MOO3 4 January: marketting suicide?...

[Gooberman32]

You're right, thats the main reason now

[kalbear]

IIRC, Civ 3 was released some time in April or March or so, and it didn't hurt sales too much. Same goes for, oh, say, Warcraft 3. Or Diablo 2. Or The Sims.

Computer games like this aren't the same kind of thing like toys are. Computer games like Moo3 aren't being marketed at the toy/console market, and they're not as likely to be gifts for the holidays.

Marketing suicide? Doubtful. Moo fans will buy this game when it comes out, and that will very likely be the majority of the sales unless it becomes an instant classic.

About the only loss is that IG spent a lot of money doing advertising on a game that isn't going to come out for a while, and that can be spendy.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by 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 will have to disagree with that. After all, Christmas is a big buying season - why do you think they arrange movies like that? - and there are more buyers than just "serious" gamers.

If you miss the Xmas season, you will miss all the sales of Xmas gifts. Auntie Mary was going to buy MoO 3 for Little Johnny for Xmas because he wanted it, but since Auntie Mary couldn't find the game in the stores, Little Johnny reluctantly went for some other game. Then next Christmas Little Johnny will want the next hot game.

Then you have gamers like T5K and my SO. My SO has been playing SMACX for years, and she's now looking for a new strategy game for her Xmas vacation. MoO 3 would be a nice fit, but if she couldn't find it when we do our shopping this Friday, she'll get something else.

[Urban Ranger]

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, but do they have any 4X games on the list? What about strategy games?

[kalbear]

Urban Ranger, you made my point for me. Your SO was going to play Moo3 over X-mas. Is she not going to when it does eventually come out?

Is little Johnny going to buy this game at all? Would he ever request it? It's about demographics, and the 12-15 year old doesn't play this sort of game nearly as much as the 25-40 year old does - and they're the ones that would get 'hurt'.

I'll put it another way - Moo3, like Civ3, isn't going to be the 'hot game'. That's easy to say - it's the Sims, hands down. Or Vice City. Moo3 is a niche market, and that niche will buy it any time of the year.

I'm not saying that there won't be as many sales as there would be had it been released, but the overall sales are very likely to be unaffected in any significant way, and here's the important thing, assuming that the product is good. If Moo3 was crap, a lot of copies would get sold in the Xmas rush despite the fact that it simply wasn't fun.

I don't decry that one bit.

[Skanky Burns]

Originally posted by Urban Ranger
I will have to disagree with that. After all, Christmas is a big buying season - why do you think they arrange movies like that? - and there are more buyers than just "serious" gamers.

Movies are arranged like that to take advantage of a large number of people having large blocks of free time to spend. Games don't require this. You can play a game for half an hour before having to go pick up the kids for instance, whereas you would not be able to go to the movies for half an hour. Computer games are a different beast.

People who aren't "serious" gamers are more likely to be attracted to games such as the Sims, Doom 3, GTA, or other such hot games. Not to say that some would not buy MoO3 were it available before Christmas, but the number is likely to be small compared to "serious" gamers.

Those who want the game will still be interested in it in a months time, and most will also be able to afford it then. For those who need to rely on gifting - they do have birthdays, and lets face it, there aren't that many decent strategy games coming out each year. After all, Civ 3 is still selling well over a year after its initial release, why not MoO3?

[vmxa1]

I suspect that some games are some what immune from the xmas thing, such as any thing by Blizzard and some highly sought after shooters and the like.
Others could miss sales that are not going to be coming back, like Johnny.
Mom knows Johnny like space games and see Moo3 and gets it. Whoops Moo3 is not out for xmas and she never sees it. She is not going to see games in places see will during xmas and in fact is not going to go to the EB store at any other time but xmas. Johnny does not ask for Moo3 when it comes out as it is not a must have for him and he has no money of his own that he is going to spent on it. No impulse buying, that is the missing ingredient. Non gamers that pick up games in EB or CompUsa or even Best Buys that would normally never look for them. I have no clue as to what this is worth, but it must be something significant as so many compaines are shooting to make this time frame, it can't be without a reason. Some sales must be lost never to return.

[Urban Ranger]

Originally posted by kalbear
Urban Ranger, you made my point for me. Your SO was going to play Moo3 over X-mas. Is she not going to when it does eventually come out?

Beats me She has been playing SMACX and that's for a few years. Granted, she's quite busy and don't get to play frequently or for long stretches of time. MoO 3 is not essential but a nice change of pace for her. If she couldn't find it, no big loss, she'll just see what she can get her hands on.

Originally posted by kalbear
Is little Johnny going to buy this game at all? Would he ever request it? It's about demographics, and the 12-15 year old doesn't play this sort of game nearly as much as the 25-40 year old does - and they're the ones that would get 'hurt'.

When I said "Little" I was using the term loosely - I was referring to a college kid. Sorry for any confusion thus caused. Again, non-diehard fans would just grab something else that strike their fancy, which will be bad for Quicksilver.

Originally posted by kalbear
I'm not saying that there won't be as many sales as there would be had it been released, but the overall sales are very likely to be unaffected in any significant way, and here's the important thing, assuming that the product is good. If Moo3 was crap, a lot of copies would get sold in the Xmas rush despite the fact that it simply wasn't fun.

I am not that sure. For me, I gave up on waiting, dispite the fact that I am a great big MoO fan. I get the impression that QS can't pull their acts together, so it is casting serious doubts on the quality of MoO 3. Sure, my impression can be completely unfounded, but the damage has been done.

[TCO]

I predicted these problems a long time ago with my critiques of QS program management. UR is just jumping on my bandwagon.

I told you so. I told you so.

[Master Marcus]

All your "impressions" can actually be founded , that's possible, but I personally keep my final judgement of the product after its release. As usual there's too much scepticism in the gaming forums; I care much more on how shall look the 800x600 graphics engine on a 21'' monitor than the management process...that's QS and IG'S own affair if they invest double the budget or the time alloted for MoO3 ( 3 years instead of 2, 2 and half)....

[Kc7mxo]

I told you so. I told you so.

Heh heh. Nice and humble, eh GP?

[GhengisFarbâ„¢]

Personally I think its more a difference in software developers. Quicksilver wants to produce a working product and actually cares about their reputation and future productivity. Firaxis just throws an unfinishable peice of code in a box and waits to see if enough people complain to force them to patch it.

I hope Quicksilver gets to do Civ 4.

[moomin]

While there seems to be some difference in mindset between QS and Firaxis for sure, this is really the publishers choice. Sales of PTW must be diappointing... but that was to be expected. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Any upcoming Firaxis product will have a *lot* to prove before I spend cash on it. If QS managed to make IG see this somehow, they deserve kudos for that.

Even if they badly mismanaged their own development process.

[Kapeman]

IG/QS Needed Christmas

They REALLY needed Christmas because the original mandate from mgt. was "it needs to be played on older machines." Hence the 800x600 resolution and the low system specs.

Not all, but many, hardcore gamers have systems that far exceed the min. requirements for this game.

Part of the target market for this game is the casual gamer, you know, the ones that only buy a couple of games a year and mostly at CHRISTMAS. HELLO!!!

I have to agree with those that say "forget MP, give us SP now!"

oh, well...

[H Tower]

it's not just MP that's not ready.

and an early january release isn't as bad as you would think, so many xmas gifts these days are gift certificates, so as long as Moo3 is on the shelves by about January 5th, it won't be as bad. still not as good as a late november release, but better than nothing. However, I don't think QS is trying for an early January release.