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Should ArenaNet/NCSoft Advertise GW2?
patevan
Member Posts: 11
If you are reading this message, it means you know about Guild Wars 2. Most people who would come to MMORPG.com right now will see that the hype on the hype meter for Guild Wars 2 is #1 (at the time of this post). So chances are, people would click on it if they knew nothing or just a little about the Guild Wars games.
Then we have the people who played (past tense) or are still playing some type of Guild Wars. We of course know about Guild Wars 2 and are looking forward to it.
And then, there is word of mouth. Sure, word of mouth about the new Guild Wars 2 on all the other games is a good thing... but can it really spread the word that much to make this game popular (not to say GW does not have a great following). And also, arent we the ones who will be playing GW2 and leaving the other games?
Most people would say that advertising is not important... or, many just think "as long as I know about it, who cares about the masses?". But I feel that advertising plays a huge part and I feel that ArenaNet/NCSoft really need to do a little advertising.
We all know that they do not have the HUGE budget that Blizzard has in order to hire Mr.T, Ozzy and William Shatner. And heck, they are even making a major motion picture (from the director of Spiderman). But NCSoft is one that really only advertises on websites like this one... never any real commercials (except 1, see below).
But I am interested to hear if you feel they should advertise to drum up business to the masses who are stuck on their boring games and the ones who are playing their consol games while there PC's collect dust or the ones the who have never heard of Guild Wars. And I am not looking for "I would rather them spend the money on the game"... because the more people who buy the game, the more Guild Wars will grow.
I am not saying spend a fortune... but they should get that PR department to wake up when its time and spread the word! If they can do this well at getting us excitted about GW2 on their website (little teasers), I am sure they could make one really good commercial (maybe use Felicia Day to do a mini commercial with the cast of The Guild? But gear it to people who follow the series AND people who do not know what the heck the series is).
Here is the only Guild Wars commercial I remember seeing...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ag5Txijm-E
(the sad part is... its actually a Gamestop Christmas commercial and doesnt even mention Guild Wars -So who would know if they never played GW what the heck it was?)
What are your feelings?? And.... What is your Story? *grin*
If at first you don't succeed; call it version 1.0
Comments
I think they definitely should advertise it, and would be surprised if they dont considering their past success as well as what theyre doing with GW2. Doesnt have to be a massive ad campaign or anything, just a few commercials here and there would make a lot of people who are stuck in other MMOs and dont pay attention to other games aware of it and might bring in a big influx of players. It certainly wouldn't hurt, and it will have a big appeal because of the fact that it is B2P with no sub.
I must say that video that video is completely awesome. Funniest thing i've seen all day. Anyway on topic I think I think A-net has a good enough game to at least visually, to drum up hype from purely game play video's without the need for cinematics or famous celebrities if they for example use the warrior video.
No idea if it's cost effective to use that kind of money though but they did do a fair number of commercials for gw1 in Europe.
Arenanet relies heavily on word of mouth, at least at this point in development. I think there should be no official ads until the beta testing is all done with and ANet knows everything is running smoothly.
traditional forms of advertising is too expensive and not cost effective for this game
remember they do not have the same subscription based model as Blizzard has with WoW, and, in my opinion, the reason that Guild Wars is a financial success, is because of low overhead and operational costs
ANET is currently using non-traditional forms of advertising for GW2, relying on very popular social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter to spread the word, not to mention gaming sites.
if only half of Felicia Day's 1,745,765 Twitter followers buy the game because she voices the asura Zojja, ANET got themselves a hit!
i'm sure they will utilize youtube as a means of advertising GW2
so remember, when ANET gives out new info about GW2, dont forget to SHARE IT, REPOST, RETWEET, DIGG IT, and hype it up to your friends!
Have fun storming the castle! - Miracle Max
One thing you do not want as an MMO is that everyone starts playin g it at release day....
You want a continuous steady stream of new players....
Best MMO experiences : EQ(PvE), DAoC(PvP), WoW(total package) LOTRO (worldfeel) GW2 (Artstyle and animations and worlddesign) SWTOR (Story immersion) TSW (story) ESO (character advancement)
Advertising is a huge cost, especially if you use television or that media to advertise.
