't patch.

Plus, people using LAN or direct TCP/IP for MP would be harder to direct to a patch...

Gamespy does prompt when you need to upgrade to join a server, so I suppose this is a kind of auto update feature.

[BigBopper]

Originally posted by Tassadar5000
OK, all I'm going to say is:

This game looks OK, and I'm planning on getting it.....however I'm questioning whether i"ll have the money. If it were to come out before Christmas I would definately get it, however all my funds will be drained on other things......

So unfortunately I'm gonna skip out on this title in order to get something more immediate in pleasure.

Just return the sweater that Grandma gets ya, and use that money for Moo3. If Grandma has a problem with that, just ware one of the sweaters that she gave you on a previous Christmas. She won’t know the difference.

[Blade Runner]

Pure and simple speculation:
1. IG is BIG. They have a lot of title for xmas and they want to sell a bucketload of shiny braindead FPS-es and similar titles. Those titles are mostly for teens and teens can get it for xmas like a present.
2. MOO3 for adults. IG knows adults can buy this game in january (or any part of the year BTW).
3. To get shelf-space in january much easier than in december. Its also easier to get more attention for a TBS game from game magazines / gamer sites.

So even they already find the bug or not IMHO we dont see this game before january. But I think in longer term this will help MOO3 to get enough attention what it deserve.

[MarkG]

i had subsribed on some IG mailing list and i got a mail yesterday from them advertising some 20 games. the list included 1-2 games that i had heard off. what i'm geting at? moo3 is a small picture of what IG is publishing so that they can play financial games with it's release....

[Trifna]

Originally posted by MarkG
i had subsribed on some IG mailing list and i got a mail yesterday from them advertising some 20 games. the list included 1-2 games that i had heard off. what i'm geting at? moo3 is a small picture of what IG is publishing so that they can play financial games with it's release....

Yeah well this doesn't solve the question about if the game is played with a ball or a snake that's gonna strangle you...
My conclusion: all what had to be said on the subject is probably said... we'll see and hope it doesn't impact too much MOO3 and MOM2...

[vee4473]

so what if they have 20 other games? theirs always room for jello

[Gooberman32]

Originally posted by War of Art
I already died of nervous exhaustion from the waiting. I'm hoping to be feeling better come January, or February or March...

Careful, people have died due to computer games

[Demosthenes1234]

Hey u also gotta realise that Chantz said there was a crash bug i think in the later stages of the sp and mp game so thats probably why they delaying the whole thing.