Long time lurker, first time poster

The most rational people here know that the game will be released, it isn't vapourware, but where we part company with the butt hole cleaners (if they can get past Zapatista that is) is that we dont believe everything we are told, When Oleg announced that 'thousands would be playing SOW by October or maybe before' there was a massive cheer and ripple's of excitement amongst the BHC's, but it was most obvious from what we had seen and had not seen that Oleg would never make that date. Now Oleg has stated again that it will be soon but this time we have to speculate on a date. Zapatista says Oleg will be 'close' to the BOB anniversary, not a chance, BOB day was the 15th of September.
Think about it people, do you really think Oleg who has spent over 6 years developing this game will release it with no marketing? No magazine reviews, no video footage in DX 11 or 10, no sound previews, no system specs and no dedicated website, what Publishing company would buy into that self destructive stratergy. Oleg has said that this game is going to be incredible, im certain that if he truly believe it is then he will get all the hype it deserves from whatever media possible before its release. Also Oleg has stated that work on a dedicated website was currently in progress, so when we see it we will know we are on the final leg.

[Chivas]

People in the Sim community haven't cornered the market in the common sense market. BUT most people here understand the complexity of this project and how easily the project can be set back. Oleg has expressed more than a few hoped for release agendas but even he doesn't have a Cristal ball to sidestep the multitude of road blocks thrown his way. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the community hoping the developer meets his agenda, and they don't need naysayers continually stating the obvious.

This project doesn't need a huge lead time in advertising and websites. A month is more than enough time. A few magazine articles, gaming internet web site articles are all you will ever see. When you see those articles there will be a link for further information at the SOW website. You never see TV advertising campaigns because its too expensive for the tiny combat flight sim market. Although I think I remember seeing a completely bogus advertisement for CFS3 on television that only Microsoft could afford.

edit.....These days there are TV programs dedicated to gamers so there is the possibility for some TV coverage.

[kendo65]

Originally Posted by Tree_UK

...
Think about it people, do you really think Oleg who has spent over 6 years developing this game will release it with no marketing? No magazine reviews, no video footage in DX 11 or 10, no sound previews, no system specs and no dedicated website, what Publishing company would buy into that self destructive stratergy. Oleg has said that this game is going to be incredible, im certain that if he truly believe it is then he will get all the hype it deserves from whatever media possible before its release. Also Oleg has stated that work on a dedicated website was currently in progress, so when we see it we will know we are on the final leg.

Does anyone here remember what the situation was with il2's release? How did they handle that? (Before my time)

[Chivas]

It was advertised thru magazines and gaming websites. These days there are more TV programs for gaming addicts so there could be a for tv coverage.

[Blackdog_kt]

It was very low key compared to titles of other genres, just like most simulators are.
Heck, i picked up Microprose's European Air War (my main WWII sim before IL-2 and among the best of its time) because i happened to see it on a shop window by chance one evening, as i was strolling down an avenue to meet some friends for a couple of beers.
Same for Red Baron II, i made a habit of going to one of the big bookshop/software retailers in town every couple of months to check for new simulators and i saw the box among Falcon4 and several Jane's titles about jets, i had no idea a Red Baron II was even being developed up to that point.

Your mileage may vary of course, as my past experiences date back to a time where internet connections where not all that common here in Greece. So, i don't know if any widespread promotion was done for RB2 and EAW online.

However, by the time IL-2 appeared i had an internet connection (dial-up at that time and usually borrowed/shared between 2-3 people). The way i remember it is that i stumbled on it by surfing websites like simhq.com and combatsim.com. Again, i didn't see a massive promotion campaign even though i was able to go on the internet and look for it.

Of course things have evolved since then, but assuming that each gaming genre has gained roughly the same amount of points on the "promotion scale", the relatice distances between them would remain the same.

What that means in plain English is that in the current age i don't expect to stumble upon SoW by chance anymore, i'm sure i'll see something about it on the internet. However, i don't expect a 6 month pre-release marketing campaign for SoW like we see for titles like Starcraft 2 either.

Most of the people who are interested in it already know about it, some people will learn about it through word of mouth (i'm talking the ears off of a couple of my buddies trying to get them interested in it) and the rest will find out a couple of months past release when they will be browsing gamespot for the latest mainstream title and happen to come across a SoW review.