Thanks for the replies guys. I don't know how I missed the ad campaign that SWTOR had. I feel a bit foolish now. You guys do make some good points about it though.
As the game is not solely based on subs any more but subs and CM spending then it now translates to $15 x 500,000 = $7.5 million
The game went F2P in hope to still get this from people 1) Playing F2P and spending more than $15 per month 2) Playing the game as F2P and then deciding to sub and 3) subbing and still spend more in the store.
As the game is not solely based on subs any more but subs and CM spending then it now translates to $15 x 500,000 = $7.5 million
The game went F2P in hope to still get this from people 1) Playing F2P and spending more than $15 per month 2) Playing the game as F2P and then deciding to sub and 3) subbing and still spend more in the store.
The quote you posted is based on number of active susbscribers and never included revenue from cash shop. So i doubt that old quote is even relevant now since there is no official statement about their profits from new F2P changes and cash shop. Right now they are double dipping players and for all we know they could be making profit. that is something only EA knows.
"The problem is that the hardcore folks always want the same thing: 'We want exactly what you gave us before, but it has to be completely different.' -Jesse Schell
"Online gamers are the most ludicrously entitled beings since Caligula made his horse a senator, and at least the horse never said anything stupid." -Luke McKinney
As the game is not solely based on subs any more but subs and CM spending then it now translates to $15 x 500,000 = $7.5 million
The game went F2P in hope to still get this from people 1) Playing F2P and spending more than $15 per month 2) Playing the game as F2P and then deciding to sub and 3) subbing and still spend more in the store.
The quote you posted is based on number of active susbscribers and never included revenue from cash shop. So i doubt that old quote is even relevant now since there is no official statement about their profits from new F2P changes and cash shop. Right now they are double dipping players and for all we know they could be making profit. that is something only EA knows.
It's not just that, but since that quote they have fired a bunch of people and reduced the amount of servers dramatically reducing upkeep costs. The mark of sustainablity is likely much lower than it used to be and certainly the expectations of their return has been reduced.
The quote SuperNiceGuy is quoting came after the layoffs. He converted the 500k subs to a dollar figure. That dollar figure is valid at $7.5 million with or without FTP.
According to EA, they need on aveage $7.5 million a month for an undisclosed long period of time (years) to make a profit.
As to whether or not they can or will shut it down probably has a lot to do with both profitablility AND whatever arangements they are contractually bound to Lucas Arts in order to license the IP.
They could be making a modest profit, they could be making a minimum investment to minimize losses.
We don't know because since the FTP switch, EA no longer announces either concrete sub numbers or revenue figures.
The onl real gage to profitability is reinvestment into new content.
So far all content thus far, including the upcoming Makeb (excluding the Cartel Shop) was either completed or close to completion prior to the layoffs.
One cannot definitively say if SWTOR is making or losing money, or if it will remain open for a long time or be shut down soon.
It's all estimation based on statements and actions from Bioware and EA.
For example, the last EA earnings call, EA stated that they were happy with SWTOR's conversion to FTP, but that it was too early to tell if it was long term fiscally viable.
As to the greatly reduced infrastructure costs due to closed servers; it's the people that cost money, not relatively cheap servers and bandwith. (If bandwith were expensive, FTP wouldn't even be a thought anywhere.)
You can flame me or SNG all you want, but he's quoting EA. (Granted, he's quoting them a lot.)
As the game is not solely based on subs any more but subs and CM spending then it now translates to $15 x 500,000 = $7.5 million
The game went F2P in hope to still get this from people 1) Playing F2P and spending more than $15 per month 2) Playing the game as F2P and then deciding to sub and 3) subbing and still spend more in the store.
The quote you posted is based on number of active susbscribers and never included revenue from cash shop. So i doubt that old quote is even relevant now since there is no official statement about their profits from new F2P changes and cash shop. Right now they are double dipping players and for all we know they could be making profit. that is something only EA knows.
Exactly, they could have 200K subs, and get $4.5 million from Cartel Market spending, which would get them their figure. Which is why I now say $7.5 million instead of 500K subs.
Originally posted by Doogiehowser Originally posted by superniceguy Originally posted by Ahnog Originally posted by superniceguy They do not have enough money now to advertise.They are barely keeping the game active as it is. SWTOR needs $7.5 million per month to break even
As the game is not solely based on subs any more but subs and CM spending then it now translates to $15 x 500,000 = $7.5 million
The game went F2P in hope to still get this from people 1) Playing F2P and spending more than $15 per month 2) Playing the game as F2P and then deciding to sub and 3) subbing and still spend more in the store.
