My take on Bethesda's marketing strats... : V - Skyrim

» Sat Jul 23, 2011 4:41 pm

snip
I'm not a Rockstar fan but you have to understand that such a small number of data points spread out over years isn't statistically useful. The fact that GTA is so popular and only one of them is in your list makes it not show any trend as well.

» Sat Jul 23, 2011 12:12 pm

An entire community of players would love to disagree with you.

You mean the extremely small Crysis 2 playerbase? An entire community sure, but not a very large one. Crysis 2 is among the least popular modern FPS games around. Fact is more than half of the people who purchased Crysis 2 are no longer playing it on the PC.

» Sat Jul 23, 2011 12:27 pm

snip

But THAT aside, the selfish side of me wants to know what's going on behind the Bethesda curtain. If they don't want to show footage of things that might not work, fine- but I wanna hear what those things are. They should have more "Fan input" on the games. I mean, not all ideas are gold stars, but there's bound to be a few diamonds in the rough. All and all, I just want information. I wanna know what they're adding, what they're taking out. And the only reason that is, is simply so I can develop my character better. I'm a true RPGamer. Information helps me dig deep into my character's life, both past and present.

» Sat Jul 23, 2011 2:15 pm

snipBut THAT aside, the selfish side of me wants to know what's going on behind the Bethesda curtain. If they don't want to show footage of things that might not work, fine- but I wanna hear what those things are. They should have more "Fan input" on the games. I mean, not all ideas are gold stars, but there's bound to be a few diamonds in the rough. All and all, I just want information. I wanna know what they're adding, what they're taking out. And the only reason that is, is simply so I can develop my character better. I'm a true RPGamer. Information helps me dig deep into my character's life, both past and present.

Agreed snip which is simple as you say companys want to make money.Id like to know even just some more of the basics that wont be changed what are all the skills and the screens of the races in the game arent gonna change.

» Sat Jul 23, 2011 5:39 pm

They need a new GTA already

I would prefer a RDR game.

OT: Beths marketing has been pretty good so far. The fact that we are all salivating for more info shows that they are acheiving exactly what they want. Hype and excitement without making loads of false promises and bragging about what their game could be rather than what it will be, like some companies do.

» Sat Jul 23, 2011 8:08 am

I don't come to this forum to discuss gamesas or Zenimax and their marketing, I come here because of BGS, who say they make games they want to play, for people who want to play. Whatever the marketing, and the information feed, are like has no bearing on the final product. So they have a convention, with a lot of games being shown, and ours isn't getting special consideration. Someone out there is desperate for Rage, and doesn't give a damn about Skyrim. Why are we more important?

Oh, and shockingly cheap shot, but no one has said it's Fender's job to market strats, not Bethesda's. :evil:

» Sat Jul 23, 2011 9:56 am

I would prefer a RDR game.

OT: Beths marketing has been pretty good so far. The fact that we are all salivating for more info shows that they are acheiving exactly what they want. Hype and excitement without making loads of false promises and bragging about what their game could be rather than what it will be, like some companies do.

Me 2 im a huge rdr fan very good game.

» Sat Jul 23, 2011 11:34 am

Morrowind = 1.8 million console sales
Oblivion = 5 million console sales
Fallout 3 = 6 million console sales

While Rockstar's marketing fails, Bethesda's keeps getting better.

GTA4 = 17 million console sales
RedDeadRedemption = 8 million console sales
LA Noire = 3 million console sales

Where did you get those stats from? I thought Oblivion only sold around 3.5 million.

» Sat Jul 23, 2011 3:15 am

For those that are hyper-venalating (self included) ...lets take this one to heart, shall we? I look forward to hearing more about the game during the months leading to release in magazines etc.

*side rant...

Here is my take on why they are holding back on showing us more...

Remember when Todd was showing off TES IV's radiant AI in 2006? ...it was not off screen camera phone footage. It was crisp and clean with commentary... available to the public! He showed us AI shooting targets in town to increase their marksmen skill... and a women using silence on her dog because it wouldn't stop barking. All the AI had a schedule to keep, made sure that they we're eating 3 squares a day, growing their own food. A Dev blog even talked about how a player could take all the food of the town and hide it in a room somewhere, and the town will go to the room for food

Then they dumbed down the radiant AI to do none of the aforementioned, because the un-governed AI's daily agenda would screw up the main quest in some way. If anybody could shed my light on that, thank you... but that's the most details I remember.

