Feldon Kiara has posted the following update regarding SoE’s efforts to locate one or more international distributors for EverQuest II: Sentinel’s Fate.
Answers! Not all the answers that everyone wants, naturally, but definitely better than nothing, for certain.
1) The coupon in the retail box for the $10 in the Station Store is for the DD version of SF only. Good for folks with more than one account or for those who want to gift to a friend to get them into the game.
2) Still waiting on the lists of where Amazon and GameStop will ship. Sharp sticks have been employed in the poking phase of “Can we please have this?”
3) Best news for last! I don’t have details and couldn’t release them even if I did… However, our sales team is speaking with a couple of publishers and trying to work out details of international distribution. As soon as we have the deals signed, we’ll make sure to give you the details on this.
Thank you all very much for your patience with all of this as we try to smooth out wrinkles and get you the information you need.
EQ2Wire deduced that SoE were “between distributors” when international retail storefronts listed and then de-listed the expansion. When questioned, they reported that they had “no source” to order the product. EQ2Wire will keep you updated on further news as we hear it.
Yay! This is great news. 🙂
I personally don’t care for the 7 days headstart but I definitely want the box version to put on a shelf next to all the other game boxes. But I wouldn’t have paid $30 for shipping. Now there is hope that local retailers will get the box. *jumpsforjoy*
So SOE wants players to get a retail copy from retail stores so retail stores so that retailers will carry EQ2…. but if you’ve got more than one account they’re willing to give you a $10 discount not to purchase all of the copies you will need from the store you’re already in. I guess that says something about their margins on a $30 direct download versus the $40 retail MSRP.
If I was a retailer and I heard about this, that would pretty much kill any good will that the “headstart” generates. Not only will almost all of the sales beyond launch day be online, but many will be made at a discount as players who do NOT need a second copy let their friends have their direct download coupons.
“If I was a retailer and I heard about this, that would pretty much kill any good will that the “headstart” generates.”
The retail box is targeted at NEW players. Most buyers at retail will be NEW players. Most buyers of the DD will be existing customers, hence the discount incentive they can share with friends who play or, ideally, wants to play.
Everything about the new strategy screams “we’re focused on generating new customers,” from the streaming client to the retail boxes. Existing customers have been complaining about server populations, so that’s the problem SOE is addressing in a very direct way. Unfortunately, the game is designed to be end-game-heavy, so this solution is temporary.
The strategy for international distribution is ridiculous. It would take competent companies days to come up with a similarly awful concept.
Well its a start i suppose but surely given the hoohah SOE knew this was going to cause why didnt they get international distrbution sorted out at the same?
Definitely good news, I still think they need to urgently fix the SOE sales and marketing department. The pre-order should never have been allowed to go live without a full set of distributors, and ordering from the US doesn’t count, imagine the drama that would have happened if they’d announced that everyone in the US would need to order their title from Germany.
If they can get Europe (UK, France, Germany, Nordic as priority), Australia+New Zealand and Japan covered then I think they’ve got a chance of really making an impact.
One thing bothers me though, its WoW, there has been no news of when their expansion launches but it sounds like its well advanced with playable demos out there. If they put a beta out by December then I think we’ll know they mean to de-rail the EQ2 launch.
Although so far it looks unlikely since they’d kill interest in their own final patch of the expansion to meet the schedule and probably don’t care so much about EQ2, although they seem twitchy on the forums whenever its mentioned.