North America Release / Publisher

[hoak 0]

I'm wondering if BI will comment on this, because if they don't have a true release here in the US, I'm probably not going to be able to convince my normal group of internet and Real World buddies to go out and actually buy the game. I was talking with some of my Arma coop regulars today and they all basically said "Welp, we'll just pirate it then." and I just turned my nose up to that, I wanna support BI, but they sure are making it difficult.

It's not just that, it's a confluence of market forces that any experienced marketing professional can should be beating BI's decision makers over the head with:

· timing

· accessibility

· exhaustion of marketing resources

· over exposure

· interest

· impulse consumption

· piracy

All contribute to how well a game will perform before sell-through, after that it's slow burn sales that will take years to equal what can be accomplished in just the first two months of with a well managed release...

Moreover a significant volume of sales will be lost forever as well as the highest opportunity margins, hard-clipping the revenue potential of ArmA II...

I'm personally only mildly annoyed at the inconvenience, but BI's apparent last minute lurch to market and publish, a second time around, looks like a shocking repeat that's bound to grossly under perform.

I hope BI is able to connect with someone that understands and can explain the market in 'our part of the world' that they can trust, that also has the business and marketing knowledge and savvy to do them a good turn.

:eek:

Edited May 26, 2009 by Hoak

[NKato 0]

They should've been well aware that the NA audience is their largest subsection here, regardless of the current trends of ArmA users being the majority in the UK and Europe. The most money comes from America, not Europe. Had they kept this in mind and properly timed and prepared a release schedule for the US, I am pretty sure they would have been able to rake in more money.

Disappointing, Bohemia, very very very disappointing. To the point where I would call all folks calling the shots there a bloody idiot.

-NK

[hoak 0]

That's pretty harsh; BI are obviously brilliant, very hard working Developers -- and the fact that they're afloat in an undervalued genre shows they're definitely not 'idiots'. It is however dificult to feature the BI principles are John Carmack, Mark Rein, or Gabe Newell rich working in one vertical market as they do (with only a few sub-project/services).

To some extent I think it's a good thing that BI are still hungry as the gaming marketplace demonstrates (like so many others) over and over, that getting fat and rich typically ends up in laziness turning out 'product' that's little more then abject dreck rather then a labor of love.

On the other hand it would be terrible to see BI starve, as some of the rumors around the release of ArmA were implying -- and see my favorite genre tank with them; I think they're just being ridiculously cautions and/or paranoid about who they let manage/resell their 'baby'.

:butbut:

Edited May 26, 2009 by Hoak

[That guy 10]

NKato:

Do you really believe that BIS are a bunch of bumbling fools? Do you think that they do not realize how important the US market is? Do you think that they (BIS, IDEA, and maybe those NA PR guys whoever the hell they are) have not made the effort to get a publishing deal through? Do you ACTUALLY believe that BIS has some sinister plot to keep the game out of the US though any means necessary?

Of course not!

Quite obviously something has gone wrong, and no company for what ever reason is not taking the game up, yet.

If I were in BIS I would be pulling my hair out over this problem, and I am sure whose ever responsibility (be they BIS or IDEA) it is, is doing just that.

[icfhoop 0]

I agree with That Guy, I don't believe its something on BIS' part, but in all honesty, is it maybe because the American gaming industry revolves around the consoles, not saying that there aren't PC gamers left in America (obviously), but it may be because ArmA II is a PC game first and foremost and not on the PS3, or XboX 360? Maybe i don't know, i may be jumping the gun but i don't believe it is BI's fault.

[twisted 128]

i'd really like to see BIS succeed big time. hopefully they get things in order in selling to all markets.

I'd also like to see arma2 in my hands asap. :) so that goes 2x as much.

[hoak 0]

It's difficult to feature what's going on, but what is -- is very odd; like interacting with the Gamers via Twitter and FaceBook; this may be where Gamers go in Europe to 'hang out' and talk about gaming, but not in North America.

If this is the sort of marketing direction Clever Communications is giving BI, it's certainly not clever, it's not even a prudent Guerrilla diversified marketing, and it's not helping...

Saying the North American, or just U.S. marketplace revolves around consoles is not accurate; all the marketing statistics geared to proffer that supposition don't count digital distribution, and are selling an agenda (black-box DRM).

I would conceded that we have one of the most saturated and complicated markets that's bound to confound a more rational European mind -- but we're far from inaccessible.

BI would probably fare better if they fire their PR bunnies, and contract publish for themselves. The Gold Book lists tens of thousands of contract publishers like LuLu, that are non-exclusive, and would allow BI to do low cost limited runs to test the water.

As a safe hedge they could contract publish a 'Universal English World Edition' that would give them an 'inny' to other markets not currently in the localization plan like Asia -- as contract publishers like LuLu ship world-wide, inexpensively and are very fast.

BI would have no problem quickly selling any size run they could afford, and it would go a long way to quickly building and sustaining sales momentum and the on-line presence needed to capitalize on North America and other markets before the title reaches sell-through.

:butbut:

Edited May 26, 2009 by Hoak

[Jon93 10]

Apparently the game is already in english judging from preview screen shots from EuroGamer.

Picture Link.

good news I guess.

read the full article http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/arma-ii-hands-on

Presentation values are significantly higher, the ArmA engine enjoying some mouth-watering treats to its lighting and draw distance, while the dialogue and story has this time been handled by a native English speaker rather than suffering dodgy translation. There are spots of missing or inaccurate text and this build suffered a couple of lock-ups, but generally, it seems a lot more polished than its predecessors.