The quote you posted is based on number of active susbscribers and never included revenue from cash shop. So i doubt that old quote is even relevant now since there is no official statement about their profits from new F2P changes and cash shop. Right now they are double dipping players and for all we know they could be making profit. that is something only EA knows.
Exactly, they could have 200K subs, and get $4.5 million from Cartel Market spending, which would get them their figure. Which is why I now say $7.5 million instead of 500K subs.
All these people trying to be experts...a few facts well actually the only facts that matter. One, the game is still open not closed like other sw mmos two, they continue to add more content whether these experts say the new content is new or not its new content three, people are playing this game because they enjoy it no expert can change that.
I work in the PR / advertising industry and I'll let you into a little secret:
The best way of advertising a product is to have a good product in the first place. Otherwise, you've got nothing to sell.
Adversiting agencies never say this to clients because it makes us appear unimportant.
In my opinion, WoW is better than SWTOR because it has more variety. For example, the time and effort that must have gone into pet battles is absolutely enourmous.
EA did a full court press for SWTOR when it released. The marketing and IP generated 2.4mil box sales. The quality of the game will keep them playing, and it did not live up to the billing.
EA had paid for a #1 video spot on the front page of YouTube on release day as well, as part of their promotion.
Before release, they made several statements as to SWTOR being the WoW killer everyone was waiting for. That generated a whole lot of hype, although a half year after release, only ~20% of players who bought the box were still around.
There was also the new promotional video every week, far before launch... which were "mistakingly" recorded in a higher resolution than was actually available to players =D
EA's (apparent) intented clientel are those who need to be told something is great, instead of deciding for themselves. There were also multiple alligations of EA using shills to promote their games. They did their job well.
(On the opposite spectrum, as mentioned earlier, Blizzard effectively used a Word-Of-Mouth campaign, because the game was better than anything at the time, and Blizzard knew it.)
As the game is not solely based on subs any more but subs and CM spending then it now translates to $15 x 500,000 = $7.5 million
The game went F2P in hope to still get this from people 1) Playing F2P and spending more than $15 per month 2) Playing the game as F2P and then deciding to sub and 3) subbing and still spend more in the store.
The quote you posted is based on number of active susbscribers and never included revenue from cash shop. So i doubt that old quote is even relevant now since there is no official statement about their profits from new F2P changes and cash shop. Right now they are double dipping players and for all we know they could be making profit. that is something only EA knows.
Exactly, they could have 200K subs, and get $4.5 million from Cartel Market spending, which would get them their figure. Which is why I now say $7.5 million instead of 500K subs.
All these people trying to be experts...a few facts well actually the only facts that matter. One, the game is still open not closed like other sw mmos two, they continue to add more content whether these experts say the new content is new or not its new content three, people are playing this game because they enjoy it no expert can change that.
People are still playing it because it went F2P, which attracated millions more people, but they will not be able to sustain it if people do spend enough. Even when the game launched it was still doing well until June with over 1 million subscribers, but was still dropping, even with it being all fresh and having more hope, and still having content added, then was forced to go F2P.
Now they are still working on content coming soon that was done before June last year. Other MMOs like STO since June put in Season 6, announced Season 7 and was in game before the end of 2012, which is a planet with quests like Makeb will be, and early January they stated that Season 8 and Season 9 is to come in 2013, but all that is coming with SWTOR that is major is Makeb. Also EQ2 announeced their expansion in Oct 2012 and went live Nov 2012 only 1 month later, but now after over 8 months waiting Makeb is still not in.
If over 75% people quit SWTOR last year when it had more hope then I do not see people sticking to it again who started at F2P, so chances are the game will be pretty much dead again by November, but with no more tricks to get more people into the game.
The only reason I am playing SWTOR is because I got sucked into the hype, bought the collectors edition with 2 60 day time cards, and built a new PC specifically for it, and want to get my moneys worth, as can not get my money back. It was fun after doing a couple of characters, but is so boring now. I am certainly not playing it because I enjoy it.
All these people trying to be experts...a few facts well actually the only facts that matter. One, the game is still open not closed like other sw mmos two, they continue to add more content whether these experts say the new content is new or not its new content three, people are playing this game because they enjoy it no expert can change that.
