Oh This Just Ticks Me Off!

[Atrocities]

I have visited a few game sites and non of them have posted any news about the latest SEIV patch.

Most noteably Gamespot.com They have vertually no info on the game and did not even bother to post the news about the update. All they have is the update and nothing more.

ADDITIONALLY! Go register and give the game a quck free review. (10's all way) Space Empires IV Gold (Must say GOLD)

This angers me greatly as SEIV has proven itself to be the hands down best 4X of this century. (No crap, released in 2000 nothing has come close to knocking it off the thrown.)

So why in the hell don't the game sites honor this game and at least post news about it when there is new news to post?

[David E. Gervais]

The reason is simple,.. You'd be amazed at how many people I know that have never heard of Shrapnel Games, let alone Malfador Machinations. Virtually all their business is strictly Online and I don't recall ever seeing an ad for their games in any magazines. I have seen a few reviews of their products, but usually they are single page reviews or smaller. The review runs in for just that one month and I'm sure the sales must increase slightly when the issue comes out. But the bottom line is Shrapnel and MM have made virtually all their success due to word of mouth.

Personally I would think that shrapnel along with a few of their best selling developers could manage to scrape up enough money to place a half (or full) page ad to run for a period of a few months. Word of mouth is a very good supliment to advertizing, but not a substitute.

AT, try this test,.. next time your in a computer store ask the shopper next to you if he/she has heard of Shrapnel or Malfador Machinations.

Heck, with the savings in bandwidth since the upload forums have been down they should have saved enough money to place full page adds in 2-3 magazines.

As far as the 'other' gamming sites not having an announcement of the new SE:IV GOLD patch, write a small review and highlight the best of the new features and send it to the gamesite's admins. I'm sure they would be happy to post it for you. Cause right now it's the fans that are supporting and promoting the game the most.

I really think that Shrapnel should get more agressive in their advertizing. They have many great games, and a whold world of potential clients that don't even know they exist.

Nuf said, Cheers!

[Deathstalker]

One place I can always count on to have the SEIV patches (and starfury) almost the same day as Shrapnel is the Adrenaline Vault (avault.com), great game site with tonnes of demos. This is actually where I first heard of Se4 while looking to see if there was a new Master of Orion in the works. Saw it in the Demos section and I've never turned back

[Atrocities]

I really think that Shrapnel should get more agressive in their advertizing. They have many great games, and a whold world of potential clients that don't even know they exist.

Well said.

[geoschmo]

Shrapnel has tried the advertising route before. They found they were spending a whole lot of money and getting little or nothing in return.

Originally posted by David E. Gervais:
Word of mouth is a very good supliment to advertizing, but not a substitute.

Actually, word of mouth is much better for niche games like Shrapnel sells. Your typical gamer that will respond to an add is geared towards the more flashy graphics and whatnot that Shrapnel's games tend not to have. An add for a Shrapnel game isn't likely to catch their attention, and if it did, they are more likely to be disapointed then pleased when they try the games and realize they actually have to think to play them.

Originally posted by David E. Gervais:
Heck, with the savings in bandwidth since the upload forums have been down they should have saved enough money to place full page adds in 2-3 magazines.

Wow! You either are seriously overestimating the cost of bandwith, or you have no clue what it costs to place an ad in a magazine. Or maybe you are just joking? Exageration for effect?

[Siegebreaker]

I have to agree.
Its sad, but Computer mags these days are cattering only to the cassual gamer, and occasionally to the hardcore RPGamer and FPShooter, but definitively not to Strategy or Tactical games/wargames/whatever.

I'm only interested in Strategy, and I haven't seen or heard of a mag that aims for this demographic group.
Maybe its too small to justify the investment?

The point is that people that play games like SE4 look for the latest news Online, not onpaper.

I would say that whatever the investment on ads may be, it should be Online, on gaming sites.


On the other hand, to contradict all the above, the first time I heard of this game was in Computer Game Magazine, when they sent us a demo CD with the Gold Demo for SE4, so there is not a clear cut of where the money works best for an 4X game like this one.

How about a poll in which every member of this forum can vote on where they heard first of SE4?

[ March 01, 2004, 13:08: Message edited by: SB ]