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What would of happened if SWTOR advertised like WoW?
Zeppelin5083
Member Posts: 410
What got me excited to play WoW (back in the day, I ended up quitting around level 37) was seeing a cinematic for it on television. The cinematics were exciting and well crafted. It really got me wanting to see more. WoW, whatever you may think of it, is great at advertising. This is something most big name MMOs seem to struggle with. When WoW puts out an expansion, you see commercials for it, you see ads on websites for it. It gets its name out.
Now on to SWTOR. They had at least as good, in my opinion better cinematic trailers than WoW (Ok, Pandaria had an awesome one). Yet I saw none on television, I rarely saw any as advertising on websites. If you weren't keyed into the MMO scene then you may not know this came out until you walked by it in a store or found a link to the cinematic on youtube. I think they could of done way better advertising, and that may of increased subscribers. I know this point is now moot, as everyone who is playing and paying is probably all they'll get now that F2P hit the market.
I guess my only question is this: If they had such a large budget and were actively trying to compete with WoW, then why did they skip out on the TV advertising part? The cinematics alone were enough to get me interested. Of course, the shine has worn off and I wish they would make a full length movie with those cinematics, but that's just me.
Also, if they actually did put tv commercials out and I missed them by randomly not watching tv when they commercial was on, say so!
Comments
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
Star Trek Online - Best Free MMORPG of 2012
Don't think it would have helped really... See Ea was hoping SWTOR would build off word of mouth, having spending so much for the rights etc, but when that word of mouth got around, it was mostly negative then the freefall in subs started and by then its too late.. Had it played commercials for and good length of time leading up to launch would probab;y have resulted in a bigger launch but sub would have still fall...
WoW i think was helped slighty by the commercials, but more from word of mouth.. Not to mention blizz loyalists fan base (lucky company)..
I just have a bitter tought in my mind saying its mostly EAs fault SWTOR failed.. As they might have want a BIG sub number game just as WOW, so what do you do (You know the rest)...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fYW9tSUKw4
They did have commercials.
Blizzard made an amazing themepark mmo. EA/Bioware tried to emulate an amazing themepark mmo, but failed.
As for Blizzard's fanbase - very similar to Bioware- had been built up over year and years of excellent releases. I played WoW at vanilla launch because I had faith in Blizzard to deliver a great gaming experience based on their prior work.
The WoW backlash is fairly recent, I'd even say that people in general were liking WoW through BC and WotLK was the beginning of the hate train.
I think based on the details on the video and the comments, this was a fan-made trailer. A very well made one though.
I agree with what most of you are saying. It probably would of brought in more subs at launch, but to get people into the game you have to really make a good game.
Here's hoping they make tv shows/movies with those cinematics.
[mod edit]
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.
No. The DID have TV commercials.
I remember seeing it here, even in Australia, on TV.
It just wasn't creative like WoW but still, the game wasn't good enough to garner the same reaction anyways in comparison even if the ad was really good.
would HAVE
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
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The Return of ELITE !
Funny, what made WOW explode had nothing to do with Marketing it was WORD OF MOUTH. Go ahead market the hell out of any game you want if the product cant hold subs it doesnt matter, make it F2P it will still tank eventually, people will leave for all the same reasons regardless of how they came to you in the first
Marketing is a crutch. You cant keep something good a secret for long.
I don't understand the premise of this thread.
EA spent millions upon millions marketing this game. (Some estimate $200 million as a ceiling).
They pushed it HARD pre-release.
Maybe you are confused since they pretty much threw in the towel marketing-wise by Juneish of last year.
No need to keep throwing good money after bad.
The marketing campaign for this game was one of the few bright spots.
Say what you will about the game itself but marketing wise they did their job
1. For god's sake mmo gamers, enough with the analogies. They're unnecessary and your comparisons are terrible, dissimilar, and illogical.
2. To posters feeling the need to state how f2p really isn't f2p: Players understand the concept. You aren't privy to some secret the rest are missing. You're embarrassing yourself.
3. Yes, Cpt. Obvious, we're not industry experts. Now run along and let the big people use the forums for their purpose.
OP, you did somehow miss the massive marketing campaign that SWTOR had.