+1
I do think that whomever did those pre-launch cinematics should do an old republic movie. Those three videos were awesome.
Yeah, but despite WoW being total garbage tons of people bought it because they had never been exposed to MMOs before.
However, SWTOR advertised just as much if not more than WoW. It was on TV, in magazines, on every gaming website.
The problem is with the design of themepark games. No other outcome would have resulted.
Regardless of what some on this site seem to impy as consences...most people like themepark MMOs....where SWTOR failed wasnt that it was a theme park...its that it was a poorly implemnted themepark....
Your main endgame is raiding...and you launch the game without a /roll command? common....THAT is why it failed...stuff like that...not because it was a "big bad themepark"
The only reason I am playing SWTOR is because I got sucked into the hype, bought the collectors edition with 2 60 day time cards, and built a new PC specifically for it, and want to get my moneys worth, as can not get my money back. It was fun after doing a couple of characters, but is so boring now. I am certainly not playing it because I enjoy it.
Someone needs to explain to you the idea of sunk cost...
I'm almost positive Blizzard didn't start with TV advertising until a few years into it, by which time they already had several million players, thus lots of momentum. They've had decent advertisements, at least in terms of cashing in on pop-culture, but the game was doing crazy good before the ads.
SWtOR was dying by the third month, so the idea that better or more advertisements has always been a weak one.
For me,back when WoW was launching.I remember the trailer with the Night Elf Druid running through the woods and changing into a black panther.The Dwarf Hunter with his trusty bear pet trudging through the snow,suddenly they are at a peak and overlooking Ironforge!!
Those type's of thing's got you excited in 2004,I know it gave me goosebump's at the time.The thought of exploring such a world was immense.
When I look at Swtor and see ads or trailer's,it just look's like what i'm already used to seeing,as in sci fi,Star Wars,been there done that kinda feeling.It just doesn't feel new to me.I think most gamer's have seen SW movies so it doesn't seem like a special world.
At the same time when WoW released it blew people away.Many people were not really familiar with the Warcraft universe (myself included here) and then WoW drop's and change's everything to expect from an mmo and a world.
To finally answer the op,I don't think it would've changed thing's at all.In reality Swtor was much more heavily advertized in it's 1st year than WoW was.WoW didn't advertize much until leading up to Wotlk.Sure there was some,but Wotlk took it to another level.
Some day I'm going to put a sword through your eye and out the back of your skull!
For me,back when WoW was launching.I remember the trailer with the Night Elf Druid running through the woods and changing into a black panther.The Dwarf Hunter with his trusty bear pet trudging through the snow,suddenly they are at a peak and overlooking Ironforge!!
Those type's of thing's got you excited in 2004,I know it gave me goosebump's at the time.The thought of exploring such a world was immense.
When I look at Swtor and see ads or trailer's,it just look's like what i'm already used to seeing,as in sci fi,Star Wars,been there done that kinda feeling.It just doesn't feel new to me.I think most gamer's have seen SW movies so it doesn't seem like a special world.
At the same time when WoW released it blew people away.Many people were not really familiar with the Warcraft universe (myself included here) and then WoW drop's and change's everything to expect from an mmo and a world.
To finally answer the op,I don't think it would've changed thing's at all.In reality Swtor was much more heavily advertized in it's 1st year than WoW was.WoW didn't advertize much until leading up to Wotlk.Sure there was some,but Wotlk took it to another level.
Some of the early weekly trailers were amazing though. It later turned out to be false, like manipulating companions, or choosing your own destiny.
It was a great ad campaign, even though I still think the Collector's Edition was a big waste of money. I'm still stuck with some statue when all I really wanted a great soundtrack in a jewel case, with a nice informative insert .. [not a best-of soundtrack 6 hours fit into one 45 minute CD, in a cardboard sleeve - lame]
Well lesson learned. Don't buy EA collector editions. Or any affiliate of EA, in this case BioWare.
To the people saying that they marketed SWTOR hard, I can't remember seeing a single commercial for it.
I don't watch tv, but there is one on the wall in my business that's on all day, and when I see a game commercial I notice. I remember a heavy Diablo 3 commercial rotation before and just after release, and there were Mists of Pandaria commercials playing as recently as a few weeks ago. I'm sure everyone remembers the Mr. T and Ozzy Osbourne World of Warcraft commercials years ago. Again, I saw no such advertising for SWTOR. Maybe due to my geographic location? I dunno.
