Feldon
Yesterday, SOE President John Smedley issued a series of tweets about EverQuest II: We are seeing some amazing growth in EQ2. 40% increase in daily logins since going f2p. 300% increase in new players. And 200% increase in Item sales. Plus we have added a lot of new subs. All during the time that some really good competition hit the market Some players have opined that a 200% increase in item sales might not be much of an indicator considering the Free-to-Play conversion coincided with an e-mail campaign encouraging tens of thousands of players who had quit to try...
marketing
From SmokeJumper on the EQ2X Forums: We’re going multi-pronged on this. 1) We’re spending money again on ads. You should start seeing banner ads. 2) We’re doing a winback campaign to reactivate interest with old players after Dungeon Finder rolls out, and pushing even harder when Freeport and the Age of Discovery launch later this year. 3) We added the video recording feature so that word spreads organically as you post any videos you think are interesting. There’s more than this planned, but these are a few of the things that should be most effective. To record a YouTube...
The American prices for the Destiny of Velious digital downloads are well known — the regular edition is $39.99, while the collector’s edition runs $59.99. We are very happy to see that the days of preferential treatment for the Retail version are over. Last year’s 7 day retail headstart and the confusion leading up to the launch for European customers was the source of much frustration, so we are quite satisfied with this year’s simplified options. So then all is wine and roses, right? Well, it may surprise American players to learn that customers in some other countries are...
Karen Bryan over at Massively has turned in another great expose on the deafening silence on the upcoming release of EverQuest II: Destiny of Velious. While expectations are ridiculously high and fed primarily by nostalgia, you would think there would be SOME more information about the game at this point. Remember, last year at this time, we’d learned some things about the expansion, started to receive zone and lore previews, etc. We know hardly anything about the Destiny of Velious expansion which was not released at August’s Fan Faire. One month. That’s all that’s left before EverQuest II’s new...
So it was put forward that the Big Marketing Push for EQ2X that was promised for late summer never materialized. SmokeJumper tackled this one: The decision was made to delay the marketing spend until January after the Christmas cage fights over banner slots and other advertising have died down a bit. So…January now.
The latest news story on EverQuest2.com (formerly EQ2Players.com) is an article about a new SOE marketing program called “SOE Super Fan Days“. After reading the article, I still have some questions, especially as I am now stationed in Europe, where StationCash cards are not available. There seem to be two aspects to this promotion. First, is that every day, one SOE game will have a special item that is 50% off. So on one day, it seems EQ2 will have 1 item for 50% off the StationCash price. Second, it seems that under some circumstance(s), StationCash can be purchased...
Looks like SOE Marketing forgot that there are more countries in the world than the United States, Canada, the European Union, and Japan. Australia, New Zealand, Norway, and other countries are all reporting that they are unable to order the Digital Download from DLGamer and Direct2Drive. We have heard that on February 16th, Steam customers in these other countries will be able to order the Digital Download in these countries. At this point, we’re not taking anyone’s word for it. SOE Marketing Dept Strikes Again We here at EQ2Wire consider it a classy move for the SOE Marketing Dept...
Kiara has officially announced the Digital Download partners for International customers. Greetings! We’re pleased to announce the International Digital Download Distributors for Sentinel’s Fate. Our international customers will be able to digitally download the expansion and begin playing on February 16th! We appreciate your patience as we’ve worked out all the details. Accepting Orders Today DLGamer – £29.95 (34,95 €) ($46.88) English | French | German Direct2Drive – £29.95 (34,95 €) ($46.88) English | French | German Accepting orders February 16th Steam visit Steam International customers will be able to DD the expansion on February 16th and take advantage...
Since our exposé on the lack of options for anyone outside the continental United States to order the EverQuest II: Sentinel’s Fate expansion, it seems we stirred up a hornet’s nest behind the scenes, causing the resolution of at least some of the issues facing EverQuest II customers. We are now able to report that BestBuy.com has corrected its release date to February 16th, Amazon.com is now offering shipping outside the U.S., and Amazon.ca is now offering Sentinel’s Fate for sale directly to Canadian customers. We are still awaiting word of the selection of one or more international distributors....
EQ2Wire has been trying to get some answers about the EverQuest II: Sentinel’s Fate Pre-Order for the past 2 1/2 weeks. We contacted the SOE PR department with a detailed list of questions. We received an e-mail which quoted the Press Release but which did not answer any of our submitted questions. We sent an e-mail to SOE President John Smedley on November 19th with those same concerns and additional questions. At present, we have received no response to this e-mail. Where do we Stand? Going into December 2009, just where do American, North American (Canada, Mexico), and International...
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...
EQ2Wire is working on a story covering the overseas marketing and distribution strategy for EverQuest II’s sixth expansion — EverQuest II: Sentinel’s Fate. While there have been some concerns expressed on the EQ2 Forums regarding the 7-day headstart release strategy of Sentinel’s Fate from American customers (specifically within the 48 contiguous states with guaranteed arrival by February 16, 2010), specifically from American customers who have traditionally purchased the Digital Download, this has been nothing compared to the outcry from hundreds of international EverQuest II customers. According to the EQ2Players Announcement, the only means for EQ2 players outside of the...