SO... Bethesda is playing it safe. They don't want to show you too much, then dissapoint you later when they have to remove features that broke the game. It's possible that they may take away stuff we have already seen! Wouldn't be surprised if the whole 'drop item, AI returns it to you / fights over it' thing was taken out... just sounds potentially buggy, but I have faith that if it is included it will work.

It's good practice to not release info/footage untill you are 99% sure what has been shown will work when the game goes gold

tl;dr....pointing out the obvious, I know. Be patient in any case!

Here is my take,...already posted in the Quakecon thread

Everyone wants more info on the big things and it got me thinking that sometimes the smaller things are even more important.

for example its not even confirmed that picking up items (with the physics engine, not pick up and placed in your inventory) remains from oblivion.

Its things like this that would make my purchase secure.

On the PR at bethesda; all I can say is that it seems like they are using too many calculations and assumptions. I even notice Pete and Todd contradict each other at times. For example you have pete saying if you say graphics arent important then you're lying, and that pretty high res graphics attract people. However, Todd says they show the 360 build at demonstrations because it gives us an idea about the average image quality???

The average consumer , if presented with a high res pre rendered screenie running on a high end pc, would be more attracted regardless of what platform they have according to Pete.

On another PR note,....I personally dont need Adam Zessler or that seemingly dimwitted brunette to add "oo thats a big shiny flame" when I'm trying to understand info from the dev. I'd much rather Todd talking directly into a camera with gameplay streaming nonstop. Just sell videos like that to G4.

Seriously, I think one G4 reporter noob actually asked if there would be a "satchel o' dragon souls." Really?? That fails both as humor and a question. I just hope he is slapped for that comment.

Crap like that is another reason why we have little info, its because most companies hire comedians from hollywood as interviewers.

» Sat Jul 23, 2011 2:30 am

Here is my take,...already posted in the Quakecon thread

I agree the small stuff that isnt subject to change we dont even know all that.The basics we just dont know the basics yet.

» Sat Jul 23, 2011 3:48 am

For those that are hyper-venalating (self included) ...lets take this one to heart, shall we? I look forward to hearing more about the game during the months leading to release in magazines etc.

*side rant...

Here is my take on why they are holding back on showing us more...

Remember when Todd was showing off TES IV's radiant AI in 2006? ...it was not off screen camera phone footage. It was crisp and clean with commentary... available to the public! He showed us AI shooting targets in town to increase their marksmen skill... and a women using silence on her dog because it wouldn't stop barking. All the AI had a schedule to keep, made sure that they we're eating 3 squares a day, growing their own food. A Dev blog even talked about how a player could take all the food of the town and hide it in a room somewhere, and the town will go to the room for food

Then they dumbed down the radiant AI to do none of the aforementioned, because the un-governed AI's daily agenda would screw up the main quest in some way. If anybody could shed my light on that, thank you... but that's the most details I remember.

SO... Bethesda is playing it safe. They don't want to show you too much, then dissapoint you later when they have to remove features that broke the game. It's possible that they may take away stuff we have already seen! Wouldn't be surprised if the whole 'drop item, AI returns it to you / fights over it' thing was taken out... just sounds potentially buggy, but I have faith that if it is included it will work.

It's good practice to not release info/footage untill you are 99% sure what has been shown will work when the game goes gold

tl;dr....pointing out the obvious, I know. Be patient in any case!

Agreed, read my mind.

» Sat Jul 23, 2011 1:25 pm

Bunny is gone.

If you want to discuss this matter, stay civil and polite and leave the personal attacks out of your posts. Thanks in advance.

» Sat Jul 23, 2011 12:06 pm

While it's certainly true that they could have problems (again) from showing things that then don't make it into the final game (again), I honestly don't think that's the issue.

I sincerely believe that their concern is not that showing footage would raise expectations beyond what they could then meet, but that showing footage would only manage to make it that much more clear that the game isn't even going to meet existing expectations. I don't think that this is marketing so much as it's damage control.

Pessimistic or not - unpopular or not - that's my sincere opinion.

I think you may overestimate most people's expectations. What the general populace is probably expecting is "Oblivion, but with better graphics and also there are dragons this time."

Also, where were you for Fallout 3? They pretty much did the exact same thing then. And it sold like girl scout cookies in the only part of the city more than 2000 feet away from any public parks and schools.