Originally posted by endgame1 To the people saying that they marketed SWTOR hard, I can't remember seeing a single commercial for it. I don't watch tv, but there is one on the wall in my business that's on all day, and when I see a game commercial I notice. I remember a heavy Diablo 3 commercial rotation before and just after release, and there were Mists of Pandaria commercials playing as recently as a few weeks ago. I'm sure everyone remembers the Mr. T and Ozzy Osbourne World of Warcraft commercials years ago. Again, I saw no such advertising for SWTOR.
Depends on the channel. Cartoon Network played it some. G4 too. It's really up to EA where they played their commercials.
I wouldn't expect it on CNN, FOXNews, TNN, ESPN ... you never specified what you watch at work. I imagine it wasn't a channel prone to gaming commercials. ?
What channel does your workplace show, while you work?
Also every ad effort has their own set of stations to advertise on .. same with movies .. I'll see tons of trailers for a particular movie on one station, but zilch on another. So seeing a commercial whether for a beauty product, a new weight lifting machine, cooking spray, or MMO game, is really dependant on the stations you choose to watch.
Originally posted by endgame1 To the people saying that they marketed SWTOR hard, I can't remember seeing a single commercial for it. I don't watch tv, but there is one on the wall in my business that's on all day, and when I see a game commercial I notice. I remember a heavy Diablo 3 commercial rotation before and just after release, and there were Mists of Pandaria commercials playing as recently as a few weeks ago. I'm sure everyone remembers the Mr. T and Ozzy Osbourne World of Warcraft commercials years ago. Again, I saw no such advertising for SWTOR.
Depends on the channel. Cartoon Network played it some. G4 too. It's really up to EA where they played their commercials.
I wouldn't expect it on CNN, FOXNews, TNN, ESPN ... you never specified what you watch at work. I imagine it wasn't a channel prone to gaming commercials. ?
What channel does your workplace show, while you work?
That make sense then, it's mostly news and weather at work. I guess Blizzard advertises on those channels while EA thought they would largely be a waste of money.
Originally posted by endgame1 To the people saying that they marketed SWTOR hard, I can't remember seeing a single commercial for it. I don't watch tv, but there is one on the wall in my business that's on all day, and when I see a game commercial I notice. I remember a heavy Diablo 3 commercial rotation before and just after release, and there were Mists of Pandaria commercials playing as recently as a few weeks ago. I'm sure everyone remembers the Mr. T and Ozzy Osbourne World of Warcraft commercials years ago. Again, I saw no such advertising for SWTOR.
Depends on the channel. Cartoon Network played it some. G4 too. It's really up to EA where they played their commercials.
I wouldn't expect it on CNN, FOXNews, TNN, ESPN ... you never specified what you watch at work. I imagine it wasn't a channel prone to gaming commercials. ?
What channel does your workplace show, while you work?
That make sense then, it's mostly news and weather at work. I guess Blizzard advertises on those channels while EA thought they would largely be a waste of money.
News is where you're saying Blizzard advertises? That alone is a good news story!
EA was on the news channels too, but it was because of SGRA - free advertisement
I only saw EA commercials on Cartoon Network and G4. Blizzard WoW commercials I only saw on YouTube.. though they might have been in my regular shows (thank you DVR and fast-forward).
Yeah, but despite WoW being total garbage tons of people bought it because they had never been exposed to MMOs before.
However, SWTOR advertised just as much if not more than WoW. It was on TV, in magazines, on every gaming website.
The problem is with the design of themepark games. No other outcome would have resulted.
Regardless of what some on this site seem to impy as consences...most people like themepark MMOs....where SWTOR failed wasnt that it was a theme park...its that it was a poorly implemnted themepark....
Your main endgame is raiding...and you launch the game without a /roll command? common....THAT is why it failed...stuff like that...not because it was a "big bad themepark"
I applaud you. Swtor’s problem is poor implementation. Everything you listed as missing from swtor, is bare minimum stuff. If you rush a product out the door just to make money, you ruin your chances to make money. Those who don’t learn from history, are doomed to repeat it.
As I see it, the story is fine for single player or solo, but it is a speed bump for multi-player. During raid story cutscenes players are constantly waiting on other players. There are other problems that I don’t care to list. But I feel if this issue are address then more people would be satisfied with the game and then other problems could be addressed.
