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11/15/2004 release date (EQ II/ WoW)
kmimmorpg
Member Posts: 624
Both big games are being released at the same time? What is so special about this date?
Comments
It's placed within the same time when the United States experiences the greatest amount of revenue in one day: Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving).
More money is spent on Black Friday than any other day in the year and than any other country in the world. Companies are made or broke on Black Friday (hence the name). Black Friday also paves the way for last quarter earnings for many companies and the last quarter earnings dictates whether prices will be raised or lowered and if they need to hire or fire.
Releasing the game one week prior to Black Friday is done so that the customer can see the product, ponder about it, then purchase it (on black friday). SOE and Blizzard knows their fans will buy it right away. However, they can get more for their buck releasing it this way. Also, when they sell out of their products within the first week (they may do), they'll have a whole other batch ready and delievered for the Black Friday rush.
People who have to create conspiracy and hate threads to further a cause lacks in intellectual comprehension of diversity.
I rank that among the best explained answers I have ever received on a forum.
My guess was EQ II and WoW didn't want the other one to steal their customers.
Bravo En1gma. Black friday is the reasoning behind the release date. But you put it much more better than I would have. Good Job!
Explorer 66%
Socializer 60%
Achiever 40%
Killer 33%
One interesting point is that with both companies having the same day there will be a lot of pressure for both to not delay beyond the date. Both games have their followers but if one is late, some may buy the first one out just to see what its all about and then end up getting hooked into it and NOT buying the one they really wanted to buy which came late.
From a marketing perspective, a smart thing to do would be to announce Oct 15th then actually release earlier, say Oct 1st surprising the competitor and snatching up more of the market then they may have originally gotten with a co-release. Alternatively, if you were really not ready to release you could announce the 15th forcing your competitor to release in whatever state he/she was in and then pull back and release later. This may force your competitor to market a game which is somewhat buggy and turn some people off.
A week after Halo 2. People will be too busy to worry about EQ2 and WOW...
EQ2 and WoW don't have to obey the same rules the rest of the toddler MMORPGs must obey.
EQ2 is published by Sony, same company...They say it needs more time, it gets more time.
Not sure who publishes for Blizzard but I suspect they either do it on their own or have a rock-solid relationship with whoever it is. No WoW game has ever come out 'half-finished'....Delayed a year to finish it sure, but never half finished.
Considering the expected sales of either of these 2 behemoths what the devs say goes. If the publisher dosen't like it they can take a hike and someone else can make the garutnteed millions in profit.
It just so happens that both are ready to ship...BECAUSE they are so well funded and run:)
Nice sig Dryze...
Who do you thinks gonna sell more?
I personally have no knowlege of which one I like better, seeing as how my computer probably couldn't play a game 1/10th as powerful as either of em and I don't bother reading up on large-scale mmorpgs.
However, I'm gonna have to go with EQII. The name is more associated with online rpgs, whereas Bizzard (or rather, warcraft) has been known for RTS's. Granted Blizzard made the Diablo's, I think the impulse buys for EQ will outway those for WoW. But thats just a wild guess.
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Fear The Diseased Kitten
It's an equal race to who will sell more. EQ has an established MMOG base, where as Blizzard just has a massive fanbase all in all. EQ has a bad rep from their past endeavors with "The Vision (TM)."
As for the comment about publishers and devs having control. Nope. Marketing and the high ups decide no matter what. Every company will pimp the old "We won't release until it's ready" line, but they never follow through. Everyone I know in the WoW beta still say it isn't ready for launch mainly because it needs more content and balancing. Can it be done by November? Nope. Mainly because you just can't finish a MMOG on time. It's just near impossible. One thing that is not impressing me on the WoW front is the use of BitTorrent to distribute patches. This just isn't acceptable. Everyone knows Blizz has boatloads of money coming into them and could easily afford to put a patcher/server up for the game. Their CS is going to be flooded launch day (There's always a launch day patch) because of how crooked the Blizz BT client is. It seeds more than it downloads. I know it won't stop people from buying WoW, but it'll sure put a damper on the first day for some people. Not to say all Battle.Net people are stupid, but the majority of them are younger and some are less inclined to understand WTH the BT client is doing.
From what I've heard about EQ2.. it's shaping up to be pretty damned nice. Maybe it'll rekindle my fire for online games. I doubt I'll be picking up either of these and I get a discount on them = Hopefully they add some type of small PvP for start. I know they said they don't want to, but it wouldn't hurt to throw in some half-done duel option. We all want to hit our friends sometimes
Due to the NDA covering EQ2 I haven't heard much of anything else. Oh well, hopefully they have a nice open beta.
