to developers: how to boost sales

[Revvin]

Originally Posted by Cwl

the problem is you are viewing it from a hardcore PC flight sim perspective, so are your buddies.

Well I'm viewing it as a gamer and I see no sense in your renaming idea

Originally Posted by Cwl

this is not a PC game. this is a console game. sales so far aren't very good, there's few people online and the forums over on xbox.com are half empty. not a good sign.

Online is empty because of other issues in the game like people not being credited for kills when a player ditches for example, that really takes away the enthusiasm for getting online, the xbox forums are not as busy as somethign like Halo but the IL-2 community has always been here, the XBOX forums only appeared shortly before the game shipped so the community was already right here where there is plenty of discussion going on.

Originally Posted by Cwl

now obviously this game is out so its too late to change things like the name but the devs & publishers will be considering a sequel and a name change should be the thing to look at.

So....what you're saying is they need a recognisable brand but now you say forget the work gone into making the IL-2 franchise known on the console format, throw all that out and start from scrath for the next game...wow you're a marketing genius!

Originally Posted by Cwl

I'm pretty sure if you conducted some basic research and asked which videogame would you rather buy based on name alone.

Spitfire and Mustang would be far ahead of Sturmovik. with the exception of Russia where the developers come from.

If you want online to be empty then fair enough but I dont.

this is my last post on the topic. ive said all that needs to be said.

If you put 'Mustang' on the front of the box more people are going to buy it thinking its a driving game or stand in the shop looking at the box wondering what the hell the game is suppossed to be. The name 'Mustang' is far more synonomous with the car than the plane. Lets not stop there though lets make them really recognisable for the masses 'Hulk Hogans WWII Royal Rumble in the Skies'? the 'Red Bull Racing WWII Edition'? 'GI Joes Air War'?

[Cwl]

Originally Posted by PantherAttack2

How would anybody know it is the sequel if the name is different?

And... Now you have something more to say.

it doesnt have to be a sequel per se. it could just be a spiritual successor just like how Bioshock is a spiritual successor to the system shock series.

a single games company doesnt just churn out endless sequels, sometimes they have to make a new game. they could do it next time. making it a successor of sorts.

[PantherAttack2]

Originally Posted by Cwl

it doesnt have to be a sequel per se. it could just be a spiritual successor just like how Bioshock is a spiritual successor to the system shock series.

a single games company doesnt just churn out endless sequels, sometimes they have to make a new game. they could do it next time. making it a successor of sorts.

A sequel is a sequel, if you meant 'spiritual successor' then don't say 'sequel', because they are different.

And I never said a game company continues making sequels forever. But I think it would be pointless for them to make another game about aerial combat in WW2 and not name it IL-2 Sturmovik, especially once a fan base was established for that title.

[Cwl]

Originally Posted by Revvin

Well I'm viewing it as a gamer and I see no sense in your renaming idea



Online is empty because of other issues in the game like people not being credited for kills when a player ditches for example, that really takes away the enthusiasm for getting online, the xbox forums are not as busy as somethign like Halo but the IL-2 community has always been here, the XBOX forums only appeared shortly before the game shipped so the community was already right here where there is plenty of discussion going on.



So....what you're saying is they need a recognisable brand but now you say forget the work gone into making the IL-2 franchise known on the console format, throw all that out and start from scrath for the next game...wow you're a marketing genius!



If you put 'Mustang' on the front of the box more people are going to buy it thinking its a driving game or stand in the shop looking at the box wondering what the hell the game is suppossed to be. The name 'Mustang' is far more synonomous with the car than the plane. Lets not stop there though lets make them really recognisable for the masses 'Hulk Hogans WWII Royal Rumble in the Skies'? the 'Red Bull Racing WWII Edition'? 'GI Joes Air War'?

Spitfire / P51 Mustang vs IL2 Sturmovik

which plane is most recognisable?

1. Spitfire
2. Mustang

with Sturmovik coming in a distant last!! however you spin it nobody has ever heard of it outside the ww2 buffs and flight sim experts.

the developers next time round should use what they've got from the IL2 franchise to start a new one. they wouldnt be the first company to do such a thing and create a spiritual successor. heck it could be intended as a sequel just with a different name. its upto the developers.

they being Russians will be fond of their historic aircraft so its up to them. I did think about having multiple box covers. one for say eastern europe and one for Western Europe and one for America but you could just have 2 box covers depending on whether Spitfire or P51 Mustang is more recognisable in the US which is the worlds single biggest games market.

