ANY Clue

[willgamer]

Guys this is a great discussion that was probably a long time coming, but let's keep it all above the belt to maintain its usefulness.

My thoughts:

I believe Matrix is making a best effort to do all the right things, as quickly as possible, to get games out. Rarely will customers (outsiders) grasp the hidden difficulties/messes/expenses in "making sausage", or shipping quality games.

I believe Matrix should charge whatever they need to stay in business and complete in our capitalistic, market driven system.

I congratulate Matrix on moving toward direct download and away from retail.

I would encourage Matrix to charge out each component separately (with discounts for combos); ie. $xx to direct download, $yy for boxed version, $zz for CD only.

I would also encourage Matrix to consider creating more physical components- maps, charts, photos, manuals, reference/research material to sell as part of a "deluxe" edition. This potentially could help keep the price of the direct download only as low as possible.

The goal here is to offer a "bare bones" edition that is as affordable as possible, but offering a lot more to many of us who can afford to indulge our hobby to the max.

Just my $.02s.

Thanks for wonderful games you've created; hoping for many more...

[Hartford688]

ORIGINAL: willgamer


I would also encourage Matrix to consider creating more physical components- maps, charts, photos, manuals, reference/research material to sell as part of a "deluxe" edition. This potentially could help keep the price of the direct download only as low as possible.

The goal here is to offer a "bare bones" edition that is as affordable as possible, but offering a lot more to many of us who can afford to indulge our hobby to the max.

Good idea. I'd like good maps and high quality manual on hard copy. The Cafepress/Kinkos printing does not (I think) work for Europe, and shipping from US on Cafepress WitP maps is brutal. Deluxe sets from your worldwide warehouses (have these been scrapped with DD?) would be great.

[Marc von Martial]

This is all a bit out of hand, no? Every time a launch is announced, everyone wants it out 6 minutes later.

[Marc von Martial]

ORIGINAL: freeboy

Short memory Mark? there was no communication that it would take over a week after origins to get the dd going , and then it was lots of poeple in the witp forum complaining about all the vat stuff , inability to order etc...

Days after origin, get real...
to me that is two days max... and if you knew you had to do all this with DR at once, why was it not set up in advance, all exceipt the actual files...
As a loyal customer your attitude and surprise amaze me, but then again there are those who lean towards funtionality and those that lean towards client/customer service...
I always thought MG was the later, but I guess I was in error and will adjust my expectation in the future.

Well, you might want to grant me my right to vent of too.

Everytime we release a game some people take the "to me that is two days max" for granted. We never have given a streetdate for any of our recent released products. We allways say we expect it in this week on that day. Why? Because you never know what problems might surface, and if it´s only a broken keyboard that prohibit the CEO from typing "Go, green light!" and on top of the because everytime a few people jump up the walls when it is not there the minute "we promised".

I can very well understand that, apart from making games I´m a gamer to. And I also have games on my list I can hardly wait for.


We lean towards customer/client service, I guess there is only few things here that can make you doubt that. And that is exactly why we THIS time want to make sure everything is working as we expect it from Digital River.

It´s real fun to read all the guessing and assuming when you actually know what´s up behind the curtain.

[freeboy]

Marc,
Maybe if you read everything I wrote.. hum.. it is somewhat scattered over several posts.. my bitch isn't with you, mg or even this decision..
It is with the level of communication.. I would have prefered to have a notice on Monday like;"we are looking at later in the week for the Bin release" I do not care what the reasones are frankly... and I do not mean to troll this to death[:-][:-]

So,
take my comments for what they are, I am dissappointed mildly at the choice to do all these item in one group, instead of getting the dd oput the door. I am very dissappointed at the level of communication.

[Erik Rutins]

Freeboy,

ORIGINAL: freeboy
It is with the level of communication.. I would have prefered to have a notice on Monday like;"we are looking at later in the week for the Bin release" I do not care what the reasones are frankly... and I do not mean to troll this to death[:-][:-]
take my comments for what they are, I am dissappointed mildly at the choice to do all these item in one group, instead of getting the dd oput the door. I am very dissappointed at the level of communication.

