BIS, hire a marketing firm.

[wolf[173rd] 10]

For the sake of ArmA: OA. If you don't the only people bound to really play it are the ones that are still playing ArmA 2 now which isn't a lot, mind you.

It may cost a lot but, people are looking for a realistic game. A break from MW2, and so forth. Just my suggestion.

[Rommel 2]

They are a business, they are about making money, they would have analyzed their best approach within their capabilities many more hours than you have considered writing this post.

They have also released 6 prequels to this game (incl. OFP/ArmA expansions), so I'm sure they understand the importance of marketing.

If they don't, well, they have the community :D.

[Flash Thunder 10]

Not to get into any stereotypes because alot of them are just Bullhucky but from my experience Modern warfare 2 players arnt very bright, take my step brother for an example, hes not very bright and can only understand simple things like how to run around like a headless chicken and shoot a gun with zero sway or recoil.

Or it could be that they dont own a good computer or they just dont know this franchise exists, it was both for me less than a year ago.

[Takko 10]

BIS has a markateing firm, e.g. Morphicon for Germany, 505 Games for UK etc.

[SaBrE_UK 0]

Indeed, they're just not all that loaded in terms of money. I'm pretty sure BIS made profits from Arma2.

[jw custom 56]

take my step brother for an example, hes not very bright and can only understand simple things...

lol :D

[Serclaes 0]

BIS has a markateing firm, e.g. Morphicon for Germany, 505 Games for UK etc.

Made my day. If I'm correct with my assumption that Morphicon pushed the release (active or passive) they rather did marketing against Armed Assault and all its sequels.

[niall0 10]

Well, 505 Games are very poor at advertising games if they do that side of things. All I have ever seen advertising there games is an Il Sturmovick (Sp?) and Armored Core 4 banner on Gamespot.

But, OP I get where you are coming from, I only heard of Arma 2 through word of mouth from someone telling me the size of the battles they did on Armed Assault.

[STALKERGB 6]

To be honest, I think the "game that cannot be named" helped market ARMA2 lol!

Realistically BIS probably cannot afford a large marketing campaign, it just costs too much, the backside of a magazine front cover can cost £20,000 so I think they just prefer using games reviews and so on...

[Arma-2-Guru 55]

You guys can count on me to promote this game to the max. I got loads of friends to buy ArmA II and will do for OA, peace.

[ryguy 10]

Just because you don't see ads in your favorite magazine or on TV doesn't mean there isn't any marketing. International ad campaigns can be incredibly expensive and only affordable for large companies like infinity ward etc.

[wolf[173rd] 10]

Just because you don't see ads in your favorite magazine or on TV doesn't mean there isn't any marketing. International ad campaigns can be incredibly expensive and only affordable for large companies like infinity ward etc.

As a student studying marketing, that really made no sense. Marketing is supposed to catch the consumers eye in the most "light" possible. The fact is, IF they want a larger profit, they need to expand their practices. I would have never known about ArmA II if it wasn't for the online banner ads. However, that only reaches a specific consumer base. All I am saying is try a commercial on G4TV around the hours of AOTS. See if that doesn't get you at least 5,000 consumers.

[ryguy 10]

What about it made no sense? Having national ads costs a lot of money, I'm saying BIS might not be able to afford it.

[celery 8]

Operation Flashpoint was a rather huge hit considering its genre because Codemasters advertised it. The present state is easy to see in the amount of people who loved OFP but haven't even heard about Arma 2. My father and uncle are exactly that type, and many others might know about Arma 2 but don't think it's worth the time because it's a low profile release and the bugginess at release has stuck to the game's reputation.

[bravo 6 0]

Sooner or later the credits and popularity will prevail. Its just a matter or time.

Time will come! ;)

[wolf[173rd] 10]

What about it made no sense? Having national ads costs a lot of money, I'm saying BIS might not be able to afford it.

I apologize. Some people are really arrogant and claim to know more than they really actually know. I read it wrong.

