When are you gonna do promotion?

[Baleur]

Honestly. We all know this game is incredible all the way down to the bone, each expansion adds a silly amount of content and gameplay depth.
We all know how deeply we enjoy the metagameplay and the grand strategy that is involved, not to mention the seemingly living universe teeming with activity, unlike anything previously seen in any other 4x space strategy game.

All of us here, already here. Nobody else knows.
Nobody knows about this game, outside of this forum. Nobody.

I heard of it by a total accident right before release, a total accident. I just happened to search for some OTHER space 4x game that i forgot the name of (it was Space Empires V, god help me) on youtube and just HAPPENED to stumble upon a reclusive video from a user that had 31 views and was buried on the 4'th search page.



I love this game. I think it is on par, even surpassing, with Galciv 2, SoTS prime and Master of Orion. No joke.
This is the Europa Universalis of the space genre. And i can not believe why NOTHING is being done to even make the existance of all these years of hard work known. Come on, devs. You spent all this hard work on this game, love-crafted hours after hours, yet not a single shred of effort was put into getting the word out?

Still to this day, with a new expansion on the way, i never see or hear ANYTHING about this game, ANYWHERE.
If i did not already know about it, there'd be no way for me to ever find out about it. Regardless how much i love this very genre.

Do you not like money? Do you not want to make an even more incredible sequel at some point in the future? Do you not want the possibility to have a higher budget for the future?
Because i've been playing games for 20 years, especially strategy games, and i can guarantee you that this game would sell on par with many other popular indie titles, IF SOMETHING WAS DONE TO GET PEOPLE TO EVEN KNOW IT EXISTS! [&o]


I want this series to prosper, i know it already does well, we see the expansions as proof of that.
But why not be more ambitious? Don't you want more sales of an already amazing game? [&:]

1. Put up some bloody videos on youtube about it. It doesn't have to be anything special, just a video of someone knowledgeable about the game, explaining it and showing it off. Ask someone 'famous' to do a video on it. Ask TotalBiscuit (he does gazzillions of indie games, many of them utter crap, i'm sure he'd be glad to do a video on a GOOD game for once, as he's known for wanting to promote quality). Just do SOMETHING, for gods sake man..
2. Invest something in ads on youtube, facebook, whatever. It doesn't have to cost much, for a few dollars a week you can get hundreds of new visitors ("clicks" as it's called, especially via facebook ads) per week. Hundreds of people that bothered clicking because they are interested in a 4x space game. Hundreds of potential customers. I've done this before, advertisement works, that's why everyone else is doing it.
3. Put out some more regular news about it, devblogs or sneak peeks of, ANYTHING. Offer to do interviews where you have the chance of a big audience (i'm sorry, reclusive ultra-core strategy websites with 30 hits a week does not qualify as a big audience), again with someone such as TotalBiscuit who has hundreds of thousands of views on each video.

All in all, why don't the devs do something, anything, to get the word out?
No, it is NOT a special niche genre. People who play Battlefield, Planetside and racing games also play 4x games. We're all gamers, many of us enjoy a wide variety of games. It is absolute folly to restrict your potential market to extremely limited audiences that visit specific strategy-only websites when there's millions of potential customers out there.

Heck, i didn't even know about Matrix Games or any of the other strategy games on that website/store/forums AT ALL until i accidentally stumbled upon this specific game. And i've been playing and loving strategy games for all my life. Crusader Kings, Hearts of Iron, Victoria, Europa Universalis, Total War, Galciv, Space Empires. You name it.

Point is, i'm a strategy game buff, and i never had any clue about this game nor the websites this game appears on.
I'm certain there are many many many more out there like me.
Why don't you like sales?


Put this game on steam, apply it for the Greenlight program.
Guaranteed sales.
If i was sitting on a gem like this, i'd do everything to promote it. You don't even need money for this these days. Internet!

[ASHBERY76]

This again.

Matrix like to eat all the pie even if it stays small..

End.

[Darkspire]

I'll get the popcorn before Kayoz turns up and it gets locked [:D]

Darkspire

[Kayoz]

ORIGINAL: Darkspire

I'll get the popcorn before Kayoz turns up and it gets locked [:D]

Darkspire

Hrmm? Why would it get locked?

