So I'm watching the military channel and guess what?

[lefty2]

So I'm watching the military channel in the background and twice in one hour an ad comes on world of tanks we have 100 million players. I pulled up the roster and looked we had 50 players on at the time. Ya, ya, I'm sure 100 million is a little bit of a stretch of advertising imagination, but whatever it is I'm sure it's a lot better than 50. Who would've guessed it would appear that if you advertise people find your game and play. Imagine that. Advertising equals players think of it, it must be rocket science.

[Blooz]

AH3 actually has 200 million subscribers. Twice as much as WoT.

8 actual humans and 199,999,992 shade accounts.

[lefty2]

now thats funny!

[Bizman]

I've figured that WoT is a "free" game where you have to register in order to play. My question is, does anyone ever unregister from WoT? Or are the only losses in the player count those that have been permanently banned for cheating?

Knowing the number of paying subscribers is the only valid method to compare the real player count. The monthly fee for AH is an easy way to tell the number of active subscribers, for WoT you'd have to keep score about players making upgrades to their vehicles by using credits, bought or earned, during a relatively short time. A year might be too long a period considering the amount of early teenagers who'd download the game, die a lot, pay for the best gear, die still a lot, quit for frustration.

[Ack-Ack]

Here's the thing about the WoT numbers, they only count registered accounts and not the actual numbers that play the game.  It's a common marketing gimmick.

[dirtdart]

Anything you can play on a phone, like angry birds, is going to have a huge player base. I play wot while waiting to get a haircut.

[DmonSlyr]

1. Free to play

2. Easy to play

3. Much bigger investment capital for non stop commercials

4. What AKAK said

[Spikes]

1. Free to play

That sort of business model has been taking over in recent years. Unfortunately AH isn't set up very well to use that business model.

[Chalenge]

And let us hope it never does. While it is great for generating income over the short haul, eventually it catches up and then you have to charge for upgrades and any services you offer.

[Mystic2]

the main reason I started playing this all those many years ago was a commercial I saw on the Military Channel... was a good commercial.... Maybe HT would do a contest like he had a few years ago, and let the customer base create a commercial.....

[The Fugitive]

the main reason I started playing this all those many years ago was a commercial I saw on the Military Channel... was a good commercial.... Maybe HT would do a contest like he had a few years ago, and let the customer base create a commercial.....

The problem is that Hitech said the commercial didn't generate enough interest to cover the investment made to make/air the commercial. Which is why I think he may be a bit gun shy to do it again.

However there are many other options. Advertising in Model makers magazines, flying magazines and so on. The social media angle is a huge opportunity if used properly. In a few months the WWII air shows will start back up again. What if HTC built a booth and shipped it around the country to players that would volunteer to run it at each show. HTC pays for literature and fees, maybe a computer with an air card and a login to let people give it a try at the shows, volunteers sign a contract to setup and break down the booth. Heck give the "volunteers"  6 months or a year free to do it. All of these things are much cheaper than making and airing a TV commercial.

[1stpar3]

The problem is that Hitech said the commercial didn't generate enough interest to cover the investment made to make/air the commercial. Which is why I think he may be a bit gun shy to do it again.

However there are many other options. Advertising in Model makers magazines, flying magazines and so on. The social media angle is a huge opportunity if used properly. In a few months the WWII air shows will start back up again. What if HTC built a booth and shipped it around the country to players that would volunteer to run it at each show. HTC pays for literature and fees, maybe a computer with an air card and a login to let people give it a try at the shows, volunteers sign a contract to setup and break down the booth. Heck give the "volunteers"  6 months or a year free to do it. All of these things are much cheaper than making and airing a TV commercial.

That could work, I do believe. When I was in Ca. last year, I got to got down to an Air Museum in Palm Springs I believe it was They had a flight sim visitors could play, several actually, Microsoft Flight Sim and Combat Flight Simulator 2 the Pacific theater. There were about 5o visitors at the time, and 30 of them were in line to try the simulators.

[puller]

I don't understand how the military channel commercials didn't work...I for one saw it in 05 and am still here and as I have seen many many more saw this same commercial and are still here... How much could a commercial on an obscure cable channel cost... Well its affiliated with discovery so it might be alot

[DmonSlyr]

I don't understand how the military channel commercials didn't work...I for one saw it in 05 and am still here and as I have seen many many more saw this same commercial and are still here... How much could a commercial on an obscure cable channel cost... Well its affiliated with discovery so it might be alot

The military channel didn't have a broad enough base really. Commercials are expensive so I understand. I think there would prolly be a much larger attraction if it were on comedy Central, fox, history channel, AMC, ect. If you had a really kick bellybutton commercial on a bigger name channel it would probably bring a lot of new comers at least for the 2 week (month, I think) trial.

[Bizman]

One issue is that many people don't actually watch TV any more in the way people used to. No more reading the program list on the daily paper, no more sitting in front of the telly at a given time. They rather use online services or record the programs so they can skip the ads. This is true especially among the young professionals who like to control their spare time to the max. What, where, when... They are hard to reach but they tend to spend the most money for their leisure.