To the OP I saw the commercials for swtor back in 2011. Unfortunately you are not in the swtor target viewing audience. As you didn’t watch the channels or programs that featured the commercials.
Pardon any spelling errors
Konfess your cyns and some maybe forgiven Boy: Why can't I talk to Him? Mom: We don't talk to Priests. As if it could exist, without being payed for. F2P means you get what you paid for. Pay nothing, get nothing. Even telemarketers wouldn't think that. It costs money to play. Therefore P2W.
Comments
The President of EA Labels Frank Gibeau said the Star Wars game would still break even so long as it maintained 500,000 subscribers, but admitted that its current performance was "not good enough".
As the game is not solely based on subs any more but subs and CM spending then it now translates to $15 x 500,000 = $7.5 million
The game went F2P in hope to still get this from people 1) Playing F2P and spending more than $15 per month 2) Playing the game as F2P and then deciding to sub and 3) subbing and still spend more in the store.
Star Trek Online - Best Free MMORPG of 2012
The quote you posted is based on number of active susbscribers and never included revenue from cash shop. So i doubt that old quote is even relevant now since there is no official statement about their profits from new F2P changes and cash shop. Right now they are double dipping players and for all we know they could be making profit. that is something only EA knows.
"The problem is that the hardcore folks always want the same thing: 'We want exactly what you gave us before, but it has to be completely different.'
-Jesse Schell
"Online gamers are the most ludicrously entitled beings since Caligula made his horse a senator, and at least the horse never said anything stupid."
-Luke McKinney
It's not just that, but since that quote they have fired a bunch of people and reduced the amount of servers dramatically reducing upkeep costs. The mark of sustainablity is likely much lower than it used to be and certainly the expectations of their return has been reduced.
The quote SuperNiceGuy is quoting came after the layoffs. He converted the 500k subs to a dollar figure. That dollar figure is valid at $7.5 million with or without FTP.
According to EA, they need on aveage $7.5 million a month for an undisclosed long period of time (years) to make a profit.
As to whether or not they can or will shut it down probably has a lot to do with both profitablility AND whatever arangements they are contractually bound to Lucas Arts in order to license the IP.
They could be making a modest profit, they could be making a minimum investment to minimize losses.
We don't know because since the FTP switch, EA no longer announces either concrete sub numbers or revenue figures.
The onl real gage to profitability is reinvestment into new content.
So far all content thus far, including the upcoming Makeb (excluding the Cartel Shop) was either completed or close to completion prior to the layoffs.
One cannot definitively say if SWTOR is making or losing money, or if it will remain open for a long time or be shut down soon.
It's all estimation based on statements and actions from Bioware and EA.
For example, the last EA earnings call, EA stated that they were happy with SWTOR's conversion to FTP, but that it was too early to tell if it was long term fiscally viable.
As to the greatly reduced infrastructure costs due to closed servers; it's the people that cost money, not relatively cheap servers and bandwith. (If bandwith were expensive, FTP wouldn't even be a thought anywhere.)
You can flame me or SNG all you want, but he's quoting EA. (Granted, he's quoting them a lot.)
Exactly, they could have 200K subs, and get $4.5 million from Cartel Market spending, which would get them their figure. Which is why I now say $7.5 million instead of 500K subs.
Star Trek Online - Best Free MMORPG of 2012
Where did you get this figure from?
The President of EA Labels Frank Gibeau said the Star Wars game would still break even so long as it maintained 500,000 subscribers, but admitted that its current performance was "not good enough".
As the game is not solely based on subs any more but subs and CM spending then it now translates to $15 x 500,000 = $7.5 million
The game went F2P in hope to still get this from people 1) Playing F2P and spending more than $15 per month 2) Playing the game as F2P and then deciding to sub and 3) subbing and still spend more in the store.
The quote you posted is based on number of active susbscribers and never included revenue from cash shop. So i doubt that old quote is even relevant now since there is no official statement about their profits from new F2P changes and cash shop. Right now they are double dipping players and for all we know they could be making profit. that is something only EA knows.
Exactly, they could have 200K subs, and get $4.5 million from Cartel Market spending, which would get them their figure. Which is why I now say $7.5 million instead of 500K subs.