I've quite consistently advocated Matrix being more aggressive with their marketing. But I am not privy to Matrix's business plans or customer demographics, so I don't belabor the point.

There's little ROI for mass advertising of a 4X game. The appeal of DW is quite limited when compared to Halo or such spunkgargleweewee games.

ORIGINAL: Baleur
Put this game on steam, apply it for the Greenlight program.
Guaranteed sales.

See this thread - not good for business.

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins
...we have explored other distribution options and that does include Steam (not just for this game but for other games as well). It's not the slam dunk for DW that it may appear to be at first glance...

[Cruis.In]

doesnt need marketing

with how many people like t his, the marketing is viral

what it needs is a demo. a timed demo. they said they dont want to do a demo because DW wouldnt be cool experienced in a feature crippled demo. so do a timed one i say.

that and the price for a 3 yr indie strategy game with low production values ( i.e graphics/sound etc etc) keep the potential buyers away.

no one in their right mind is paying near 100 bucks for something they cannot demo.

It no longer becomes about how good the game could possibly be. Unless they offer a 7 day money back guarantee if you dont like it.

I love DW. great gameplay, but it should never be at its current price. If I were the NZ team I'd take it back from Matrix games and go on my own. Kick start a budget for the expansion.

[Kayoz]

ORIGINAL: Cruis.In

doesnt need marketing

<snip>

what it needs is a demo.

Wouldn't you say that a demo is a marketing tool?

[Bingeling]

What I from myself, is that a game needs to be special for me to pay the 50+ euro full price. I rather wait a bit and play "years behind the curve". I just completed Portal 1 and 2 .

Of course, some games are special.

With the current 35% sale, the prices are not _that_ bad, though. If you already know the game is good, at least. But how can you possibly know that without testing it? A quick vanilla DW test gets into my "cheap enough" range, as long as I got a good reason to try it. But the latest game is a better demo candidate, anyways.

[springel]

I learned about this game from a discussion in the Paradox forum.

That made me buy it.

[Cruis.In]

i am crazy, i never bought a game without trying it before.

i just feel they are shooting themselves in the foot and i want them to have better success.

cuz i think that'll get me more distant worlds faster and probably upgrade in graphics/sound production

im willing to bet the game has sold about 15k copies.

[DevildogFF]

I have to wonder why they're not on Steam, either. Compile the expansions, call it simply Distant Worlds (no subtitles, just DW. This is how the game should have been to begin with), and release it on Steam for $50. Then watch how the world catches on to this amazing game.

I can guarantee you that 200k sales at $50 is better than 20k at $100. I'm not even good at math

[Darkspire]

Thats it im off for the popcorn this could get messy ... [:D]

Darkspire

[Baleur]

Why would it get messy?
I'm just baffled at why developers & publishers that are sitting on a 4x gem that is right up there with galciv, don't bother promoting it what so ever, even free promotion that doesn't cost any money.

It's the most curious thing i've ever seen when it comes to games.
Even a small indie 1-man dev team has more exposure and word out there than this game has.
Just look at Starbound, Starfarer, Terraria, Minecraft, Dwarf Fortress, Towns, Don't Starve, Kerbal Space Program...
Or some with actual publishers as well, such as Crusader Kings, Hearts of Iron, Warlock, Europa Universalis.

Why are these publishers (i won't blame the devs for this, i apologize) so utterly incompetent when it comes to promotion?
It's NOT a tiny genre, it is a huge genre with a massive customer base out there, just look at the games mentioned above.
It just seems to me that DW would be far better off with more ambitious marketing and word of mouth. Why does this weird idea exist that this game is somehow limited to a tiny niche market and really wouldn't sell well at all?

It would. The problem is that nobody knows it even exists.. It's like they gave up before even trying anything.
Heck more people know about Space Empires V and Armada 2526 than this game.. Doesn't that say everything?

[Kayoz]

ORIGINAL: DevildogFF

I have to wonder why they're not on Steam

*facepalm* You saw the thread linked above, right? Right?