Operation Flashpoint was a rather huge hit considering its genre because Codemasters advertised it. The present state is easy to see in the amount of people who loved OFP but haven't even heard about Arma 2. My father and uncle are exactly that type, and many others might know about Arma 2 but don't think it's worth the time because it's a low profile release and the bugginess at release has stuck to the game's reputation.

Good point. However, expansion packs are deemed to always be better than release with bugs since they've released the 'original' version as a 'test', so to speak.

Sooner or later the credits and popularity will prevail. Its just a matter or time.

Time will come! ;)

I hope so.

[TechnoTerrorist303 10]

I've seen how much BIS charge for VBS, I can't imagine them being short of cash to the point where they can't advertise. Think about it though, if OA suddenly had a massive amount of interest from the "casual" gaming community the word of mouth effect would create a negative result as the vast majority of idiots would get frustrated with the gameplay.

I have played missions where there has been two hours of movement and positioning followed by five minutes of mad firefight and then died after being hit once. I can't see the cod/mw2 crowd enjoying that much can you?

[R0adki11 3945]

I can't see the cod/mw2 crowd enjoying that much can you?

Probably cos most of that crowd are 13 year olds and don't understand the true value of a proper war sim.

At the end of the day its BIS decision how they market the game.

[Richey79 10]

With more advertising, Bis could sell more copies of OA, especially if they really pushed the 'Afghanistan' setting. They could make some videos with jump cuts every two seconds, Holywood blockbuster music and soldiers shouting 'good kill, good kill!' over FLIR footage of an Apache gunner's camera. They'll already be picking up plenty of impulse buys in America with the cover their publishers over there have chosen.

Thing is, if they were to market the game like that, be prepared for a flood of people coming onto this forum to complain about how bad the game is. 'The AI is rubbish'. 'My PC won't run it'. 'Where's the kill-cam? I never know who shot me.' Bis won't sell another game to these people in the next 5 years.

Do Bis really want to sell copies of the game to people who aren't going to like it when they have it?

Whereas they could go on selling copies through word of mouth: Arma 2 players recommending it to friends who like tactical coop, JCove lite must have generated some interest, those who are pulled over from other games by the PR mod. Reviews may well be better this time round, since the engine is much more polished and there are a few more fans of the game in the media. More people know now that Bis' games routinely offer features that PC games have been robbed of by most developers for some time now.

Sounds like a better basis for expanding user-base to me.

[wamingo 1]

Traditional advertisement isn't cheap.

And I suspect arma may need an honest marketing strategy - since hype-style advertising has a way with kicking you right back if it's not a product that absolutely everyone wants.

I suspect they'd probably be better off making a "make a youtube video" community contest, as user made content is typically more honest.

[AL_ 10]

I think, that the cheapest (free) way how to make some serious attention could be making an ARMA group (including newest info, links, pics and so on) on facebook :) you know, people like clicking on "I like this", these things spread quickly..

[Zipper5 74]

Already exists. ;)

[AL_ 10]

Ah, I see...I'm always "a little behind" :)

[-SONAF-Rebel 10]

Or at least they should give one free Arma2 for each MW2 that is going to be sold :D :D

[jtec 0]

How about some of us creating some bad press for our local press to eat up!

E.g

A 32 year old from Northamptonshire was recently arrested for forgetting to feed his gerbal "Harry" after spending several days "hooked" playing Arma 2: Operation arrowhead. Police were notified when a neighbour complained of a rotten smell of Lettuce and carrots with a hint of desert rat coming from where Mr Jeff pinnock resides. Mr pinnock was seen being dragged off by police at about 1.30pm kicking and screaming "oh no, one is down"

A police spokesperson confirmed the arrest of the 32 year old, commenting that Mr Pinnock had trekked 30 miles by foot because a noob had crashed a helicopter into a tree. This caused him to forget what time /day it was hence his inabllity to feed harry..... blah blah blah.....:j: