Marketing for SWTOR is so bad its comical. Its the real reason this game is failing.

[OddballEasyEight]

One of the best earning MMO's out there.

I had over 50 people subscribe (not just click) using my referral link the week after the trailer dropped. None of them have stopped subscribing yet.

I've had a steady stream of subcriptions using my referral link since then.

 

Yup... game sure seems to be failing.

[bryan_starwars]

I dunno, to me it seems like their marketing is doing quite well. This goofy thread has generated lots of noise about the upcoming expansion. Their push to the next expansion also has lots of people talking (negative or positive, it doesn't matter, so long as people are talking, that is what marketing is suppose to do). Since the expansion announcement, the forums have been more focused on either praise or crying about what is coming and less whining about the game mechanics as they are now.

 

So what if they are not exactly being forthcoming about info regarding the next expansion. So long as they feed us with small spoonfuls of info, it will keep us talking. That is marketing genius. The next Star Wars film is following that formula to perfection.

 

On a side note, from a marketing standpoint, Bioware should be running TV ads to target potential new mmo gamers. With the release of the new star wars film, there will be a lot more gaming interest in the Star Wars franchise if it is successful.

Edited August 17, 2015 by bryan_starwars

[MuratReis]

I have to disagree. WoW is stupidly backwards in a lot of ways. From the immobile turret-style gameplay of rdps/healers to the horrible class imbalance in pvp to the endless nerfing and buffing of the fotm's... Don't get me wrong, WoW has its virtues, but there is a serious lack of progress toward fixing very old, very bad game flaws.

 

Maybe I haven't played the game enough. But, from what I can see, I like:

 

(1) quick group finder queues;

(2) the mage class (play a sniper in SWTOR);

(3) the world is more open and in my opinion better looking;

(4) the quests;

(5) the Adventure Guide (new feature, I guess).

 

I haven't done PvP or raids.

 

I used to really like PvP in SWTOR, but I just can't keep doing the same games over and over and over year after year. I've never enjoyed ranked: most unbalanced PvP I've ever seen, personally.

 

I still like PvE in SWTOR. I can't wait when they make more of it.

[light_senshi]

I have a sneaking suspicion that it's not directly the marketing department's fault. It's probably the case of someone higher up telling them not to share information and them being left holding the hat.

[ivanhedgehog]

Yay another thread about why the game is supposedly failing. Not like we don't have enough of these already. Why not add another one.

 

why not try actually adding to the conversation instead of just making a snarky remark? tell us why the future is rosy, tell us how the changes will make the game flourish. give us some numbers to prove your point.

[ivanhedgehog]

No, they don't. However, if you, as a customer, do not like that, you are free to take your business elsewhere.

 

you have evidently never owned a business.

[MeNaCe-NZ]

why not try actually adding to the conversation instead of just making a snarky remark? tell us why the future is rosy, tell us how the changes will make the game flourish. give us some numbers to prove your point.

 

illiterate ftl

 

Pot, kettle, black.

[ivanhedgehog]

Again, Disney had no rights to the game when they made the decision to go F2P as well as the development of the first expansion. Until you can provide viable proof( I googled and nothing showed) that Disney had influence over the game SINCE Hutt cartel and below then I will retract what I said. License from Disney didn't keep them from shutting down the game, we've discussed this.

 

Until then, all you've done is throw out statements with no ground to stand on.

 

disney's power is that they get to decide if they will renew the license. If EA shuts down the game and there are no royalty payments incoming then Disney is much more likely to say "NO" currently EA is licensed under the contract from Lucasarts. that will change when they renegotiate. Disney does 1 thing REALLY well...make money. If swtor isnt bringing in what they expect it to bring in, they will kill the license and let someone else take a swing. I imagine there are several big studios that would love to take a swing at their own SW MMO.

[ivanhedgehog]

Question, if they were going to shut down the game why waste millions on producing more content?... why not just poof its gone?

 

doesn't make logical sense to throw money at something just to unplug it? or is that normal for company's?

 

NCSOFT closed down City of Heroes 1 week before the issue 24 release was supposed to happen. It was in the final beta stages. The people making the decision really didnt care where they were in the dev cycle. they just shut it down.

[MeNaCe-NZ]

NCSOFT closed down City of Heroes 1 week before the issue 24 release was supposed to happen. It was in the final beta stages. The people making the decision really didnt care where they were in the dev cycle. they just shut it down.

 

Also I would normally say not Bioware, not EA, not something on this games scope however these very same people cancelled Shadow Realms with plenty of investment put in.