You seem to think you know the biz better than Erik and company - I suggest you polish up your CV and send it into Matrix. Clearly their business is doomed without your Midas-like business acumen. I await Matrix's announcement of your appointment with bated breath.

Darkspire put you up to this, didn't he?

[Cauldyth]

ORIGINAL: Baleur
Why would it get messy?

Because the topic of releasing on Steam has come up about 15 times already, and each time the thread has gotten rather contentious.

[Kayoz]

ORIGINAL: Cauldyth

ORIGINAL: Baleur
Why would it get messy?

Because the topic of releasing on Steam has come up about 15 times already, and each time the thread has gotten rather contentious.

Mind you, there's a certain amount of amusement to be had watching the so-called business experts display a complete failure to understand the difference between complex business concepts such as "sales" and "profit".

Matrix has already had discussions with Steam. It's not good for them, and they didn't sign on the dotted line. Unless you have information not available to Erik and company - the discussion is pretty much dead.

[Vasquez]

In Germany went a Distant Worlds Gold Edition retail I guess the sales here (Distant Worlds was avaiable in Retail Shops like Amazon since 1,5 Years) are better than in the rest of the world ;p

[Darkspire]

ORIGINAL: Kayoz

ORIGINAL: DevildogFF

I have to wonder why they're not on Steam

*facepalm* You saw the thread linked above, right? Right?

You seem to think you know the biz better than Erik and company - I suggest you polish up your CV and send it into Matrix. Clearly their business is doomed without your Midas-like business acumen. I await Matrix's announcement of your appointment with bated breath.

Darkspire put you up to this, didn't he?

Not guilty, honest I just know what your like when one of these posts comes up with these folks who dare question the validity of the MMM (Matrix Marketing Masterplan) [:D]

ORIGINAL: Vasquez

In Germany went a Distant Worlds Gold Edition retail I guess the sales here (Distant Worlds was avaiable in Retail Shops like Amazon since 1,5 Years) are better than in the rest of the world ;p

Well if this is anything to go by, got from Amazon a few months ago, how much???? [:D]



Darkspire

[DevildogFF]

ORIGINAL: Kayoz

ORIGINAL: DevildogFF

I have to wonder why they're not on Steam

*facepalm* You saw the thread linked above, right? Right?

You seem to think you know the biz better than Erik and company - I suggest you polish up your CV and send it into Matrix. Clearly their business is doomed without your Midas-like business acumen. I await Matrix's announcement of your appointment with bated breath.

Darkspire put you up to this, didn't he?

Wow, how nice of you to respond that way. I didn't say anything about "knowing the business better".

Throwing around some big words and writing articulately doesn't mean you can be rude. Looks like you have quite the history of acting like a douc...a less-than-friendly forum goer, as it would appear on the forum you yourself linked us to.

I'm a big fan of Distant Worlds and just want it to reach the biggest possible audience. So sue me for suggesting something that has (obviously, now) been suggested before.

[Kayoz]

ORIGINAL: Darkspire
Not guilty, honest I just know what your like when one of these posts comes up with these folks who dare question the validity of the MMM (Matrix Marketing Masterplan) [:D]

Questioning it is one thing - it's quite another to present so-called "facts" which, with the most cursory examination, turn out to be nothing more than uninformed conjecture. The endless stream of fan-boys of Steam who claim expertise in the Steam business model - that's irritating.

Though I think you have me confused with someone else. I've been quite critical of Matrix's lack of DW marketing in the past. Steam is not marketing - it's a sales channel.

ORIGINAL: Vasquez
Well if this is anything to go by, got from Amazon a few months ago, how much???? [:D]

Yup, there's some crazy prices on Amazon. It's Amazon marketplace. Anyone can sell stuff on Amazon for whatever price they think they can get for it. I fail to see how that has anything to do with Matrix's marketing - aside from the obvious question of why they aren't doing it themselves (ie: selling on Amazon). Mind you, $23 million might be a bit much to ask...

[Kayoz]

ORIGINAL: DevildogFF
...as it would appear on the forum you yourself linked us to.

Hold on, let's get this straight.

You're telling me that you have read the thread - and still don't understand why Matrix doesn't sell on Steam?

For the record, it's sarcasm - which is slightly different from "rude".