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Why did they stop selling...?

ZeymereZeymere Member UncommonPosts: 210

So why did they stop selling the digital copy?  For a game that is not subscription based this really concerns me.  It is very odd.  Please enlighten me.

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Comments

  • SnarlingWolfSnarlingWolf Member Posts: 2,697

    You'll hear many theories on this.

    One theory is there was more demand than they anticipated and needed time to catch up. I'm not a believer of that.

    One theory is they're trying to artificially created demand. Not a believer in that either as it is more beneficial to sell more now and release a big sale number to the world to increase demand.

     

     

    My theory is it involved the deals with the brick and mortar stores. In order to make sure the stores can make some money they might have signed an agreement on how many digital copies they could sell compared to physical copies and are waiting for the physical copies to catch up.

  • WolvardsWolvards Member Posts: 650

    To many people for their servers. 

    O wait i'm a blind fanboi, ANet failed.

    The "Youtube Pro": Someone who watches video's on said subject, and obviously has a full understanding of what is being said about such subject.

  • zakiyawowzakiyawow Member UncommonPosts: 626

    Why were first-party sales of the game halted? Can we take that as a sign that the game is selling a little too well for comfort, given the game's current troubles, or does the team simply want to prevent new players from getting caught up in email delays on registration? How soon might we see sales resume?

    Demand for Guild Wars 2 has been well beyond our expectations, and in order to maintain a playable and enjoyable game experience for all of our fans we made the decision to temporarily halt first-party sales while we scale up our capacity and customer support to meet this demand. From the very beginning, we have intended Guild Wars 2 to be a successful game in the long run. Slamming our servers with new players in the name of sales, adversely affecting the entirety of our playerbase, does not fit into that plan.Guild Wars 2 needs to always be an enjoyable, accessible game, and we will do everything within our means to do so.

    Quote from North American Community Team Lead, Regina Buenaobra

  • SnarlingWolfSnarlingWolf Member Posts: 2,697
    Unfortunately I would also never quote a company to find the real answer either. PR is big in the corporate world and everything is spun into a positive no matter what it is.
  • waynejr2waynejr2 Member EpicPosts: 7,769
    Originally posted by Zeymere

    So why did they stop selling the digital copy?  For a game that is not subscription based this really concerns me.  It is very odd.  Please enlighten me.

    Oh, I don't know, you could. . . wait for it...........read their announcement about it?

    http://www.youhaventlived.com/qblog/2010/QBlog190810A.html  

    Epic Music:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAigCvelkhQ&list=PLo9FRw1AkDuQLEz7Gvvaz3ideB2NpFtT1

    https://archive.org/details/softwarelibrary_msdos?&sort=-downloads&page=1

    Kyleran:  "Now there's the real trick, learning to accept and enjoy a game for what it offers rather than pass on what might be a great playing experience because it lacks a few features you prefer."

    John Henry Newman: "A man would do nothing if he waited until he could do it so well that no one could find fault."

    FreddyNoNose:  "A good game needs no defense; a bad game has no defense." "Easily digested content is just as easily forgotten."

    LacedOpium: "So the question that begs to be asked is, if you are not interested in the game mechanics that define the MMORPG genre, then why are you playing an MMORPG?"




  • VolkonVolkon Member UncommonPosts: 3,748
    Basically because they were exceeding expected sales, so they needed to slow down while they get additional servers up and increase current server capacity. The slow down also allows more spread of population so that when new people come in they'll not only have server space available but be able to get into the game with a reduced overflow burden. Basically, numbers. Too many too fast, time to adjust.

    Oderint, dum metuant.

  • BadaboomBadaboom Member UncommonPosts: 2,380

    Anet are a victim of their own success. 

    Ensuring the best possible play experience for our fans is our highest priority. We’ve said before that we would be willing to temporarily disable first-party digital sales if we felt our high player concurrency may compromise player experiences. We have now reached that point.

    Effective immediately we have disabled sales via buy.guildwars2.com. To be clear, box and digital sales are still available via our retail partners. We are tracking our concurrency closely while expanding our infrastructure. We’ll re-enable first-party digital sales as soon as we feel that we can do so safely. ~RB2

  • RaysheRayshe Member UncommonPosts: 1,279
    My opinion is that they need to slow the sales so that their support team can get big enough so people aren't waiting days to get a GM to help them. they are likely hireing new GM's ATM.