I agree, they should use some of the in-game footage for commercials. Or use a little bit of their trailer with the voices and a small video of them fighting in-game, add a few art scenes and you got yourself a nice commercial (without spending an arm and a leg).
As far as not advertising because of money, this is not a little local ma and pa store front. NCSoft is not large by any means, but I am sure they could spare a few buck (pocket change for them) for a few commercials here and there on selected channels during a good time block. Or at least partner with Gamestop again, but this time not make it so silly (yes its a funny video)... and for pete sake, at least throw up the Guild Wars 2 logo in the commercial.
The reason I say this is because where I work, they just hired a new security company to watch over the place after we close. Whenever I get off work, him (the security guy) and I talk a lot and I found out that he plays WoW. One night I said "Guild Wars 2 looks like its going to be really nice. Hope they can break the mold. You gonna get it when it comes out?" his reply was "Whats Guild Wars? I used to see them chatting about Guild Wars awhile ago in trade, but I just ignored it." then there was silence... crickets chirped.... then he looked at me and said "Why are you looking at me with that dumb-founded look?" I then realized that he was living in a WoW shell. I then unlocked the building, went to my PC on my desk and brought up the video's of GW2. He was very impressed and is now a GW2 Noob fan.
I agree, that was word of mouth. And I think Facebook, Twitter and YouTube is a great place to get the word out.... if you are friends with someone who is friends with someone who is friends with someone who is friends with the Guild Wars 2 group and actually posts it to their wall, who in turn posts it to the other persons wall who then posts it into that persons wall. Hmmmm... And I do agree with you... ALL of you should "SHARE IT, REPOST, RETWEET, DIGG IT, and hype it up to your friends!" as illyana suggested.
Crashing Servers... yes, that's a good point Bachus. Maybe they should wait to advertise till after the main flux of us fans have already started so they have a good idea what the load is.
But I personally believe that they should advertise. I know ArenaNet has a great following... but in order to make money, you have to spend a little money. Just my 2 cents.
If at first you don't succeed; call it version 1.0
Ncsoft doesn't like to over hype games with advertisements and such like on aion the hype came almost all from word of mouth.
They'll probably start advertising when it's near to launch but I'm sure it will still have a great population regardless if they advertise or not, guild wars is a very popular "mmo" among many people.
I Think they could advertise it, but the number of people that would buy the game just off ads would be pretty minimal. That's because of the exposure and excitement already flying around. The people that are interested are definitely interested. And those that don't know about it yet, will soon.
This is it, right here, period. That said, I have two real concerns.
(1) NCSoft hyped a product in AION that was completed roughly a year prior save the localisation. Let's not get caught up in the art of localisation and say that it is either bigger or smaller than it is; it is serious stuff but localising something doesn't make it 'new' and new in the sense that it has some understandable bugs that couldn't simply get play-tested out in an agreeable timeframe before the game hit market. We've read the reveiws and we know about the bugs, I think there still may be a youtube video for line-of-sight melee attacks going through walls (check aionsource.com's reviews section in roughly Sept-Nov 2009).
(2) ArenaNet is only going to be making box sales and, perhaps, NCStore revenue from this so they won't have very much advertising power and are really going to have to pick their targets carefully. NCSoft did to a fabulous job with hyping up AION, though, so they can certainly get the word out in a very inexpensive fashion...yet if they put some more money behind it they can do a much better job and actually make a good bit more back in the process.
(1)TL:DR must be your way of saying that thinking hurts. Then again, this may explain why it looks like you responded to the post without using your brain.
(2) It's not about community, is it? You just have nothing better to do.
Yeah, I agree.
"Some people feel the rain. Others just get wet." -Bob Marley
I'm probably one of those people who just get wet.
I think it's better for MMOs to advertise after they have a decent number of subscribers. Not only will the game be flooded, but if there are problems with the game, much more people will be bitching.
Gw2 should be advertised as you all said before, but only after making sure that it has no critical bugs and flaws. Advertising could be crucial in attracting new players, not only the old guild wars 1 ones.
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