Feldon The elusive SOE Marketing Dept. took a moment today to pat itself on the back for its “successful launch” of EverQuest II: Sentinel’s Fate. They also made a point of thanking “our great fans have responded with overwhelming support“. It is unclear what aspect of the Sentinel’s Fate launch players give “overwhelming support” to, but no doubt this will be a key point on a Powerpoint presentation somewhere soon.
EQ2Wire does not think it is too soon to start our campaign for NO retail launch of the next EverQuest II expansion. It costs too much money, diverts too many resources, and ultimately confuses and frustrates players to have retailer exclusives, head starts, and regional lockouts on who can buy the Digital Download when and where.
Did the Retail Push Work?
Marketing will point to retail figures saying “It worked!” but the reality is, these are customers who felt forced to buy the product in a certain way, at additional cost and hassle, just to get the same customer experience they have had in past years with a Digital Download.
There is such a thing as a false economy here regarding players who would have ordinarily purchased the Digital Download over a span of the next 2-3 months, as they had completed all the content they desired to in the previous expansion converted to the new product. No doubt some of these players felt pressured into buying Sentinel’s Fate retail version on launch day, so as not to be left behind, or to get the best possible game.
It just seems to us, although we have no sales figures to back up our theories, that making loyal customers jump through hoops just to add a few boxes on retail shelves is not worth it in the long run, and we feel that a true cost-benefit analysis of how the Sentinel’s Fate retail launch played out (provided it is not merely a self-serving exercise) would bear this out.
And there is no tangible way to measure the ill will created in the European community by the Sentinel’s Fate launch lead up chaos, missteps at DLGamer and Steam, and now almost daily Hotfixes during primetime Europe hours. These players have a right to be doubtful.
I have had some very harsh words for the SOE Marketing Dept, yet I feel like I am on pretty solid ground with my opinions. So far, this department has demonstrated that it does not understand its customers, does not value their feedback, and further, has gone out of its way to insulate itself from criticism.
EQ2Wire is extending an open invitation to any member of the SOE Marketing Dept who wishes to grant an interview on these and other subjects.
I pre-ordered at the local Best Buy, and my one copy appears to have been the one copy that the store requested. Out of curiosity, I looked in various other stores that carry PC games, and didn’t see any TSF boxes there either. So much for the idea that pre-orders would convince stores to carry more copies of the game.
My local store did, however, still have two of the now unsalable “Complete Collection” boxes on their shelves. You can’t really blame them for being irritated with SOE for obsoleting a four-month-old SKU.
The game shops sell the games that SoE wants people to buy. Get used to them appeasing them. It’s better they have an avenue to sell their games that not otherwise they won’t get any new blood in their games…
The fact some people had to wait 7 days because they couldn’t come unglued from the computer chair is sad but one I doubt mattered because in the end they bought it anyway.
The major issue was’nt the fact that it was a retail launch, but how international customers were basically left in the dark until the friday before.
For the continental USA, it was quite likely a success in that it sold boxed copies only. If you add in the complete disregard for the international market up to 3 or 4 days before launch, plus lumping Canada in with the retail launch, then the launch looks majorly bungled.
If they are going to insist on doing this again, then either do:
1) Announce both an international and US source at the same time
2) Do not bill it as a head start. If you dont want to make a SOE direct version available right at launch, state that and leave it at that.
or you could:
Make the SOE Direct DD have JUST the game, no extras whatsoever, but launch at the same time. Have the international DD, boxes, etc. contain the bonus station cash, /claim items, whatever.
either will make it a much better launch, and less nailbiting and stupid.
I ofter get the feeling that either they don’t want the game to be a huge success, or that they don’t know how to market and plan at a major international level.
If the first case is true, then I would take that as wanting to be masters of their small area. But that’s pretty cowardly in the big picture- it’s like they are too scared to take on WoW directly. I would argue that the world of Norrath has just as much, if not more, lore available when compared to the Warcraft universe. They could leverage this into tie ins and book, movies, etc. All we get is a pencil and paper RPG and a few minor spin off games?
If the second case is true, then they just need to step up their game. Stop acting like a bunch of interns and do your damn job. When was the last time you saw a magazine or tv ad for EQ2? They need to kick the fact that the game is not as insanely hard as it was at launch into the face of everyone around them.
Now I have been playing one of the SOE games pretty much since Velious for EQ1. I love the game, for the most part. I think they have a lot of things right with EQ2 now. But all the WoW players I know just hear about how it’s so hard, because they tried it at launch and it was basically a completely different game. Group debt, soul shards, crafting subcombines (with interdependence). It’s a ton more fun now. And they need to get the word out.