    Because i can.
    I'm Hopeful For Every Game, Until the Fan Boys Attack My Games. Then the Knives Come Out.
    Logic every gamers worst enemy.

  • SnarlingWolfSnarlingWolf Member Posts: 2,697

    I will say I am amazed at how many people will just accept what a company says at face value. It could be the truth it could not be the truth. The reason you don't know is companies spin/hide/lie about the truth all the time.

     

    I have to wonder if those same people listen to a political speech and just walk away going "Man so many truthful things I never knew before!"

  • BadaboomBadaboom Member UncommonPosts: 2,380
    Originally posted by Rayshe
    My opinion is that they need to slow the sales so that their support team can get big enough so people aren't waiting days to get a GM to help them. they are likely hireing new GM's ATM.

    Your opinion is quite different from what Anet has said.  Your opinion reeks of alarmist rhetoric.

     

    Anyways OP, as you can plainly see Anet is trying to do what is best for the players.  Which is another reason why I think this company is the best.

  • gravesworngravesworn Member Posts: 324
    I was on guild wars 2 website yesterday and they had a large front page focus on employment. So mybe....
  • EletherylEletheryl Member Posts: 152
    Originally posted by Zeymere

    So why did they stop selling the digital copy?  For a game that is not subscription based this really concerns me.  It is very odd.  Please enlighten me.

    Is easy, to no open more servers and hire more people to manage them. The population will drop after the 1st month, just wait, after the release of MoP, sell will be open once again. 

  • grimalgrimal Member UncommonPosts: 2,935
    I don't think anyone really knows.  I am apt to believe that perhaps all the kinks weren't as worked out as well as they anticipated....or perhaps the influx of purchases and the troubles during the the first day of EA made them panic a little.  It may also be all the reasons people listed above.  But I do think they are not losing as many purchases as many are apt to believe; I think most of the purchases they initially anticipated were done by preorders and prepurchasers.
  • WoopinWoopin Member UncommonPosts: 1,012
    Originally posted by SnarlingWolf
    Unfortunately I would also never quote a company to find the real answer either. PR is big in the corporate world and everything is spun into a positive no matter what it is.

    But we can see the servers are packed and support taking a long time to reply.

    So what they have said has pretty much been true so far. I doubt they are ignoring support tickets..

    image

  • DfixDfix Member UncommonPosts: 238
    Originally posted by SnarlingWolf

    I will say I am amazed at how many people will just accept what a company says at face value.

    Sorry, but not all of us run around with tin foil hats in our back pockets. 

    Vivik-Cerberus
    image
  • kevjardskevjards Member UncommonPosts: 1,452
    Originally posted by Zeymere

    So why did they stop selling the digital copy?  For a game that is not subscription based this really concerns me.  It is very odd.  Please enlighten me.

    from my perspective or should i say my opinion is they are having trouble coping with the numbers atm and are playing catchup on security,ie hacking  .reason i think this is because if they let more in before they have sorted the problems out it could end up giving them more of a headache than it already is..atm people who have been hacked are told they will have accounts back within 72 hrs or at least their tickets will be.if they allow more into the game without solving the current problems they are asking for a bigger headache..they will get there evenually..its just going to take time..other peoples opinion will differ.

  • AstropuyoAstropuyo Member RarePosts: 2,178

    Simple facts to consider.

     

    Of course things are spun positively, on the flip side to that is when things go baddly if you accept the responsibility for it..the base will forgive you. (Bet you didn't see that did you guru's?)

    GAMES: Games compete with manufacturers (publishers) this is a rarity in the world where buying direct from manufacturer is not generally allowed, only in software is this really able to be done.

     

    This cuts into your retailers bottom lines, your retailers will give you the fist of god via a anti-trust (As you guys have bound together under an agreement). You undermine your "partners" and you'll get sued.

    You may not lose the case but the case against you is usually enough for retailers to be wary and enough cases and bam you look like a terrible lot with great lawyers.

     

    So while it's cute to hear artificial demand/supply the facts are you can still buy them from the retailer.

     

    This is one of the reasons the game market is tanking, direct from publisher effects many jobs in retail.

    Start thinking like adults and less like every company is out to kill/steal from you.

    This is simply them abiding by the law and looking cool doing it.

  • SnarlingWolfSnarlingWolf Member Posts: 2,697
    Originally posted by Woopin
    Originally posted by SnarlingWolf
    Unfortunately I would also never quote a company to find the real answer either. PR is big in the corporate world and everything is spun into a positive no matter what it is.