I hope none of what I say discourages people. All of my gripes are easily passable. WoW probably has enough content to hold them tight for the first couple of months. I have faith in the WoW team to plug the game full of content until it's bursting a the seams with it.
EB Guy
"I hired you because you're sexy" - My boss
EB Guy
"I hired you because you're sexy" - My boss
I don't think WoW will be released in November. I think they are running into a myriad of problems with class balancing and, to their credit, will want to iron these out first as well as seem to be at a crossroads as to what they want to do with the graphics level. This is fairly late in the game to be messing with the overall graphics. They have consistently said they don't want to nerf powers or still be testing them after release.
SOE has the benefit of being able to build off their experiences in class balance issues from Everquest and also only has to balance for PVE and not PVP (which is hard).
That being said, I think EQ2 will be out on Nov 16 and we will get a WoW Open Beta at exactly the same time. Both games will be great they are just aimed at a slightly different type MMORPGer.
As a curiosity - The day after Thanksgiving is the single best day for retail companies. Do you know which is the single best week?
Oh, and I think WoW will sell more for four reasons:
1) Hardware-wise more people can play it
2) It is less of a grind
3) PVP
4) Can pull from BLizzard's big RTS customer base
I will be playing EQ2.
Playing: Vanguard SoH
Played: EQ, Planetside, SWG, WoW, EQ2
I am probably safe to say that if WoW or EQ2 gets pushed back past the November date, some people will be getting axed. Pushing a product back even one week past Black Friday can cost them over a million dollars in post-taxed revenue.
So I am pretty confident, the boys and girls over at Blizzard and SOE are working 24 hour shifts right now. Also, it takes a minimum of 2 weeks to print, copy, box and ship the products worldwide. So both games HAVE to be ready for gold (ready to mass-produce) by November 2, 2004. If FedEx is their best friend and they have a crazy fast production team then I can see them pushing it to November 8th.
Also, for the question of who will sell more? I think WoW will..............at first.
People who have to create conspiracy and hate threads to further a cause lacks in intellectual comprehension of diversity.
odd, i seem to have been told yesterday i will recieve my copy of EQ2 on the 6th of november
Now the questions who will be able to pull off a smoother launch? Cd keys not working, servers crashing, logons failing, etc could play a big part I think in the very beginning. Especially in those newbie areas when you first start out.
I think EQ2 will handle it better though with its boat ride over for characters where I think you are alone so you aren't fighting for kills, etc while you learn the game. So you have some experience and level before getting put into the world with the option of getting a apartment/home right from the very start. I know that will be my first goal on my way of becoming some type of caster in Qeynos.
I know I will take a lot of heat by saying this, but I can tell you with almost complete certainty that neither Everquest II or World of Warcraft will be ready for release on this date.
If either one does actually ship, prepare to download many patches a few weeks later.
This is just my opinion, I hope I am wrong because I really can't wait for them both.
If by chance they do ship, I will be buying whichever I see first. I can't think of any other method to choose one over the other . . .
I think you are exactly right Tymora. SOE, in the past though, has placed greater importance on meeting a deadline than being totally finished and seems to have no problems patching after the fact.
http://retailindustry.about.com/b/a/052705.htm
I plan on playing both. Now which one will get the most of my attention on nov. 15? That depends who has the better launch. From what I have read I will get burned out of WoW quickly and end up playing EQII. Since I want a game to really sweep me away like the original Eq did my hopes are on EQII.
I think WoW will sell more than EQ2. For a few reasons. First, I think that there will be a larger crowd, for those who have been with blizzard, this may be their first RPG. Also, those that have played EQ in the past (this relates to my own personal experience, along with a few friends irl), some may have NOT enjoyed their time played (such as myself) and found out what SOE was really about and how they treated their customers and not to mention had a game that was half-ass 99% of the time, including new expansions (rushed) and things in the game that were promised to have been revamped and never were.... (Whew, sorry for that extra long sentence!). I could go on with more things that turned me away from EQ, but I choose not to. Don't want to bore anymore. Now, there are also the hardcore die-hard EQ fans to. All I can say is more power to you and I hope that you do enjoy EQ2. I will admit that from what I have seen, which is very little unfortunately, EQ2 does look very promising. But, I have lost my faith in that company, so I will not give them anymore of my money.
I have been following the development for WoW for a VERY long time, and I am so ready to start playing, and if when Nov 15th comes and it is released.. I will be the first in line with my hair curlers still intact to purchase that wonderful game!