(Shocking) News!!!!!

[Blueentity]

I am intrigued by the discussion of marketing in this thread. How did I “discover” this game? Back when I had a boring chemical sales job, a weekly search on CNET’s Downloads netted SE 3. Downloaded demo, loved it, sent demo to all family & friends who enjoy that type of game, eventually bought full game. What marketing was that? Most of the games at that time on CNET were garbage, so a few lines of description in that sea of trash was nothing that any marketer to be proud of.

In the “business” I was an “inside sales” contact. Already bought product, and likely to buy again, as are most of us who are fans of SE. I received an email from MM when one of the SEIV demos came out, downloaded gold demo from CNET (again sent to all family & friends who enjoy this type of game). Liked it even better than SE III, bought it and made sure all said family and friends bought a copy of their own to stop sponging off of my copy and to support Mr. Hall. With all due respect, how are those 10 sales a plus for anyone’s marketing department? Inside sales are easy to close.

Now where does marketing come in? After enjoying many hours learning not to right click in SEIV, I read the book that came with the game. The other book-not the manual-the sales one. It was near Christmas and relatives were inquiring what I wanted. Dungeon Odyssey caught my attention. So off to the Shrapnel web page. That’s marketing. Getting someone to buy your product that would not have otherwise. Kudos to whoever designed that book. You got the sale.

I wonder how much cross-over Strategy First is expecting to get from the SE audience, or if their marketing is even considering it.

[Captain Kwok]

Based on Brad's comments, many of his feelings on why his game did well should be consistent with SE:V when it's released, so perhaps SE:V will do well regardless of who publishes it.

[Spoo]

Captain Kwok said:
Based on Brad's comments, many of his feelings on why his game did well should be consistent with SE:V when it's released, so perhaps SE:V will do well regardless of who publishes it.

Yeah, but what if it does well and Malfador still doesn't get any money fron SF? That's what I'm worried about.

[NullAshton]

Spoo said:

Yeah, but what if it does well and Malfador still doesn't get any money fron SF? That's what I'm worried about.

Then we'll sue Strategy First for the money.

[Unknown_Enemy]

NullAshton said:

Then we'll sue Strategy First for the money.

Should have asked Brad about that part. It seems Stardock had its fair (and unfair) part of publishers going out of business. If you believe you'll get a cent from a company going out of business, please tell me the name of the business you're running, I'll make sure you never get a cent from me .

[Puke]

Captain Kwok said:
Based on Brad's comments, many of his feelings on why his game did well should be consistent with SE:V when it's released, so perhaps SE:V will do well regardless of who publishes it.

while it might sell well, it remains to be seen wither MM will be paid. Stardock distributed and collected revenue for its own product online, so the only thing they lost out on because of SF was the retail and mail order sales.

MM does not have their own distribution channel, and has not published downloadables in the past. therefore, they stand to lose a lot more if SF does not come through.

Class action from the creditors could potentially freeze SF's assets, but that isnt really good for anyone. It basically assures you will only get a small fraction of what you are owed, if anything, and then will have to negotiate a new publishing deal with someone else...