[steellwaters]

My computer is not the best gaming rig so I don't get to play alot of these pc games/....however I spend alot of time scouring the web drooling over all the pc sim games I will own when I can afford the rig(probably after I finish my engineering degree).....with that said I have been routinely disappointed with console flight games....and the tendency for console games to hold your hand and help you beat them reduces sim qualities.......

the ONLY reason I tried this games demo was because I saw IL2 in the title..my jaw dropped and initially I thought maybe they had ported it directly....i loved the sim mode..and bought the game as soon as it came out here(california)...but if it had been called anything else I probably would never have downloaded the demo in the first place....

just my half a cent

[Wissam24]

I'm not a massive history buff, but I love my planes, and I had heard of the Il-2. Don't assume that because you don't know something, no one else does either. That is a very foolish and stupid thing to do, and will get you nowhere in life. DO assume that a proper publishing company, one that has a virtual monopoly of the software industry in Russia, is a lot better at market research than you, a person who is not a company

[Smidlee]

The OP does have a point. I didn't buy IL-2 (PC version) for a long time because of the name. Even after I got the game I didn't care to fly the IL-2 plane.

What could have really boost the sales was to bring the game to the Wii and put Mario in the title. "Mario Plane: Birds of Sunshine"? (j/k)

[Cwl]

Originally Posted by Wissam24

I'm not a massive history buff, but I love my planes, and I had heard of the Il-2. Don't assume that because you don't know something, no one else does either. That is a very foolish and stupid thing to do, and will get you nowhere in life. DO assume that a proper publishing company, one that has a virtual monopoly of the software industry in Russia, is a lot better at market research than you, a person who is not a company

Ive known what the sturmovik was for years before the game came out, im a historian. I just happen to know that most people dont know any names of ww2 planes except spitfire etc

[Revvin]

Originally Posted by Cwl

this is my last post on the topic. ive said all that needs to be said.

That was 3 posts ago, since then you've done nothing but regurgitate the same badly made points.

Originally Posted by Cwl

Spitfire / P51 Mustang vs IL2 Sturmovik

which plane is most recognisable?

1. Spitfire
2. Mustang

with Sturmovik coming in a distant last!! however you spin it nobody has ever heard of it outside the ww2 buffs and flight sim experts.

The vast majority of people attribute the name 'Mustang' to a car which just causes more confusion not to mention the confusion caused by putting a different plane name in front of 'Birds of Prey' in different regions. That doesn't create a brand it causes mass confusion as people wonder if its the 'Mustang' version they heard the Americans have is a newer version..should they wait? should they buy this 'Spitfire' version, will it be compatible with the 'Mustang' version? all questions the average consumer will have standing in the shop and most likely end up walking out of empty handed, wtg champ great idea!

Originally Posted by Cwl

the developers next time round should use what they've got from the IL2 franchise to start a new one. they wouldnt be the first company to do such a thing and create a spiritual successor. heck it could be intended as a sequel just with a different name. its upto the developers.

They have a recognisable brand name to many users - the IL-2 Sturmovik brand. They have that right here right now and also a growing number of console users new to the game and genre who will now recognise the game and yet you want to throw that away and start again. You talk about building a brand then in the same post talk of throwing it all away, is it any wonder people in this thread have trouble taking you seriously?

Originally Posted by Cwl

they being Russians will be fond of their historic aircraft so its up to them. I did think about having multiple box covers. one for say eastern europe and one for Western Europe and one for America but you could just have 2 box covers depending on whether Spitfire or P51 Mustang is more recognisable in the US which is the worlds single biggest games market.

The Spitfire is recognisable in to many US and UK users and thats what appears on the front cover shooting down a Stuka, there's your iconic aircraft on the front cover with a recognisable brand name 'IL-2 Sturmovik' I'd say they have both bases covered there.

[Buggins]

Originally Posted by Cwl

Spitfire / P51 Mustang vs IL2 Sturmovik

which plane is most recognisable?

1. Spitfire
2. Mustang

with Sturmovik coming in a distant last!! however you spin it nobody has ever heard of it outside the ww2 buffs and flight sim experts.

the developers next time round should use what they've got from the IL2 franchise to start a new one. they wouldnt be the first company to do such a thing and create a spiritual successor. heck it could be intended as a sequel just with a different name. its upto the developers.

they being Russians will be fond of their historic aircraft so its up to them. I did think about having multiple box covers. one for say eastern europe and one for Western Europe and one for America but you could just have 2 box covers depending on whether Spitfire or P51 Mustang is more recognisable in the US which is the worlds single biggest games market.

You just don't get it through your thick head do you? Please tell me you're twelve?