Did you notice the press release posted on the front page and in the announcements forum? From the first paragraph:

Matrix Games and Strategic Studies Group (www.ssg.com.au) are pleased to announce that Battles In Normandy™ has officially “Gone Gold” and is due for worldwide release the week of September 13th. Interested wargamers will be able to purchase Battles In Normandy directly through the Matrix Games online store at www.matrixgames.com.

Regards,

-Erik

[Erik Rutins]

The time estimate was Eastern, but it remains an estimate. Still working to move this ahead as quickly as possible to completion. A few key areas were given the green light today, but one major function still needs to be finalized and checked.

Regards,

- Erik

[Marc von Martial]

ORIGINAL: freeboy

Marc,
Maybe if you read everything I wrote.. hum.. it is somewhat scattered over several posts.. my bitch isn't with you, mg or even this decision..
It is with the level of communication.. I would have prefered to have a notice on Monday like;"we are looking at later in the week for the Bin release" I do not care what the reasones are frankly... and I do not mean to troll this to death[:-][:-]

So,
take my comments for what they are, I am dissappointed mildly at the choice to do all these item in one group, instead of getting the dd oput the door. I am very dissappointed at the level of communication.

I can send it you via PM next time.

You would not have to be dissapointed if you would read our press releases (aka notifications) in this forums and on our main website. I do not know what you read into " the week of September 13th" but for me it´s a margin that includes Sept. 13th - 18th , if you take a normal work week.

[2gaulle]

You would not have to be dissapointed if you would read our press releases (aka notifications) in this forums and on our main website. I do not know what you read into " the week of September 13th" but for me it´s a margin that includes Sept. 13th - 18th , if you take a normal work week.

like for price, you are always on border. Fridays 5PM is realy the limit. Freeboy is true your communication are not very good.
don't know why but I could buy your product but less what you write.

By the way, remember also than on run5 forum specialy the realease of BIN is a "question of days" since at least July....

[Fred98]

I think Matrix is under the impression, that those who want to order the CD/box, want the box mailed the day the order is placed.

Some of us are happy, when we pay for the download AND simultaneously order the box, for the box to arrive many weeks later.

-

[trcanberra]

Hi Guys

Thanks for all of the extra information, and I'm sure there will be a lot of very happy gamers when this is finally released (problem-free [;)] ).

I have bought Final Fantasy XI while I have been waiting (and playing some more WitP) so a few more days will not matter now. I have been buying SSG games since my Commodore 64 days so probably been a bit more impatient than I might have otherwise (hope they remake their War in Russia game next).

Cheers

[Erik Rutins]

2gaulle,

ORIGINAL: 2gaulle
like for price, you are always on border. Fridays 5PM is realy the limit. Freeboy is true your communication are not very good. don't know why but I could buy your product but less what you write.

There are some things that are entirely within our control and other things that aren't. We said the "week of" because we've become wiser in expecting these last minute issues. As I've said before, our goal is to release this week and we're working to make sure that happens.

By the way, remember also than on run5 forum specialy the realease of BIN is a "question of days" since at least July....

Well, the gold master was only finished last week, so what you were hearing in July was what they thought was realistic at the time, just as now that it's in our hands you are hearing what we believe to be realistic. Production is less variable in many ways than development, so I hope we will be able to release tomorrow. If not, we'll keep working every day to get it done and ready for sale.

Regards,

- Erik

[Fred98]

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

.....we'll keep working every day to get it done and ready for sale.....

Eric, well done, but don't work over the weekend. It will leave you stale for future projects.

[TheHellPatrol]

ORIGINAL: Joe 98

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

.....we'll keep working every day to get it done and ready for sale.....

Eric, well done, but don't work over the weekend. It will leave you stale for future projects.

