Quote:
Originally Posted by Axe99
Hey Wildar, while internet forums are useful, they're hardly a good indication of the customer base - you normally find only a _very_ small proportion of customers on game forums, and they're usually quite unrepresentative of the broader population who bought the game. So I wouldn't get too worked up by any differences between the poll and what 505 do - they have broader access to things like multiplayer server/achievements/trophy stats, that give them a much better idea of how everyone is playing the game.
|
On topic: Axe, in the upcoming DLC you would like to see…
Off topic: Are you trying to discourage people with your post from voting or airing their wishes on forums?
Regarding your post: How somebody “plays” the game and what they would like to see in it, or (dis)like about it are completely different things. They cannot be measured by the online data you refer to.
Axe said: “and they're usually quite unrepresentative of the broader population who bought the game” – and you have hard irrefutable evidence that undisputedly proves this to be the case in 100% of the cases in 100% of the times or are you just repeating something you read somewhere?
"Hey" Axe, to be sure, nothing you mentioned in your post is not known to me already, still thanks for your kind and enlightening post. There is, however, no way for anybody of telling for sure if the BOP 1C forum members are unrepresentative of the focus group that it was aimed at, that have bought the game or that still MIGHT buy it. Word of mouth is also very important for long term sales, the sales life cycle of a product as you will. Don't forget that potential customers nowadays also frequent forums of games of which they are not sure whether or not to buy them. Not everybody buys a game on the release date. The question is: at which audience is BOP aimed. According to data from some game developers (i.e. Gearbox CEO), it is stated that more people still play single player than multiplayer. Even that more people played Halo 3 single player than online. The source for this data is the same source as 505 has access to. Halo 3 titles were, according to this source, also sold in numbers to customers that have no online connection and who therefore do not offer online data on achievements, multiplayer stats etc. And there are also players who don’t care about getting silly console achievements. So if all this is also the case with BOP, then 505 is in the same position as Gearbox, which undermines your statement. Then we are back at focus grouping again. Now there is much data out there on games development, focus grouping, marketing etc. to read up on. But like opinion polls, how much of it is actually a reliable source in real life? There are so many games that disappoint financially as a result of this “witchcraft”. Let’s for simplicity sake say that there are roughly the following kinds of game categories with respective audiences:
1. Fast sellers with a short term sales life span. Money on these must be made in about 2-3 months, after which nobody buys it on account of bad press, negative word of mouth, errors, shallowness etc. Usually these are fast paced, low intelligence, high controller skill, high fun factor teenager oriented games. These games are primarily aimed at the average teenager masses, that quickly move on to something new after a play through.
2. Fast sellers with a long term sales life span. Money on these will be made until the sequel comes out. Usually these are fast paced, low intelligence, high controller skill, high fun factor teenager oriented games. These games are primarily aimed at the average teenager masses, that keep playing a game until another a sequel/big title is released.
3. Average sellers with a medium term sales life span. Money on these will be made from a medium sized focus group that will play the game over a certain period of time. These quasi niche games are of medium game play difficulty and appeal to a certain audience, not the masses.
4. Slow sellers with a long term sales life span. Money on these will be made from a medium/small sized focus group that will play the game over a long period of time until the sequel comes out. These niche games are of medium/high game play difficulty and appeal to a certain niche audience, not the masses.
5. Bad sellers with a very short sales life span. The game was either a result of bad focus grouping, bad marketing, many game errors etc. or an unhealthy combination of these.
The question is at which type of people is a game aimed (focus group)? It is safe to say, as far as console games go, that the really big budget titles aim for category 1 and 2 and if things go bad they end up in category 5. These big budget titles don’t need forums that badly, but still make use them, since they have their game aimed at the masses that don’t frequent forums and for them the online data you refer to in your post is a lot more useful. They will sell in any event (cat. 1, 2) or maybe not (cat. 5). Now the real challenge are the niche audience games, they fall in category 3 and 4 and if things go bad they end up in 5. Category 4 and 5 games have special target groups, special focus groups. And concerning these, the forums offer insight in what some of their hard core fans want, especially for category 4. Now it seems that BOP was aimed at the following: category 1 (Arcade mode), 3 (Realistic mode) and 4 (Simulator). If so, than what is stated on this forum is most relevant for the BOP realistic and simulator mode, since the category 3 and 4 customers will move on when the game does not live up to their standards. If BOP was aimed primarily at category 1, than I fully agree the responses of the forum members are not that relevant. The thing about forums is: an important part of the people that frequent the category 3 and 4 game forums of a certain game are among the vociferous hardcore fans of a game, or they are people that take the trouble of letting the developer know what they like or do not like. Not many people take the trouble to do that, but it would be folly to call them unrepresentative when you have no measurable way to state that this is so for sure.
10-10-2009, 09:47 AM
Hybrid Mode
