Please change the name!

[jamesp 10]

I don't understand what the name "Take On Helicopters" is supposed to mean.

Are you trying to say "Helicopter Challenge" or something to that effect? Even that name sounds dumb.

Please hire a U.S. or U.K. branding consultant! I'm a huge flight sim fan but with a name like that you will not be taken seriously in the US/UK markets.

Please don't take this the wrong way. This name sounds very strange to my native English speaking ears. Its almost like you came up with the name by going to Google translator.

Take it or leave it - but there it is.

[celery 8]

According to latest E3 streams, BI is now changing the name thanks to your insight.

[Zipper5 74]

What?

It's just like: taking on a new language class. You're taking on helicopters. What's not to understand?

[jamesp 10]

My point is that it can mean a lot of things in the English language (see below). It just doesn't sound very appealing as the name of a helicopter simulation in my opinion.

From Google:

assume: take on a certain form, attribute, or aspect; "His voice took on a sad tone"; "The story took a new turn"; "he adopted an air of superiority"; "She assumed strange manners"; "The gods assume human or animal form in these fables" Fail

assume: take on titles, offices, duties, responsibilities; "When will the new President assume office?" Fail

undertake: accept as a challenge; "I'll tackle this difficult task" Fail

accept: admit into a group or community; "accept students for graduate study"; "We'll have to vote on whether or not to admit a new member" Fail

meet: contend against an opponent in a sport, game, or battle; "Princeton plays Yale this weekend"; "Charlie likes to play Mary" I assume this is the intended usage - FAIL

To acquire, bring in, or introduce; To begin to have or exhibit; To assume responsibility for; To attempt to fight or compete Fail

What?

It's just like: taking on a new language class. You're taking on helicopters. What's not to understand?

Edited June 8, 2011 by jamesp

[metalcraze 290]

Armed Assault is a retarded name too

But if a name filters out people that can't look past it - it's only for the best :>

[jamesp 10]

I doubt if Bohemia wants to filter anyone out of buying their games. You just made my point.

If a confusing name decreases sales, we'll see less great games from BIS not more. This is about market penetration, brand perception and sales in the world's largest markets.

Armed Assault is a retarded name too

But if a name filters out people that can't look past it - it's only for the best :>

Edited June 9, 2011 by jamesp

[metalcraze 290]

You just made my point.

If a confusing name decreases sales, we'll see less great games from BIS not more. This is about branding and sales in the world's largest markets.

Oh it won't decrease sales.

Silly people will just complain and leave on the "name" stage rather than on "why doesn't it play like Battlefield?" stage. There will be no difference.

[jamesp 10]

I understand your point, but branding is far more important than you appear to realize.

There is real science around predicting consumer behavior. Smart companies invest in the research before rolling out a new product. The goal is to purposefully align a product with a target audience by building authenticity around the product.

In this case I believe that the product's name is misaligned with the target market. When the brand experience is not properly planned, it could be the difference between selling 100,000 units and selling 1 million+ units.

Oh it won't decrease sales.

Silly people will just complain and leave on the "name" stage rather than on "why doesn't it play like Battlefield?" stage. There will be no difference.

Edited June 9, 2011 by jamesp

[4 IN 1 0]

The only thing thats going to happen is that the name is going to stick, leave it or take it.

[nightsta1ker 10]

I don't think changing the name would affect anything. Anyone interested in helicopters is going to pick up this game. Skeptics will wait to see what other people think about it before buying it. The gameplay is what will make or break this game. Not the name. Bohemia has a large enough reputation and fanbase to launch their product. The ultimate success or failure will depend on whether or not people enjoy the game.

Besides, if you read the summary of the plot line on the main page, you can kind of see where the name "Take On Helicopters" comes from. It's still cheesy, but it does make sense. I think it alludes to the challenge that operating these expensive, technically difficult machines implies. Their expensive and unforgiving nature and puts them in a very gray area and the success of an operator depends on how efficiently and safely they accomplish their jobs.

[cri74 10]

Nuke 'em Duke !

[LeftSkidLow 1]

I don't think changing the name would affect anything. Anyone interested in helicopters is going to pick up this game. Skeptics will wait to see what other people think about it before buying it. The gameplay is what will make or break this game. Not the name. Bohemia has a large enough reputation and fanbase to launch their product. The ultimate success or failure will depend on whether or not people enjoy the game.

Besides, if you read the summary of the plot line on the main page, you can kind of see where the name "Take On Helicopters" comes from. It's still cheesy, but it does make sense. I think it alludes to the challenge that operating these expensive, technically difficult machines implies. Their expensive and unforgiving nature and puts them in a very gray area and the success of an operator depends on how efficiently and safely they accomplish their jobs.

I pretty much agree. The first sales are going to be the helicopter sim fans and BIS enthusiasts, most of which probably know about the game at this point. From then on, most of the sales will likely depend on word of mouth, reviews, and maybe a steam rating. If you put the word "simulator" in the title you automatically turn off a lot of people because it screams boring and tedious. If you named it something like "world of choppers," all of us would go "WHAT THE F*$& IS THIS?!" but some call of duty turds might buy it and then be thoroughly dissatisfied. "Take On Helicopters" is fine and it leaves the option open for other genres in a "Take On" series.