Frankly, ArmA II should be forgiven a few minor misfires anyway - it's one of the most ambitious videogames ever made. If the final build gets even close to pulling it off, it deserves a place in history.

I for one, am pumped.

Edited May 26, 2009 by Jon93

[hoak 0]

Yeah I really liked the EuroGamer review!

:D

[icfhoop 0]

So just to be curious and jumpy, does that mean the subtitles are just English, or are the subtitles English while i have a different language playing as the audio? Or is this unknown at the time?

[Bandito 10]

Sounded to me like the localization was being done by an English company- I'd imagine we'll be getting perfectly-translated English audio with matching subtitles. I'm glad to hear they're taking the time to polish up ArmA 2.

The EuroGamer article mentions dodgy translations in the first ArmA, however I didn't really see any glaring faults with the dialogue. I thought it was pretty well-done.

[binkster 0]

Binkey, you might want to start a thread on that as I don't think as many will be leaping for the Czech and German releases this time around -- and I'd bet you'll find it a lot more work then you imagine, but will find many appreciative Early Adopters if you manage...

:)

If its anything like arma1 you can just open up the stringtable in excel and cut and paste all english and move it over the german. Its not that time consuming. Only problem would be severs accepting the pbo modification. If I can remember right I did this in ArmA1 but the cutscenes were not in english.

[hoak 0]

If its anything like arma1 you can just open up the stringtable in excel and cut and paste all english and move it over the german. Its not that time consuming. Only problem would be severs accepting the pbo modification. If I can remember right I did this in ArmA1 but the cutscenes were not in english.

Well, if it's 'not that time consuming' I'm sure SickBoy & The 6th Sense would have really appreciated your contribution -- as it consumed a lot of time for them back when they did it for ArmA. Similarly I'm sure a lot of ArmA II Fans will appreciate the speed with which you'll be able to compete an English localization...

:)

[Maddmatt 1]

Well, if it's 'not that time consuming' I'm sure SickBoy & The 6th Sense would have really appreciated your contribution -- as it consumed a lot of time for them back when they did it for ArmA. Similarly I'm sure a lot of ArmA II Fans will appreciate the speed with which you'll be able to compete an English localization...

:)

The part that took time for them was the campaign and missions, not the rest of the game (UI, radio subtitles).

I don't know if your post is some kind of joke or what. He's right.

The English text for the game (besides campaign and missions) was already there, just needed the simple hack he described to unlock it.

[binkster 0]

Well, if it's 'not that time consuming' I'm sure SickBoy & The 6th Sense would have really appreciated your contribution -- as it consumed a lot of time for them back when they did it for ArmA. Similarly I'm sure a lot of ArmA II Fans will appreciate the speed with which you'll be able to compete an English localization...

:)

What I was talking about cannot be hosted as an addon. I believe what 6th Sense did was have some sort of program to automatically do this for people. I think it would unpbo and write to file then repbo the file automatically. Im sure writing this code would be time consuming. If anyone gets the game and would like to change it to english I would be happy to help.

[hoak 0]

What I was talking about cannot be hosted as an addon. I believe what 6th Sense did was have some sort of program to automatically do this for people. I think it would unpbo and write to file then repbo the file automatically. Im sure writing this code would be time consuming. If anyone gets the game and would like to change it to english I would be happy to help.

Uhm, you should really start a seperate thread about this (before Placibo makes you), it has nothing to do with the topic here -- others that are not modders will appreciate it! The 6th Sense/Sickboy mod was not a hosted addon, it did work on all servers, and it translated everything...

In other news more relevent to this thread *cough*uncough*:

There should be an announcement on NA soon, waiting for some i's to be dotted and t's crossed but I believe it's pretty much sorted.

:yay:

[BOTA:16 0]

Bout time...

[evilnate 0]

Does anyone know if there is a way to download the german version everyone is playing?

[Placebo 29]

Does anyone know if there is a way to download the german version everyone is playing?

Morphicon/Peter Games will supposedly have a digital distribution of the German version, but no idea when it'll be available, can only suggest contacting them.

Sprocket will have a digital distribution of the EU version around the time of the EU release (according to the information I received today).

[evilnate 0]

Morphicon/Peter Games will supposedly have a digital distribution of the German version, but no idea when it'll be available, can only suggest contacting them.

Sprocket will have a digital distribution of the EU version around the time of the EU release (according to the information I received today).

Looks like they're working on it, I clicked their download button here and it brought me to a search engine looking for xyz.xyz

Here comes the patience practice.... :(

[SWAT_BigBear 0]

Looks like they're working on it, I clicked their download button here and it brought me to a search engine looking for xyz.xyz

Here comes the patience practice.... :(

lol, I need to put credit card in note pad, ready to pounce.

[jblack9 10]

Placebo,

Great news about Sprocket.

Do they have a definite release date yet? That would be awesome if I could dl the same day EU got it?

Can anyone try and contact Morphicon/Peter Games to see when we can dl it?

[NKato 0]

People have a valid reason to bash me, but I'd prefer that BIS do the research themselves rather than letting their "PR Bunnies" as someone put it, do the work.

I mean, come on. It's not that hard to figure out where the best way is to make a brick-and-mortar deal. It's really frustrating that they still haven't been arsed to consider an "international" release version that would resolve this issue in a big hurry.

[Litos 10]

Good news about Sprocket. Will it be ok for us here in America to download from there? Or should we wait for the NA version... I wonder if the NA version will be any different.

[jblack9 10]

Good news about Sprocket. Will it be ok for us here in America to download from there? Or should we wait for the NA version... I wonder if the NA version will be any different.

I'd say go ahead and sprocket up...I'm gonna try and get the German version on Friday if we can dl from Morphicon.