Marketing SE V

[Atrocities]

I was just reading through a few older reviews of Space Empires IV and noticed that many of those reviewing the game noted that previous Version of Space Empires were a little known secret because of poor marketing and publicity.

Now we all know that Shrapnel has done a great job marketing SE IV, as has word of mouth and PG Gamers favorable review of both SEIV and SEIV Gold. However, I for one feel that a lot more could have been done in the way of marketing and hope that with the success of SE IV, both Shrapnel and MM will seriously and aggressively market SE V.

What struck me as very aggervating was when I was in the EB Game store at the mall the other day and some guys were talking about how much they wanted a true 4 x game. They talked about how bad MOO3 was and how the genra has just fallen flat. I listened for a bit while reading up on some of the game magazines when I felt the time was right, I asked one of them if they had tried SEIV.

"SE IV? What the hell is SE IV?"

So I told him. I could see he thought I was insane, but I told him to run up to the library and see for himself. (They have computers there).

The guy behind the counter, when asked if he could get them a copy of SEIV, replied no, that game is a dos game and most PC's won't even run it.

This floored me and prompted me to point out that he was misinformed. The point being, if a guy who sells games doesn't even KNOW about a game that many people wish they could play, but don't even know that the very game they are wishing for has been out for nearly four years now, then what hope is there for Space Empires V.

Granted, these guys probably live in a cave, and the store clerk looked more like a Mortal Combat PS2 player than a real PC gamer.

I am no marketing guy, I know nothing about the industry or even profess to understand on line marketing or business plans, but I do know one thing, if people don't know about your game, they won't buy it.

Hell 90% of the people at the MOO3 forums didn't even know SE IV exsisted until after MOO3 was released and they came to the forum to ***** about how bad the game was. I did a lot of posting there promoting, with profession courtesy to MOO3 of course, about the wonders of Space Empires IV.

Taking into account my complete lack of skill in marketing, would it be a plausable concept to send out flyers to all the stores that sell PC games telling them that you have a product, that they can buy at a discount in bulk from shrapnel, that people are interested in buying? Do all the sales have to be On Line sales?

Again, I know nothing about marketing and I am not critizing shrapnel at all. I just love the game and want other to discover it.

[capnq]

would it be a plausable concept to send out flyers to all the stores that sell PC games telling them that you have a product

Shrapnel has repeatedly said they can't find a retailer that offers fair terms.

[Atrocities]

That is true, and it is a really sad thing to be sure.

[Iansidious]

What struck me as very aggervating was when I was in the EB Game store at the mall the other day and some guys were talking about how much they wanted a true 4 x game. They talked about how bad MOO3 was and how the genra has just fallen flat. I listened for a bit while reading up on some of the game magazines when I felt the time was right, I asked one of them if they had tried SEIV.

"SE IV? What the hell is SE IV?"[/QB]

I did the same thing in my local EB store. My dad and I just finished a trip to the pool hall and as always we stop in the EB store just to look around. I got into a converstion with some other gamers about a great and very old Star Wars game. After that I mention to the man working there if he has EVER played or heard of SE4. You can guess the answer on that one! NO. I explaned the game a little and told him the web site to malfador. He said that sounds cool and is going to look at. I also told him about their new game coming out soon(Starfury). Word of mouth has really made this game sell in my opinion. A friend told me about it and I love it. I have some else interested in the game also(Josh and I are always talking about SE4 so many of the people we know have heard about.Thus they say to them selves "lets see what these nuts are talking" and request the game). I do wish malfador the best with Se5 because of great games like SE4. They deserve to be as big as Nintendo or Sony in the world of games. That is how much I enjoy MM games

[Shrapnel]

I was looking into buying Imperium Galactica Alliances when I heard about Space Empires IV. NO ONE in any electronic game store I was in ever heard of it. It's hard to find out about the game unless you stumble across it reading game reviews.

Alas, maybe I'll actually have the doe-re-me to purchase it soon.

Does any other Canadian retailers carry the title? (perhaps at a slightly lower cost? I hate to sound cheap, but the money tree I'm growing isn't growing as fast as I would like

I've downloaded the Demo; I'm gonna try the game out and see if I can figure it out.

[Kamog]

You could probably save a few dollars by buying the game from Chips & Bits (USA) or Military Hobbies (Canada), and using regular mail to ship it.
http://www.chipsbits.com/
http://www.militaryhobbies.com/