[ArmAriffic 10]

BIS are from the Czech republic, it probably sounds catchyer there

[Tonmeister 14]

... Take it or leave it...

a great segue for this interpretation of take on

-zOzMR6J08w&feature

[bobocz 10]

Some explanation from new official TKOH page:

Take your first steps towards mastering rotor-wing flight across a massive range of enjoyable challenges, or create your own missions using the powerful easy-to-use mission editor.

Take to the air above two beautifully rich and expansive environments, based upon real-world North American and South Asian terrain-data.

Take on cutting-edge technology, helicopters modelled in stunning detail, a large-scale, open-world sandbox and authentic flight dynamic

I really don't care how they call it. :)

[jblackrupert 14]

As a Canadian I'm hoping for a future addon or DLC featuring Canadian cities...

They can call it.... "Take off eh!"

[nodunit 397]

Awesome, now I need to wash the tea out of my keyboard thanks for that rupert.

[metalcraze 290]

I understand your point, but branding is far more important than you appear to realize.

There is real science around predicting consumer behavior. Smart companies invest in the research before rolling out a new product. The goal is to purposefully align a product with a target audience by building authenticity around the product.

In this case I believe that the product's name is misaligned with the target market. When the brand experience is not properly planned, it could be the difference between selling 100,000 units and selling 1 million+ units.

Oh but Take On is aligned with its target audience.

Take On's target audience like them some heli sim, they don't pay for a name.

[Electricleash 133]

Please hire a U.S. or U.K. branding consultant! I'm a huge flight sim fan but with a name like that you will not be taken seriously in the US/UK markets.

Finding original naming that works in this day and age is also very difficult and time consuming, been through that myself.

Negotiating the minefield of IP and copyright/name branding is a formidable challenge in itself, especially in game development, where many of the strongest sounding IP's have been snapped up already.

This and the frustrations, in this case, of skirting around individual patented helicopter designs, airframes, engine parts etc.

Unless the OP actually knows for certain exactly who the game is targeted at, I think you're being overly condecending as to their marketing strategy and their lingual abilities. In addition, going from some of the interviews I have heard many of the crew speak far better English than Native English/US speakers.

E

Edited June 9, 2011 by Electricleash
grammar

[ziiip 1]

Sounds good to me.

[jamesp 10]

I sure hope BIS knows who the game is targeted to! This is why they created the product in the first place. They made a conscious decision that the target market is large enough to support a sufficient return on the investment they are making. But knowing the target market is the starting point, not the end point.

@nightsta1ker, @LeftSkidRow: You are describing market segments. Helicopter sim fans and BIS enthusiasts are just two measurable market segments (though BIS enthusiasts are a cross-section of multiple segments). The purpose of brand research is to allow the product to transcend known market segments and enter new ones.

@cri74: This is actually a useful branding game. Replace the name of successful products with the proposed name of the new product. Does it have the same visceral appeal?

Take on Duty (Call of)

Take on Autos (Grand Theft)

Take on War (Gears of)

@BoboCZ: When a consumer evaluates a product for the first time they do so on the basis of brand. Unless the back story is already widely known it will make little to no difference in the initial purchase decision.

Here is a parting thought. Based on the number previous posts to BIS forums, every response to this thread has been from the BIS Enthusiast market segment (as defined above). In fact there is a correlation between the most dismissive (and even hostile) with 3,951 and 3,599 previous posts to the most amenable (the name is, "cheesy") with 63 previous posts. Though this evidence is purely anecdotal I would suggest it is representative of what you will find in the wider market.

Finding original naming that works in this day and age is also very difficult and time consuming, been through that myself.

Negotiating the minefield of IP and copyright/name branding is a formidable challenge in itself, especially in game development, where many of the strongest sounding IP's have been snapped up already.

This and the frustrations, in this case, of skirting around individual patented helicopter designs, airframes, engine parts etc.

Unless the OP actually knows for certain exactly who the game is targeted at, I think you're being overly condecending as to their marketing strategy and their lingual abilities. In addition, going from some of the interviews I have heard many of the crew speak far better English than Native English/US speakers.

E

Edited June 9, 2011 by jamesp

[Big Dawg KS 6]

BIS will release spin-off game called Take On Naming, where you play as a marketer who must think of names for BIS games. :rolleyes:

Srsly tho, who cares?

---------- Post added at 08:11 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:08 PM ----------

a great segue for this interpretation of take on

Take on me, bro! :cool:

[nightsta1ker 10]

You may have a point, but I don't think the name will change, and as I originally posted, I don't think it would change anything. Those of us that are arguing with you are using target markets as examples because it's a target market game. The vast majority of gamers out there could care less about helicopters. If this were not true there would be alot more helicopter games out there.

Look at DIS Blackshark. Arguably the best combat helicopter game ever created. How many people do you think have that in their house, and after that, how many people play it regularly? It was designed for a target audience, and it sold to a target audience.

And besides all that, maybe I am not your average consumer, but I have bought some pretty crappy games because they had a cool cover and a snappy title ("Whirlwind over Vietnam" comes to mind) so I am always a bit leery about new games in my interest area and do a little research on them before I buy. Personally, the title means about as much to me as the cellophane wrapping that the product comes in.

[samb 15]

Cmn if they called it "Barbie goes shopping" i'd still buy it. After You install the game it's all about flying after all!

Sam

[4 IN 1 0]

Cmn if they called it "Barbie goes shopping" i'd still buy it. After You install the game it's all about flying after all!

Sam