It was biggidity, big, big. TV, web, print. Even (In my opinion) goofy live "Flash Mob" events. (One in Times Square.)
It is not an exageration to guess that EA spent more on marketing this game then Blizzard spent on developing WoW.
Remember they sold 2 million units in the first couple of weeks of sales.
Anyone agreeing with you that EA hurt the game by not marketing it enough is reconstructing an alternate history of what actually happened.
When the game had a massive exodus, the marketing dollars stopped being spent. (Around E3).
Even the FTP announcement, while not marketed heavily, was covered by the entire industry press because of the unprecedented nature of a AAA going Freemium so quickly.
SWTOR is what it is, blaming its fall from grace on imaginarey bugaboos is not healthy. (In my opinion)
Personally it's painful to read people suggesting that SWTOR failed due to lack of EA marketing, lack of initial EA funding, an organized Blizzard sabotage campaign, an organized ex-SWG player sabotage campaign, etc.
We were "stabbed in the back" theories are rarely constructive.
<Insert Yoda quote here>
PS I'm not accusing you of creating a stabbed in the back theorey, I'm saying that your missing the huge SWTOR ad campaign could easiy be latched onto by those prone to stabbed in the back theories.
The simple fact is that over 2.4 million people tried SWTOR as P2P, and over 2 million of them decided SWTOR wasn't for them. (At least as a P2P game.)
SWTOR has since reinvented itself, let's see if it can find suistainable new life.
Just my 2¢, and it's actually worth quite less.
It cost 7,5 million a month to keep the game running? Seems a bit high.
He's basing that on the quote from EA that they needed 500,000 subscription a month to break even (the statement was made after the layoffs).
500,000 x $15= $7.5 million. No one knows for exactly how long, but it is assumed for several years to make a profit after development and marketing costs, and Lucas Art's cut was factored in.
How long did it take WoW to produce its first ad tv ad?
Word of mouth will sell games better than any ads ever will.
which means word of mouth will destroy your game even faster
the answer is 3 years by the way. 3 years before blizzard did its first world of warcraft TV ad.
If you're actively trying to compete with a game like wow. You dont make a game just like it.
parasites don't compete with a host
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.
It took WOW how many years to get where they are today? I believe SWTOR could do better they need to entertain more..imho
Edit add on..
I retired retroactively..Haha
I would say that EA had much more advertising in 2011/2012 then Blizzard had in 2004/2005.
I don't really remember any WoW commercials until 2007. But either way, SWTOR's gameplay sucked balls. All the corners they cut could be felt at every point in that game. Marketing cannot hide a game with glaring issues.
1)Never agree to work with EA on an mmorpg project
2)Never agree to let Mythic devs design your pvp
Off topic: Its time to slay the Dragon!
Tired of players who keeps bashing..
To bash a game because it does not fit your dream style game, is laughable...So tell us all.What games do you play? I would like to know, since you are on a suck balls campaign.
As for Advertisement concerns, I agree with some posts that "word of mouth" is a lot better..Spreads like wild fire..
I retired retroactively..Haha
Where did you get this figure from?
Ahnog
Hokey religions are no replacement for a good blaster at your side.
This was the only mmo other than wow that I've ever seen a commercial on television for. And I saw them quite a bit for about the first two weeks before and a month after launch.
Yeah, I never saw a wow commercial until a couple of years after launch. They had lots of magazine ads and the like, but not TV. I'm not even sure that came before TBC launched.
A lot of people are under impression that WOW succeeded so much because of advertisements. WOW was already very popular at release due to WARCRAFt farnchise and its huge fan base. They just cranked it up a notch later on but in beginning there were hardly any heavy advertising.
Moreover, advertisement can only do so much. Yes you end up buying the game if you see it on television with flashy CGI and celebrities but after that game has to stand on its own two legs.
If game is crap, advertising will help you bring new players but won't make them stay.
"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.'
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-Luke McKinney
SW:TOR had many, many faults... advertising was not one of them.
All time classic MY NEW FAVORITE POST! (Keep laying those bricks)
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