North America Release / Publisher

[11aTony 0]

Nevermind

[PhilippRauch 0]

Dude, you miss some parts or even the whole story behind this (well let me put it bluntly) 'marketing disaster' :P ...

Its due to the setup/size of BIS and politricks of publishers why you got that 'mess'. Maybe its even a cunning plan behind all this ... who knows?

;)(In short, if you want more search the forums and get your picture)

Here in Germany many (also non ArmA veterans) know of ArmaII being released, maybe not exactly when but anyway there has been coverage in major game-news-sites and tv/webcast shows, also if you search the online resellers they point to morphicon or just post the date they know, i ordered mine from AmaXXXe few weeks ago.

... I am happy, few days left

[hoak 0]

This is exactly how business proceeded with ArmA I, and why I posted this thread on contract publishing, and this thread for North American Consumers.

As I suggested in those threads BI are brilliant Game Developers and 3D Artists, but their lack of business savvy has and will continue to cost them millions in opportunity margins that are only made with early concurrent product release.

I even offered to help, but it looks like BI would rather keep their own council then seek Business expertise in each respective market -- the enormous up-front loss is sadly mostly theirs...

:butbut:

Edited May 19, 2009 by Hoak

[Raphier 0]

well, what did you expect? This ain't Be all, end all kind of game. This is not Halo, not MGS. This is a niche game that stays to live around its community, you should be atleast happy that you know about it.

I think you guys are expecting too much from BIS. This Ain't Big of the Year (otherwise I believe most of biggest publishers would want to catch this little one to themselves) :rolleyes:

I mean, how many here knows about Dwarf Fortress?

[Commando84 0]

I preordered mine from game in uk last weekend :) but I haven't bought the new computer yet so my copy will get to collect dust untill I get back home after the summer :)

[Zipper5 74]

They did exactly the same with OFP? You can argue that they had a big name like Codemasters but truth-be-told CM did shit-all in terms of properly advertising the game. Personally, I think BIS was stolen from by them in that regard.

On the subject of Codemasters, you have Dragon Rising. Codemasters are a big name company and are known throughout the gaming community, though not always for the best reasons to say the least. They have oodles of cash to use in marketing and making DR, plus, many previews have said they're trying to make it more appealing to the mainstream. Frankly I really hate that, as OFP and ArmA have always not been mainstream and that's what I love about them. But when appealing to the mainstream you advertise #&%$ing everywhere! Which is what CM have been doing for DR.

ArmA II, on the other hand, is sticking to its roots and is not trying to be mainstream. Most non-mainstream games have very little PR and that's for a good reason. They only want to appeal to those searching for it. Most people I've shown ArmA and OFP to just laugh at it and call it boring as hell and hard, but these are people who think Battlefield and Call of Duty are some of the best brand-names ever, so its to be expected. BIS found its market when it released OFP, and it knows it has a guaranteed market in that area, so they're appealing mostly to that area. You're saying BIS are not business savvy? I'd say they're very business savvy. Plus, I have always liked BIS' method of PR anyways.

[EricM 0]

It's quit patronizing and ignorant to consider that BIS lacks "business savvy".

They are just as aware as anyone that it's not the perfect worldwide simultaneous release they wanted and that a big marketing campaign would help make sales and have good reviews in major sites.

It's just that last time they hooked up with a big publisher (CM) that could offer all that, they got somehow screwed, and tried to get a better deal with other publishers. Sadly those publishers are trying to screw one another by releasing at different dates.

And it's up to the publisher to finance the marketing stuff usually, not the developper, that's why with many smaller publishers not playing well together and no official publisher at all in Norther America, there isn't this big PR stunt that CM is doing for OFPDR.

With smaller budget at hand and a more hardcore game, they can't afford the same marketing feast as EA, UBI or other big ones either. In spite of all that, they did hire a PR agency to promote the game.

Be sure that if they could have done it better they probably would have.

[von_paulus 0]

Its due to the setup/size of BIS and politricks of publishers why you got that 'mess'. Maybe its even a cunning plan behind all this ... who knows?

;)(In short, if you want more search the forums and get your picture):

Exactly.

Besides if the game got good reviews there will be demand.

But all of us, within the comunity, will help a little. Will spread the word. I've already been doing that. Talked with people who played OFP and ARMA, warning about the impending release.