All these people trying to be experts...a few facts well actually the only facts that matter. One, the game is still open not closed like other sw mmos two, they continue to add more content whether these experts say the new content is new or not its new content three, people are playing this game because they enjoy it no expert can change that.EA did a full court press for SWTOR when it released. The marketing and IP generated 2.4mil box sales. The quality of the game will keep them playing, and it did not live up to the billing.
EA had paid for a #1 video spot on the front page of YouTube on release day as well, as part of their promotion.
Before release, they made several statements as to SWTOR being the WoW killer everyone was waiting for. That generated a whole lot of hype, although a half year after release, only ~20% of players who bought the box were still around.
There was also the new promotional video every week, far before launch... which were "mistakingly" recorded in a higher resolution than was actually available to players =D
EA's (apparent) intented clientel are those who need to be told something is great, instead of deciding for themselves. There were also multiple alligations of EA using shills to promote their games. They did their job well.
(On the opposite spectrum, as mentioned earlier, Blizzard effectively used a Word-Of-Mouth campaign, because the game was better than anything at the time, and Blizzard knew it.)
Want a nice understanding of life? Try Spirit Science: "The Human History"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8NNHmV3QPw&feature=plcp
Recognize the voice? Yep sounds like Penny Arcade's Extra Credits.
People are still playing it because it went F2P, which attracated millions more people, but they will not be able to sustain it if people do spend enough. Even when the game launched it was still doing well until June with over 1 million subscribers, but was still dropping, even with it being all fresh and having more hope, and still having content added, then was forced to go F2P.
Now they are still working on content coming soon that was done before June last year. Other MMOs like STO since June put in Season 6, announced Season 7 and was in game before the end of 2012, which is a planet with quests like Makeb will be, and early January they stated that Season 8 and Season 9 is to come in 2013, but all that is coming with SWTOR that is major is Makeb. Also EQ2 announeced their expansion in Oct 2012 and went live Nov 2012 only 1 month later, but now after over 8 months waiting Makeb is still not in.
If over 75% people quit SWTOR last year when it had more hope then I do not see people sticking to it again who started at F2P, so chances are the game will be pretty much dead again by November, but with no more tricks to get more people into the game.
The only reason I am playing SWTOR is because I got sucked into the hype, bought the collectors edition with 2 60 day time cards, and built a new PC specifically for it, and want to get my moneys worth, as can not get my money back. It was fun after doing a couple of characters, but is so boring now. I am certainly not playing it because I enjoy it.
Star Trek Online - Best Free MMORPG of 2012
pretty much this.
From day 1, they should have worked on
- alternative leveling planets or making at least one third of the planets lvl 1-50 to give a non boring way to level alts
- improve the engine, textures and GFX
- trash the Starfox space combat and work on REAL space combat
- add some minigames known from KOTOR
- FIX ILUM and make it FUN
what they did instead:
add a couple of raids and flashpoints, now comes a level cap raise and another linear planet, plus faction point grind and more DAILIES hamster wheels
Secrets of Dragon?s Spine Trailer.. !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwT9cFVQCMw
Best MMOs ever played: Ultima, EvE, SW Galaxies, Age of Conan, The Secret World
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2X_SbZCHpc&t=21s
.
.
The Return of ELITE !
+1
I do think that whomever did those pre-launch cinematics should do an old republic movie. Those three videos were awesome.
Here's all three put together in cronological order: THe Old Republic Movie
Currently Playing: World of Warcraft
Regardless of what some on this site seem to impy as consences...most people like themepark MMOs....where SWTOR failed wasnt that it was a theme park...its that it was a poorly implemnted themepark....
Your main endgame is raiding...and you launch the game without a /roll command? common....THAT is why it failed...stuff like that...not because it was a "big bad themepark"
Someone needs to explain to you the idea of sunk cost...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunk_cost
I'm almost positive Blizzard didn't start with TV advertising until a few years into it, by which time they already had several million players, thus lots of momentum. They've had decent advertisements, at least in terms of cashing in on pop-culture, but the game was doing crazy good before the ads.
SWtOR was dying by the third month, so the idea that better or more advertisements has always been a weak one.
You make me like charity
yes, with so many changes, it would have been a much better game
but it also would have made it a totally different game
revamp or bust
For me,back when WoW was launching.I remember the trailer with the Night Elf Druid running through the woods and changing into a black panther.The Dwarf Hunter with his trusty bear pet trudging through the snow,suddenly they are at a peak and overlooking Ironforge!!