True, there is no point! If it's not out by 5PM EST tommorow we'll all turn into pumpkins[:D][;)]

[Marc von Martial]

ORIGINAL: Joe 98

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

.....we'll keep working every day to get it done and ready for sale.....

Eric, well done, but don't work over the weekend. It will leave you stale for future projects.

The game industry is more or less a 24/7 job, has always been so will not be different in the future. Even if you don´t actually sit in front of the screen it affects your daily live.

[Marc von Martial]

ORIGINAL: 2gaulle

You would not have to be dissapointed if you would read our press releases (aka notifications) in this forums and on our main website. I do not know what you read into " the week of September 13th" but for me it´s a margin that includes Sept. 13th - 18th , if you take a normal work week.

like for price, you are always on border. Fridays 5PM is realy the limit. Freeboy is true your communication are not very good.
don't know why but I could buy your product but less what you write.

By the way, remember also than on run5 forum specialy the realease of BIN is a "question of days" since at least July....

Run5, while beeing an excellent community website ( big time), is not an official herald of Matrix Games.

Our press release stated when we expect BIN to be released, I fail to see what is bad communications there.

A price is way easier to set then a release date, best example, Halflife 2 [:'(]

[dosmil78]

I think the obvious and summarized opinion is that many of us DD customers, which is probably most of us, are unhappy with the way BiN has been handled up to this point. Maybe Matrix should take this as it may, and realize next time this won't happen if they have their stuff together.

You know, people wouldn't be complaining if this had been taken care of correctly in the first place.

I am a bit surprised by your attitude in response to the numerous complaints here as well as at the RUN5 forum. I work as management in service, and the way you are dealing with potential customers is rather unbecoming of a business. Do you think that just because you don't work in service that you're customers don't matter?

[Erik Rutins]

dosmil78,

We are communicating honestly the reason for delays and trying to explain what's going on behind the scenes. In our experience, it's better to be up front than to keep things hidden. This is not an issue where we made a decision this Monday and said "we could release it now but let's just hold on" - the store changes have been a long time coming and both we and SSG want them in place for Battles in Normandy. It's also not easy to just ditch some of the changes and go with a subset, we have our online store folks working on it as one project. It should make the release better and smoother for everyone.

In what way has our conduct been unbecoming?

Regards,

- Erik

[Toby42]

As I stated earlier, I am on the fence about purchasing BIN. That is because of the price only. The release date has nothing to do with it. I firmly believe that Matrix and SSG want this product on the streets as fast as possible. The delays are not because of them being mean. it is because they want all the I's dotted and T's crossed before it's "Showtime". I can appreciate that with these guys. The popular thing to do, would to get it out the door, run it up the flagpole and see how it flies.

Give them a break... These guys are playing it straight and not being rushed into a bad decision regardless of the pressure from us.

[Marc von Martial]

are unhappy with the way BiN has been handled up to this point. Maybe Matrix should take this as it may, and realize next time this won't happen if they have their stuff together.

I really would like to know what´s makes people unhappy the way BIN has been handled. SSG has been here and on Run5 to answer questions regarding the game, it´s development and pricing. Matrix has been here to answer the same questions. I think we and SSG have been very honest about almost everything regarding this release. We make sure that the release goes smooth with upgraded features (requested by you customers) in our webstore. The store changes and the release of BIN are "unfortunatly" in the same time frame. For obvious reasons we simply cannot say release now and upgrade store later or the other way around. It HAS to be done in one batch. Contrary to popular believe the "delay" (that actually isn´t one) is not because of some boxart or stuff like that. Just so you know, Steve Ford and me finished the boxart like 6 - 8 weeks ago.

I really fail to see where we have been unhonest or were some customers get the impression from the we dont´t have "our stuff together". I´m almost feeling like Gabe Newell after this thread [;)]

Maybe for the next release we will invite an independet observer and notary selected by popular vote ..... [;)]

I´m typing this at 0400am on a friday morning in Germany after a 20 hours workday, that maybe rings a bell.