[hoak 0]

well, what did you expect? This ain't Be all, end all kind of game. This is not Halo, not MGS. This is a niche game that stays to live around its community, you should be atleast happy that you know about it.

I think you guys are expecting too much from BIS. This Ain't Big of the Year (otherwise I believe most of biggest publishers would want to catch this little one to themselves) :rolleyes:

I mean, how many here knows about Dwarf Fortress?

That's not a very informed statement -- while 'serious tactical realism' games often don't receive the histrionics press and coverage of 'cartoon-kiddie action fantasy games', even serious realism games that are panned in the press and sell poorly still sell in the tens or hundreds of millions of unit volume generating revenue in the billions.

I expect this is just a repeat situation where naive and brilliant Developers that have had too many bad experiences with exploitive business practice, that have made their partners enormous income, and left BI with bread crumbs have left them quite reasonably shy and wary of dealing with anyone.

:rolleyes:

[maddogx 13]

This may sound very selfish and elitist but, honestly, from my perspective this lack of marketing is a positive thing. The BI community has always been a lot more mature than most others (with a few notable exceptions), as it is fairly small and tightly knit. ArmA and Arma2 are niche games after all - they're not everyone's cup of tea and tend to attract a more mature crowd.

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against new guys who are learning to play the game and BIS could certainly use the extra sales. What I'm worried about is that large scale mainstream marketing will attract a swarm of 1337 kiddies to the forums who were expecting a CoD-clone fragfest. Think of mOdErN_wArFaRe_SnIpEr. Now imagine hundreds of him roaming the forums threatening to kick your teeth in and urinate on you. Not a pretty thought.

[thaFunkster 0]

well, what did you expect? This ain't Be all, end all kind of game. This is not Halo, not MGS. This is a niche game that stays to live around its community, you should be atleast happy that you know about it.

I think you guys are expecting too much from BIS. This Ain't Big of the Year (otherwise I believe most of biggest publishers would want to catch this little one to themselves) :rolleyes:

I mean, how many here knows about Dwarf Fortress?

Yeh, that's the way it is, but not the way it has to be. I mean BIS created OFP, and if you talked to anyone in the games industry/press back in 2001/2002, they would know about it. If they managed to make a big name with that game, then there is no reason why they cant do the same now, I mean this should be even better than OFP, as they have (presumably) learnt and grown since then.

I really see no reason why Arma2 couldn't be a big hit, if only people actually heard about it.

[wamingo 1]

yep, good reviews creates it's own (free) advertisement, while hype tends to create disappointment.

Regular advertisement is overrated.

And frankly, Arma2 looks very polished (compared to ofp/arma), and unless it's bug-ridden it ought to do well.

econo crisis adjusted of course.. grrr

[kt187 10]

OFP2 is coming out Sept 30th I belive, Arma2 the guys are putting in water now, which means the game is 95-100% done so June 24 is probably correct, Now what is going to happen is this, Arma2 has to be DA BOMB it has to be realistic and extremely fun for the OFP fans, in order to keep them from swicthig to OFP2 because of the name, I am going buy booth, but Arma2 on paper and on video looks alot more fun then OFP2 and it has all the stuff that I like, with the only concern being realistic bullet damage and windage/elevation, OFP2 promises extreme realism, but how realistc is an empty Island, with no civilians........??????? Makes me think BF2. I am leaning for Arma2 to be my favorite, but OFP2 will have a few months to throw some extra stuff in before its realese, I say BI and Codmaster make up and work togther I am not going to lie OFP2 looks HOT graphicaly. Time will tell.

[BEEJ24 10]

being a gamer from the first OFP and ARMA, i can trust BIS as i know they look after there "gaming family" as it were... Although they havent advertised it as much (even though OFP:DR has done theres with fake cgi most of the time) BIS has let us download all the in-game videos they released and i have seen a lot of them on youtube which is in itself advertising, the gamers are advertising the game to other gamers....

I have also e-mailed amazon.co.uk to confirm they will be shipping on the 19th june to coinside with 505games release date, and not the 26th which is what my account is showing as the delivery date.. so cross yer fingers, touch some wood and hope for the best

[cross 1]

buy online and download here...then burn to a dvd..

http://www.sprocketidea.com/

[whisper 0]

Going with big publishers means following their rules for game content, rules that apparently do not fit BI's view of the game.