What an insulting comment. This was a “major” marketing push by SOE President John Smedley to get a Retail presence. The only way retail would bother with such a small game as EQ2 was with the retail 7 day headstart.
This was a choice by SOE from the very top to favor the Retail release, even though there has been no indication that having a Retail presence is bringing in new players.
Until you can show me some numbers indicating that a retail presence has increased sales of an ONLINE game that REQUIRES internet which the vast majority of people buy ONLINE, I call shenanigans.
In fact, most folks I have talked to said that some Retail stores bought EXACTLY the number of boxes necessary to fill pre-orders. The rest bought LESS. No Retail stores bought extra boxes or with any intention of stocking the game.
So far, this has all just been an unpleasant exercise at the customer’s expense.
How the heck can SOE by happy with this launch???
1. Box only available in the US, why?
2. International DD details announced THREE days before release! All forum posts were DELETED and IGNORED until the day before they decided to announce this release and that is only because people like myself decided to chain post to get the info we should have had in November.
3. I know many Americans that were unable to get the game, many who pre-ordered it and still had to wait over a week for delivery.
Basically this release was a sham, it was the WORST example of marketing I have ever experienced in my whole life. Shame on you SOE and shame on you for your disgusting treatment of your customers.
A) Complaint: Why doesn’t the SOE marketing department do more to promote EQ2? Everytime I go to the store, I see boxes on the shelves for WoW, but almost never see EQ2.
B) SOE does basically the only thing they CAN do to try and get more boxes on the shelves with the headstart program and the extras in the retail box.
C) Complaint: Why do I have to buy the retail box? This sucks.
How exactly are they supposed to win in this situation? Dammed if you do, dammed if you don’t.
I’ve bought every expansion since DoF and bought them all through retail and bought EACH ONE because of the in game item that ONLY came with the retail box. The biggest difference this time was the headstart.
And here is something I’m really surprised that nobody is pointing out. The “marketing department” doesn’t really NEED to “market” the game to EXISTING players. We already know about the expansion and when it’s coming out. They need to be focusing on how to get NEW players into the game. Like walking down a store aisle and seeing the box on the shelf. And yes, the boxes were on the shelf in some stores. I know of several people who didn’t preorder but walked into a store on launch day and found it sitting on the shelf.
I’m not impressed with SOE’s marketing department track record. However, I understand why they did the retail launch the way they did. And as long as there are stores selling MMOs on their shelves, it’s silly to think that an MMO shouldn’t try to compete for shelf space.
But as Dennis Miller used to say, that’s just my opinion, I could be wrong. 🙂
Adding roadblocks to buying a product serves nobody.
It always seemed pretty obvious to me, even without going to business school, but implementing policies and strategies that make it difficult for your customers to buy your product seems pretty bone-headed to me.
I had no problem getting a copy of Sentinel’s Fate… Thanks, Feldon. 😉
Leading the sales charts for a week or two means nothing without totals. Sell 5 copies and let 50 other games sells 2 copies each, and you lead sales by a landslide. Pick a week when no other major title is launching a 15 month update and you have to lead or you are a total failure.
My data shows the actual total sales were not great. Furthermore, attendance monitoring at peak times now rounds to 700 on Guk, up 15-19% from the same day measurements weeks before the expac launch. That in no way offsets the large crash in subscriptions of last fall (Sept-November).
I had issues with the retail launch this time because I didn’t beleive that retail copies would be available on the shelves in Canada.
My main account received it’s FF copy without any hiccups at all.
For my 2nd acocunt I walked into Bestbuy on launch day and bought a collectors edition off the shelves. They had several copies of the non-collectors edition still available when I left.
I had also ordered a copy online that came late, wasn’t a collector’s edition, and it is being returned.
Next year I will just buy the new expansion in the store when it is released, which is exactly what SOE want. I read a article about it being the #1 selling PC game for the first two weeks, which is never a bad advertisement.
The euro-launch could have gone smoother. The issue with “early start” is that if you are in a competitive guild the raidforce expects you to level for raiding as soon as possible. Waiting the extra week is not a option.
All in all, I think it was a good idea. They just need to iron out the wrinkles next year.
I was actually really pleased with the online release, personally… I am currently deployed, and being able to get my hands on a real disc, rather than having to use shoddy internet at a max 15 kb/s dl speed means that I didn’t have to spend the first two weeks of the expansion downloading it.