Those type's of thing's got you excited in 2004,I know it gave me goosebump's at the time.The thought of exploring such a world was immense.
When I look at Swtor and see ads or trailer's,it just look's like what i'm already used to seeing,as in sci fi,Star Wars,been there done that kinda feeling.It just doesn't feel new to me.I think most gamer's have seen SW movies so it doesn't seem like a special world.
At the same time when WoW released it blew people away.Many people were not really familiar with the Warcraft universe (myself included here) and then WoW drop's and change's everything to expect from an mmo and a world.
To finally answer the op,I don't think it would've changed thing's at all.In reality Swtor was much more heavily advertized in it's 1st year than WoW was.WoW didn't advertize much until leading up to Wotlk.Sure there was some,but Wotlk took it to another level.
Some day I'm going to put a sword through your eye and out the back of your skull!
Arya Stark
Some of the early weekly trailers were amazing though. It later turned out to be false, like manipulating companions, or choosing your own destiny.
It was a great ad campaign, even though I still think the Collector's Edition was a big waste of money. I'm still stuck with some statue when all I really wanted a great soundtrack in a jewel case, with a nice informative insert .. [not a best-of soundtrack 6 hours fit into one 45 minute CD, in a cardboard sleeve - lame]
Well lesson learned. Don't buy EA collector editions. Or any affiliate of EA, in this case BioWare.
Want a nice understanding of life? Try Spirit Science: "The Human History"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8NNHmV3QPw&feature=plcp
Recognize the voice? Yep sounds like Penny Arcade's Extra Credits.
To the people saying that they marketed SWTOR hard, I can't remember seeing a single commercial for it.
I don't watch tv, but there is one on the wall in my business that's on all day, and when I see a game commercial I notice. I remember a heavy Diablo 3 commercial rotation before and just after release, and there were Mists of Pandaria commercials playing as recently as a few weeks ago. I'm sure everyone remembers the Mr. T and Ozzy Osbourne World of Warcraft commercials years ago. Again, I saw no such advertising for SWTOR. Maybe due to my geographic location? I dunno.
Depends on the channel. Cartoon Network played it some. G4 too. It's really up to EA where they played their commercials.
I wouldn't expect it on CNN, FOXNews, TNN, ESPN ... you never specified what you watch at work. I imagine it wasn't a channel prone to gaming commercials. ?
What channel does your workplace show, while you work?
Also every ad effort has their own set of stations to advertise on .. same with movies .. I'll see tons of trailers for a particular movie on one station, but zilch on another. So seeing a commercial whether for a beauty product, a new weight lifting machine, cooking spray, or MMO game, is really dependant on the stations you choose to watch.
Want a nice understanding of life? Try Spirit Science: "The Human History"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8NNHmV3QPw&feature=plcp
Recognize the voice? Yep sounds like Penny Arcade's Extra Credits.
That make sense then, it's mostly news and weather at work. I guess Blizzard advertises on those channels while EA thought they would largely be a waste of money.
News is where you're saying Blizzard advertises? That alone is a good news story!
EA was on the news channels too, but it was because of SGRA - free advertisement
I only saw EA commercials on Cartoon Network and G4. Blizzard WoW commercials I only saw on YouTube.. though they might have been in my regular shows (thank you DVR and fast-forward).
Want a nice understanding of life? Try Spirit Science: "The Human History"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8NNHmV3QPw&feature=plcp
Recognize the voice? Yep sounds like Penny Arcade's Extra Credits.
I applaud you. Swtor’s problem is poor implementation. Everything you listed as missing from swtor, is bare minimum stuff. If you rush a product out the door just to make money, you ruin your chances to make money. Those who don’t learn from history, are doomed to repeat it.
As I see it, the story is fine for single player or solo, but it is a speed bump for multi-player. During raid story cutscenes players are constantly waiting on other players. There are other problems that I don’t care to list. But I feel if this issue are address then more people would be satisfied with the game and then other problems could be addressed.
To the OP I saw the commercials for swtor back in 2011. Unfortunately you are not in the swtor target viewing audience. As you didn’t watch the channels or programs that featured the commercials.
Boy: Why can't I talk to Him?
Mom: We don't talk to Priests.
As if it could exist, without being payed for.
F2P means you get what you paid for. Pay nothing, get nothing.
Even telemarketers wouldn't think that.
It costs money to play. Therefore P2W.