How to revive sales and save this great game.

[He111]

Ok, I've been thinking long and hard .. ok, short and soft, about why CLOD didn't sell like the original IL2 and have come up with a few ideas.

From my experience, the original IL2 was a success in Russia first, promoting a forgotten arena. Once word got around gaming / sim communities that IL2 was a quality game, it quickly became a success in the west as well. This happened in booming world economy when gamers had money.

It's successor has had a totally different experience. Many die-hard IL2 fans were disappointed with it's build quality once released, other fans couldn't wait for long release date or were financially crippled by the GFC.

So how can CLOD / BOM be a financial success? I still thinks it's possible, it has high quality models and excellent destruction details so can be a quality sim. 1C needs to redefine who their target market is.

(1) Change target audience from average gamers (younger) to middle age flight sim lovers - generally people in the aircraft industry or similar. These people are generally financially better off and are more familar with a WW2 setting.

(2) Don't reduce prices of CLOD nor BOM to gain sales, guarantee BOM is stable on release and price it accordingly. Older professional people will pay for quality.

(3) Re-release CLOD with BOM as a "Battle of Moscow / Battle of Britain / Spanish Civil War" triple combo, but only after the games are stable.

(5) Advertise the game in Aircraft / pilot professional magazines, targeting this professional potential new market.

(6) Once CLOD / BOM can gain a small professional client base, it can look to a wider gaming audience once economic times improve.

Just a few t houghts ...

.

[SlipBall]

Its the internet man!...bad press ruined the sales, in the end many complaints were system related.

[hiro]

actually what IL-2 series did was simple.

be the best and stand out . . . push the boundaries of what we simmers had.

and in a time where everyone else's ish worked and didn't have too many glitches.

And the price was the same as the lesser sims


I remember the wow factor we all had when I'd bought the game and threw it on the best machine we had on the shop. This guy who wasn't even into sims but was a hardcore gamer, "I'm not into this but damn I could get into this." Also was the comment of a console purist, "You to me on the graphics. That IL-2 russian game looks real. You PC guys always get us on the graphics. %!@#!"

some others

1) it was one of the best quality games available and although its hardware req's were legendary, hardware prices fluctuated . . .

I remember its flight model was smooth and dynamic. The effects were normal but I remember the ballistic physics was well done. The a standout game that had bullet realism was Max Payne due to the bullet time feature in it(which people later used to recreate Matrix mods that had the effects from the movies).

Other flight sims had gotten the bullet trajectory and timing but there was some aspect or feature missing, but IL-2 nailed it well close or long range . . .

they also had lesser known / weird planes that the hardcore peeps liked.

It had the most complete features of a flight combat sim. FM, DM, physics etc . . . and it looked awesomely gorgeous.



2) it came out around (i think the tail end) of the golden era for ww2 and close era sims, IIRC they had games like MiG Alley, this uber flying fortress game, a few good European Theaters, so the competition was there.

3) online gaming had started.

4) it required killer hardware but in that era I remember a top of the line $500 nvidia card would be $250 in a month, it was that era where you could wait a few months and prices for hardware would drop because the latest and greatest was out in a few weeks.

I used to work a PC chopshop and they used to give away 6 mo old towers, hardware . . . man I had all these awesome franken PC's that still work today . . .

Good times back then.

[lokitexas]

Its too late to "revive" sales. Word is out....and has been out. CLoD was, and is still bugged game. Bottom line.

IL2 fans, like myself, bit the bullet and bought it even though it was not up to par in hopes that it would be "fixed".

Right here right now, it still isnt. And the post from MG "Sorry CLoD is broken, and needs fixes, and features that were left out are not coming back in....but buy our sequel and we will fix ALL the issues!" is a very lame attempt, and slap in the face to the people that bought CLoD.

I know for me personally, as well as many others, respect and faith in anything coming out in the future from these folks will be an afterthought. New screenies, and talks about BOM seem like another CLoD attempt.

Too many chances, too many promises, too many disappointments. I hate to say it, but I think the success of this franchise moving forward is very....very slim.

[CrazySchmidt]

This series has about as much chance now as a "Duke Nukem Forever" sequel.

[HorrorRoach]

I think they should abandon BOM and FINISH CLOD... A 99% bug free game with a few more flyables would be free advertising...