    But we can see the servers are packed and support taking a long time to reply.

    So what they have said has pretty much been true so far. I doubt they are ignoring support tickets..

     Correlation is not causation.

     

    Just because they have a queue (like every single major MMO does at launch), does not mean that they stopped online sales because of that. It actually makes no sense at all because people could just go out and buy all the physical copies to continue to make the queues worse.

  • KakkzookaKakkzooka Member Posts: 591
    The game is selling well beyond their expectations, so they need to evaluate the long-term strategy for their infrastructure.

    Re: SWTOR

    "Remember, remember - Kakk says 'December.'"

  • SnarlingWolfSnarlingWolf Member Posts: 2,697
    Originally posted by Dfix
    Originally posted by SnarlingWolf

    I will say I am amazed at how many people will just accept what a company says at face value.

    Sorry, but not all of us run around with tin foil hats in our back pockets. 

     Difference between tin foil hats and rational thinking.

     

    Physical copies are still for sale -> therefore stopping digital sales doesn't stop queues from increasing. -> their reasoning makes little sense.

     

    How many products have you bought where the commercials say something like "Best coffee ever" or other similar things. Since it would apparently require a tin foil hat to think that maybe they are exagerating the claims that it is the best coffee ever.

  • roo67roo67 Member Posts: 402
    Originally posted by Eletheryl
    Originally posted by Zeymere

    So why did they stop selling the digital copy?  For a game that is not subscription based this really concerns me.  It is very odd.  Please enlighten me.

    Is easy, to no open more servers and hire more people to manage them. The population will drop after the 1st month, just wait, after the release of MoP, sell will be open once again

    Its unliky the majority people playing Guild Wars 2 now are simply playing to fill in time for MoP . If they were WoW fans they would be playing now for the new patch . I'm actually playing WoW as we speak and a lot of people are talking about GW2 . Its not all negative either . On the other hand the latest WoW patch has been poorly recieved by many players especially the new character trees . I have my doubt MoP will sort out many of the underlying issues which are leading players to quit in thier millions . They may get a brief bounce in subs but whether they keep them will depend a lot on the quality of MoP . I doubt many of these returning players will be from GW2 .

    As for the downloads I think they ll be back up when they can catch up with demand . Logically thats the most viable explanation  . GW2 seems to be the new cool .

  • NadiaNadia Member UncommonPosts: 11,798
    Originally posted by kevjards

    reason i think this is because if they let more in before they have sorted the problems out it could end up giving them more of a headache than it already is..

    atm people who have been hacked are told they will have accounts back within 72 hrs or at least their tickets will be.

    if they allow more into the game without solving the current problems they are asking for a bigger headache..they will get there evenually..its just going to take time..other peoples opinion will differ.

    agree ANET is suffering launch pains

     

    5 days ago (sunday), ANET announced they hired 28 new support reps

    - and ANET is still hiring support reps to meet the demand

  • XzenXzen Member UncommonPosts: 2,607
    The only info we have on "why" comes from the company it self. Take their word for it or put your tinfoil hat on.
  • AlotAlot Member Posts: 1,948


    Originally posted by SnarlingWolf

    Originally posted by Woopin

    Originally posted by SnarlingWolf Unfortunately I would also never quote a company to find the real answer either. PR is big in the corporate world and everything is spun into a positive no matter what it is.
    But we can see the servers are packed and support taking a long time to reply. So what they have said has pretty much been true so far. I doubt they are ignoring support tickets..
     Correlation is not causation.

     

    Just because they have a queue (like every single major MMO does at launch), does not mean that they stopped online sales because of that. It actually makes no sense at all because people could just go out and buy all the physical copies to continue to make the queues worse.


    Many retailers are sold out as well. And I'm very sorry to disappoint you, but I'd rather accept ArenaNet's official statement on the matter than the baseless (conspiracy) theory of an anonymous forum user.

    I guess that makes me a mad, blind fanboy.

  • AdiarisAdiaris Member CommonPosts: 381
    Originally posted by SnarlingWolf

    I will say I am amazed at how many people will just accept what a company says at face value. It could be the truth it could not be the truth. The reason you don't know is companies spin/hide/lie about the truth all the time.

     

    I have to wonder if those same people listen to a political speech and just walk away going "Man so many truthful things I never knew before!"

    My job is to do exactly that, and while you tend to leave out stuff, not say things, focus on other things... you very rarely flat-out lie black on white in official communications to public or press, especially when it's not necessary.

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