Still none of that came about from them not giving specific details on future content to their forum community.

 

Whilst the topic at hand comes across as just whinging for the most part I would say that if KoTFE doesn't perform as Disney/EA/BW/(whoever has a say in the longevity of this game) expects it to financially then it may be maintenance mode after that. Again that won't be because details weren't given 2 months earlier on the forums.

 

In saying that now there is a star wars mmo around making a profit they won't just have no product on the market and would look to launch an updated successor and that would still be years off unless it's already being worked on which I would doubt with the effort and scale that seems to be going into KoTFE.

 

Either way I feel fairly confident that there will be a star wars mmo for the foreseeable future. Major star wars movies are planned to release through to 2019 ( 4 years from now ) which doesn't include spinoffs etc.

A new jedi knight style game would be cool.

[Captjohnsavage]

while i agree with the Disney purchase as long as its making money its golden now my only beef is I think they screwed the pooch at game-con it was a great chance to show off a great new expansion and pull in a lot more subs but they showed a very non informative video with barely any cut scenes n almost no game play and really didn't excite the crowd.

[Elracor]

while i agree with the Disney purchase as long as its making money its golden now my only beef is I think they screwed the pooch at game-con it was a great chance to show off a great new expansion and pull in a lot more subs but they showed a very non informative video with barely any cut scenes n almost no game play and really didn't excite the crowd.

 

Well, game play footage would only excite the crowd if the gameplay is exciting. Consider Ziost here. The gameplay itself was pretty much the usual MMO "kill this, collect that" in every single mission with the cutscenes providing the exciting bits. I'd bet the same will be the case for KotFE if not even more emphasis on cut-scenes.

Edited August 17, 2015 by MFollin

[Karudan]

And yet, Eric came to the forums only a few days ago to announce they were trying to get Legacy Datacrons implemented. They don't know if they can do, yet he had no problem letting us know that it at least is in the works. Yet, they cannot tell us about changes to systems that are already in place and being actively tested right now? Utter hogwash. If the message is delivered correctly, then any changes made can be communicated and understood without issue by the playerbase. The key, though, is communication, which BW is still lacking.

 

Datacrons are a minor feature of the game. Its an optional activity and whether it is possible to make it legacy wide or not is of little value in terms of gameplay or direction of game. Where as the crewskills change is a huge deal to a lot of people. Companions are heavily tied in to them with the various bonus and also lot of people have a special attachment to various companions.

 

This is a very volatile subject, any information that is not final on this subject will result in some getting overly excited and some getting pissed.

[ivanhedgehog]

Also I would normally say not Bioware, not EA, not something on this games scope however these very same people cancelled Shadow Realms with plenty of investment put in.

Still none of that came about from them not giving specific details on future content to their forum community.

 

Whilst the topic at hand comes across as just whinging for the most part I would say that if KoTFE doesn't perform as Disney/EA/BW/(whoever has a say in the longevity of this game) expects it to financially then it may be maintenance mode after that. Again that won't be because details weren't given 2 months earlier on the forums.

 

In saying that now there is a star wars mmo around making a profit they won't just have no product on the market and would look to launch an updated successor and that would still be years off unless it's already being worked on which I would doubt with the effort and scale that seems to be going into KoTFE.

 

Either way I feel fairly confident that there will be a star wars mmo for the foreseeable future. Major star wars movies are planned to release through to 2019 ( 4 years from now ) which doesn't include spinoffs etc.

A new jedi knight style game would be cool.

 

you are right, it will be entirely a financial decision. both EA and Disney are in the business of making money and they will continue to do so with swtor or without. the communications issues might have something to do with swtors future, but more likely whether BW's gamble has paid off will be a much larger factor. we can only wait and see. I know that I wouldnt invest any of my money in bw austin at this time, but that is a whole different discussion.

[Andryah]

Consider this folks:

 

Why create your own marketing efforts for an MMO, something not everyone would like or play in the game world, when you can wait and leverage off of the wave of enthusiasm in the marketplace surrounding the release of the next (and subsequent) movie? Why waste the effort? Ride the wave and take advantage of it.

 

In other words.... other then the normal viral and internet marketing that they do... doing more would make no sense at all until the movie releases. Come the release of the movie.. there will be many tie-ins in the market place from stuffed toys to console games to this MMO. in fact, I would not be surprised to see tie-ins in a number of areas, including the previews of the movie as it releases.

 

I do see more KoTFE ads present on the internet then I have seen in the past couple years.. so it's not like marketing is not promoting the coming expac. But heavier efforts and reach to a wider audience really would benefit from piggy-backing the movie release.