They said they already tried many big publishers, who all weren't interested, probably by some aspect they feel was not appealing enough to their customers target.

Which means, that having a global, all correct and marketed release would be having a different game

Imho, said different game will be OFP:DR. We'll see in the end who gets the best product.

[SnR 1]

I don't want to have to play on EU servers with a 200-300 ping the whole time. .

You need to look at your own Door Step HERE

None of the major retailers (in AU at least) are stocking the game, nor even know about it...

Almost true discuss with us HERE

[hoak 0]

buy online and download here...then burn to a dvd..

http://www.sprocketidea.com/

Hmm...

Our games are protected by Softwrap on-line protection system and Softwrap also handles the payment gateway and credit card...

The game is then bound to your current hardware configuration. As long as your system does not change, the game doesn't have to connect to the license server to verify the installation (and therefore you don't have to be online). Should your hardware configuration change significantly you will be prompted for your serial number. The game than verifies the number is valid and runs normally.

So if you upgrade your video card your're SOL and your license is void? It also doesn't offer how many activations you're limited to but there is a limit per the SoftWrap site -- many had to reinstall ArmA multiple times with the release of patches, and add to that and the patches for the Idea distro were often out of sync with other versions of ArmA...

You'd think they'd want to make these things abundantly and explicitly clear up-front for the prospective Customer to avoid confusion and disappontment...

:(

Edited May 19, 2009 by Hoak

[vshadow 0]

The big publisher’s main problem is probably the civilians walking around, and the fact they can be shot as well.:eek:

For some reason big publishers seem to not like having the true feeling and facts of war (civilians are involved and do get killed) and prefer to pretend they are not there and been evacuated to a nice island somewhere in made up land while the solders fight it out. :j:

The same could probably be said for films etc.

[craig3000 10]

lol, don't put words in my mouth, I just think it's a little.... under advertised....

I agree, I would have missed this game totally if I didn't accidentally stumble across it

And yeah you know its nice to have a community and not too many casual players people from halo and the likes and advertising does cost money but so does making a game and if they don't get enough people buying the game they won't make much money and we may lack people/servers to play with/on

But I'm not too concerned there's plenty of people on the forums!

[Commando84 0]

The big publisher’s main problem is probably the civilians walking around, and the fact they can be shot as well.:eek:

For some reason big publishers seem to not like having the true feeling and facts of war (civilians are involved and do get killed) and prefer to pretend they are not there and been evacuated to a nice island somewhere in made up land while the solders fight it out. :j:

The same could probably be said for films etc.

I dunno in some movies there are civilians and some not, its just that Older people like old politiicans ect. think all games are only for 8 year old kids :P

Games as a medium has much more possibilities than movies imo to portray a message in different ways than a movie.

[aus_twisted 0]

The big publisher’s main problem is probably the civilians walking around, and the fact they can be shot as well.:eek:

For some reason big publishers seem to not like having the true feeling and facts of war (civilians are involved and do get killed) and prefer to pretend they are not there and been evacuated to a nice island somewhere in made up land while the solders fight it out. :j:

The same could probably be said for films etc.

You obviously haven't played Grand Theft Auto

[Landstalker 10]

Whilst there is not many sites and Hype games like this allways thrive from 1. people buying the product and showing theres a decent FPS fan base going on and 2. from its forum community i would like to get a website up and running with my server in due time if the game speaks louder than words then over the next few months we will see loads of gaming sites popping up and clan sites, i agree its slow i have a feeling since battlefield 2 degraded people have been searching for a real decent FPS and to have had there game out before operation flashpoint 2 - and battlefield 3 - in itself is the best strategy one could have :) - thus is only my opinoin.

i wish them all the best.

[vshadow 0]

You obviously haven't played Grand Theft Auto

You make a good point but that is criminals, who are civilians, and not solders that are trained and paid to...well kill, and in a political view you don’t really want to show your armed force killing unarmed people as that is just going to the level of criminals in GTA.

Also GTA dose get a lot of publicity because of the amount of violence on that front, a remembered being lectured about it by some person in a shop once about how the game is “evilâ€.

Also Arma 2 is a “realistic†militarily sim while GTA is a work of fiction.

[W0lle 1048]

One thread renamed and the other merged with it.

Why you need to create a couple of threads about one and the same thing? Please use existing threads instead.