I am one of these false positives you speak of. I just recently re-started the game again. Instead of reupping my previous account I chose to start fresh on a brand new server. When SF came out, I was in my 30s still with no hopes of seeing the new content anytime in the near future. However I went out and purchased the collectors edition for one reason and one reason only. It gave me access to one mount per character… something that I ordinarily would not have in any other way for a long long while.
I paid 70 bucks for the ability to /claim mounts for my characters pure and simple… I didn’t buy the expansion for the content since I wont see it for awhile. Granted now I am lvl 50 and still climbing fast so I will see it within a few months. However I am still one of those players that would have ordinarily have waited until I was ready for the new zones before purchase were it not for the exclusives.
I’m not commenting on the situation in the US, but for non-US there has been a positive result of the sentinels fate launch.
While the launch itself was a bit of a mess with digital downloads added at the last week for launch we are finally getting international distributors.
That can only be a positive thing for the game outside of the US, it gets the game seen in more places which is great advertising,
Really I am amazed that EQ2 has even the player base it has today outside of the US, you have to search for it online only, even there it has no adverts. I couldn’t name another game that survives in Europe with no adverts and no retail availability.
Retail also caters for people who prefer the retail box, and gives an additional sales path for timecards to be sold for people who do not have credit cards.
Now if next year we can see stores rushing to stock copies of the next expansion for the sweet spot of a months sales window I think it will be a success. Right now just getting the international distribution is a positive result.
(Just to add though, I agree for europe the launch itself was sucky, but I’m just pleased that they are finally getting the distribution right for the future!).
Digital download? No! I have had bad experiences with Steam and Microsoft Live. I much prefer the retail box with a physical disk containing the program and only needing updating directly from Sony channels. If we have to use 3rd party sources to acquire the game it will cost us. Minimally the cost of divulging personal information that, according to their lengthy EULA’s, they can use/sell/abuse anyway they want for ever and ever. I have way too many passwords and user names now. I do not want more, nor do I want a commercial 3rd party monitoring my online time and activity. The lower cost of digital download goes to the marketeers, not us. Information is valuable and you have to give it to them. “Want to download the latest game at lightning speed? Why, just subscribe to our Premium service for a low, low monthly fee! If not, well, your download will start in 20 minutes, maybe. Sucker”
Question – Why can’t they release the box sets BEFORE the day of “Release” unless you have a valid code on a account that is currently paid for you can’t log into the game, there is no offline option, why can’t we download it/get it delivered/buy it off a shelf the week before and install it?
then when the severs come back up they just patch the changes from day XXX of the disks/DL if you did not buy the bonus week copy (pay the sony cool kid tax) then you code would flag you as a no new toys till XXX day?
Roo no trying to be a smart ass, just don’t get it, it seems easier this way
I’m absolutely happy for the marketing department this round. I saw EQ2 advertisements at sites I normally peruse and even noticed them at local retailers. It’s an absolute good thing that we have given our retail outlets another chance and it also gave people jobs, IE making/producing the packaging for the retail boxes. I know of a few people that have recently picked up EQ2 despite being addicts to other MMO’s over the past few years. As stated already, the only downside to the whole release was on the early play date for the retail copy of the game, but this issue was resolved in weeks before the expansion was released and allowed all non U.S. countries to digital download it on the same early date. Major Props here.
I only wanted to get the digital download. However, since that was being launched after the retail box, I opted for the retail box to have the new content sooner. My preference would be for them to offer a digital download at the same time and also the collector’s edition as a digital DL (but cheaper since no figurine and DVD). I don’t have a problem with a retail presence (and in fact, it may be helpful to drawing new blood in), but it was much more of a hassle than a simple digital download, however having to wait a week after retail for digital was not for me.
As far as my purchase experience, I ordered online from GameStop the day before launch. GS guaranteed it to be delivered on launch day (with overnight shipping). However, they couldn’t deliver until several days later so they refunded my shipping, but I just canceled my order. I called several stores in Huntsville, AL (US). GameStop had several copies of regular SF, but the only copies of collector’s they had were for pre-order pickup (spoken for). Best Buy’s website also showed they had SF in-store, but no collector’s. On my way home from work, I went to Best Buy. They had approximately 9 copies of SF, including 1 collector’s edition (hidden behind the normal ones). It was in a section with other MMOs (WoW and LotRO included) and near the (seemingly overly large section of) BattleChest editions of older Blizzard games (StarCraft, WarCraft, etc.) IIRC.