 

IMO.. the game critics (many who openly assault new player amateur behaviors) should be more concerned about the large influx of MMO-noobs into the game once the movie releases AND once the new theme zones at the Disney parks (announced yesterday) go live. There is so much possible free leverage from what Disney is doing... wait for it.

Edited August 17, 2015 by Andryah

[EvilMark]

They have a release schedule, every piece of info has a planned reveal date. We may not like the speed of these reveals (I sure as hell don't), especially considering the gravity of the coming changes (permanent loss of current romance companions as companions is big enough to push me away forever, i do not care if they become NPCs, im too heavily invested in them), but it is what it is and ALL companies do this, for multiple reasons.

 

First, things are subject to change, and they don't want to advertise something only for it not to make the cut.

 

Second, there's the possibility that an unpopular decision could push away a large number of subs. Delaying info allows them to gauge the likely hood of that happening and possibly take action to minimize losses.

 

And finally, it helps build hype, which boosts sales.

[Xaehl]

I just re-subbed last night. No worries, game is winning now!

[Thoronmir]

I just re-subbed last night. No worries, game is winning now!

Ooh, two of my friends with whom I started SWTOR at release, but who cancelled their subs WAY back (before F2P), just renewed their subs and started playing again. They did so based solely on word-of-mouth (from my mouth) about the upcoming expansion. Well, that and me. Getting to play with me certainly sweetened the deal. Now that I think about, playing with me might have the deal-closer for them. Perhaps SWTOR Marketing should advertise a giveaway: Subscribe today and get 12 hours of game time playing with Thoronmir!

[DOHboy]

Ooh, two of my friends with whom I started SWTOR at release, but who cancelled their subs WAY back (before F2P), just renewed their subs and started playing again. They did so based solely on word-of-mouth (from my mouth) about the upcoming expansion. Well, that and me. Getting to play with me certainly sweetened the deal. Now that I think about, playing with me might have the deal-closer for them. Perhaps SWTOR Marketing should advertise a giveaway: Subscribe today and get 12 hours of game time playing with Thoronmir!

 

/unsub

[TUXs]

Ooh, two of my friends with whom I started SWTOR at release, but who cancelled their subs WAY back (before F2P), just renewed their subs and started playing again. They did so based solely on word-of-mouth (from my mouth) about the upcoming expansion. Well, that and me. Getting to play with me certainly sweetened the deal. Now that I think about, playing with me might have the deal-closer for them. Perhaps SWTOR Marketing should advertise a giveaway: Subscribe today and get 12 hours of game time playing with Thoronmir!

My sub is recurring...how much time do I get?

[Lionflash]

I can't tell if it's because I already play this game but I get so many adds for SWTOR on Twitch, YouTube, Facebook and just the general sites that I visit. It's either a trailer or a picture of Malgus telling me to try free today.

 

I'm not sure if I'm just being targetted because of my google searches or what but I see tons of ads for SWTOR. None outside of the internet though.

[Divona]

My experiences were from when I was there prior to the Old Republic, and I can tell you as a part of that community, it was one of the best, both in terms of engaging the community and knowing what to release, when.

 

You are basing their effectiveness off of commercials, when ad dollars for all games dry up the longer they are out.

 

It's about how they engage with the community they already have, while knowing how to use the industry trade shows to promote major releases and updates, and then knowing how to release information after the reveal to keep people who weren't invested in your game before, but were curious enough to check it out because they heard about the reveal from the trade show, stimulated enough that they stick around and invest.

 

BioWare fails at that like no other MMO I have seen before.

 

I played Lotro 5 years in row until came here. The difference between this game and Lotro marketing back then is huge. I still dont understand how Bioware makes same mistakes hiding upcoming expansion stuff until last minute or even after release while other major MMO*s doing opposite. Only thing Bioware knows how to advertise is by using 2-3 months before release giving out some small bonuses staying a sub and thats it.

 

By september Bioware should already reveal major update explaining how crafting changes and what happens with companions so that when update really hits in october we wont see angry players who ask refund and saying they were mislead by previous months adverstisments. Im afraid thats whats going to happen with many seeing what dataminers already digged up.

[flamezfan]

Is this the doom thread?

 

That's what I thought. The typical doom/gloom its so bad, get out now thread which rolls around every so often.

[Shirx]

People really do whine like kids being kicked out of the candy store don't they.....

[Sarfux]

People really do whine like kids being kicked out of the candy store don't they.....

 

It ever ends..