to developers: how to boost sales
 

If they want this game to sell they need to change the name.

the IL2 Sturmovik may be known in Russia and the Former Soviet Union but that isn't a huge games market- at least not for Xbox 360 or PS3. apart from plane buffs few people know what a Sturmovik was.


If they want to sell this game they need to capitalise on the brand power of the Spitfire in Great Britain and Commonwealth countries such as South Africa, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

In America they need to capitalise on the P51 Mustang .

If they did this I guarantee it would boost sales 10x.

lmao

laugh all you want but having a recognisable name is VITAL in the videogame industry. its called brand awareness.

a good example is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

that is the Sequel to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

Activision originally dropped the Call of Duty part to name it Modern Warfare 2.

But they re-added it a few months later after research said that people did not recognise it as much.

therefore its important that a game has a good name, something recognisable and familiar.

'Spitfire: Birds of Prey'

or

'P51 Mustang : Birds of Prey'

would certainly boost sales.

oh lord, why not
P51: U.S.A! U.S.A! F%$K YEAR!
the game that'll free the livin 5h1t out of teh skies

Urmmm....... your example just disagreed with your original post lol.

"IL-2 Sturmovik" is the series name. Just like "Call of duty". They kept the call of duty name for Modern Warfare 2 because people recognise the name because of the previous games in thar series. The words "Call of duty" are otherwise meaningless to most of the buyers.

If Birds of prey didn't use the "IL-2 Sturmovik" brand name, the many people who have played and enjoyed the IL-2 PC games would have no idea this is by the same people and would just dismiss it as an arcade game.

yes but the IL2 Sturmovik brand is an unknown brand to 99% of gamers. it might be big in the PC flight sim world but not in the console market.

besides Birds of Prey looks like an afterthought if you look at the box of the game. in bright bold lettering the average gamer sees 'IL2 STURMOVIK' and thinks wtf is that? before even noticing Birds of Prey which is tiny.

if the average gamer saw SPITFIRE : Birds of Prey or P51-MUSTANG: Birds of Prey they would be far more inclined to buy it. especially those people from the USA and former British Commonwealth.

Its all about marketing. most people do not know the IL2 brand. more people are familiar with the Spitfire aeroplane and the Mustang.

those hardcore PC flight sim fans who know the Il2 brand would probably be on the look out for any new games made by the same company and since so few flying games get released for consoles I think there wouldnt be any danger of them missing this game.

most PC sim fans are more into PCs than consoles however.

Ok here is a example for you. Halo : Combat Evolved. "Halo? what the hell kinda name is that? Isn't that something angels have above them in stained glass windows? pffff i'm not gonna buy that, I don't care that it has a cool looking future soldier on the front of the box"

For a new (to console) series, Box art is FAR more important for sales than a name. The BoP box art is awesome. And as I said by changing the name you alienate the IL-2 PC gamers who I think may suprise you in their number, it's far higher than 1% of sales thats for sure.

Quite agree - the majority of uneducated (in the franchise, not in general) buyers will just look at the picture on the box rather than the title. If the OP's argument held water, we would see no successful game series because they would all be subject to the chicken/egg paradox. I think the name will only become important if they release another game for consoles in order to capitalise on the success of the first...

P.S: HALO is also an acronym for High-Altitude Low-Opening, but are there even any parachutes in the game...? ;)

ok then naysayers we'll wait and see how popular this game turns out to be. so far it doesnt look good.

CWL has a really good point. The kids that are ripping into him clearly aren't thinking things through.

I work at a major games company, surrounded by people that really know their shit and play pretty much every demo that gets released onto the Xbox marketplace and PSN. Over the past couple of weeks a number of people have asked my what I've been playing and, amongst others, I've been waxing lyrical about the "Il-2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey" demo.

No one on the team has played it.

No one.

Aside from the large number of people that aren't interested in flying games or simulations, the standard response I've received is some variation of "Yeah, I saw that on the Xbox marketplace but thought 'What a weird aircraft to base a game around' and didn't bother downloading it".

When I pointed out that you actually get to fly a whole bunch of much more commonly known aircraft, their interest levels immediately increased. If you take this very small sample of the gaming community and extrapolate outwards, you begin to see the overall effect.

It's easy to cretinously spout gems like "LMAO" or "P51: U.S.A! U.S.A! F%$K YEAR!" or "Oh noes! Yuz gots P-51s in my Il-2s" but takes a little more thought and inquiry to sit back and objectively look at how marketing affects a game's sales.