[Chivas]

Sales of COD don't really matter any more, even if it were perfect I doubt it would have covered the long developments costs. The sales of the Sequel matter. If in the next year or two the development finishes the game engine, features, the Sequel will sell. Maybe not enough to recoup all the development costs, but more than enough to secure the future. With a working game engine and features the development will be able to quickly pump out new Theaters for another ten years that should make the series very profitable. Not to mention other revenue stream like MMO's and movie making, as the game engine and features evolve over the years.

[Chivas]

Originally Posted by HorrorRoach

I think they should abandon BOM and FINISH CLOD... A 99% bug free game with a few more flyables would be free advertising...

Are you going to cover the further development costs, no one else will, as COD sales are FINISHED.

[MadBlaster]

I thought in game industry you can make more money on volume sales using the existing online mid level pc gaming market as the target audience. If the software developer optimizes the game to “that” pc. Doing so, the pc cost to the user now becomes a “sunk” cost. There is no (or if there is , it is greatly reduced) cost for a pc upgrade because the game was optimized by the developer to a pc level that segment of the market already owns. However, to the flight sim newbie, there is still likely a unique differential hardware cost in terms of game controllers (e.g., head tracking, joystick, rudder peddals, headset...etc.). But even that can be minimized. 1C could partnership with companies like logitech or thrustmaster, for example, to come up with a plug and play hardware solution sold as a package with the game to meet all the gameplay requirements of the game for like $100-$150 bucks. So now your talking hurdle cost for the newbie of the game itself of $50 plus $150 for the hardware to play it. I think with that, there is volume potential, and more profit? You also now have your hardware partners backing you up. The more game you sell, the more hardware they sell and your advertising costs are now shared and is lower? You and your partners are now all advertising together because your interests are the same, sell as much copies of the game as possible. It is a given, the game has to be good, because you have competition in the target audience (rof, wop,etc.) and other genres of games as well . It has to be optimized to perform exceptionally well on the target PC without question. It has to have good gameplay. It has to be supported by the developer and has a timeline for expansion (new theaters, enhancements) for additional future revenues and to hold the interest of the players. Also, as side thought, I think it would be good if 1C had an official dedicated server to stay in touch first hand with the needs of the game and its users. Also, I think online gameplay and popularity could be enhanced with the introduction of virtual money/reward system via team based achievements in online gameplay used to buy better planes and loadouts for online wars between teams on the given server. The game integrity has to be maintained. Hacks, cheats, unfair scoring systems, complex and long setup times to make the game work correctly (e.g., mapping controls), hardware incompatibility, etc. These historical problems need to be closed out because they kill gameplay and interest. It needs to be a hassle free experience. At the same time, it should be realistic, competitive, ww2 historical, informative, intriguing and fun. It has to offer more than the gaming platforms (ps3, xbox, apple i phones...etc.) It has to offer a uniqueness different than the more popular types of genres (e.g., world of warcraft). You don’t want the mid level market gamers playing those games. You want them to play your game. So look at the strengths and attractions of their games and see if some of those qualities can be brought over to your game to make it even more unique and attractive to a larger segment of the mid level pc gamer market. What makes a player obsess over a game? How can you turn a non-player into a online ww2 flight sim player? A very good, interesting and complex game, fully supported by the develper at an affordable hurdle cost with good advertising for volume sales and profit? Maybe. I don’t know if this is possible. CloD probably did damage to rep. So whatever happened last May with 1C management, that evidently was the turning point. A fresh slate. Too bad we all had to wait 5 months to learn the truth form Luthier. Hopefully it was a well thought out long term plan and change in direction. Optimize the BOM game to the mid level pc every 3 years in sync with the expansions. So, performance is always improving, graphics is improving, but you stay in your mid level target audience for volume sales. Jmho.

[ATAG_Snapper]

@He111: Concept makes sense. If CoD/BoM/whatever went ultra premium FM/DM, graphics, gameplay, cockpits (think: DCS P51D detail & quality), Net Code etc etc.....

This would appeal to a high end target group, with the means to procure cutting edge PC's & peripherals. Look what people pay for FSX + dozen's addons/plugins. Marketing is key, community contact/feedback as well.

Interesting thought, He111.