Are We In A Sim Gaming Dark Age?

[Spikes]

Nice write up..we will see soon if it is true..as KOTH seems to have other plans..

For what it is worth, we have tried to recruit some KOTH help for fuzeman for a couple of years now, but there never seemed to be any interest from the KOTH community and fuzeman has been left running the event by himself.

[Softail]

Iron wins the internet today.  I guess LTM it is.

https://www.hitechcreations.com/flight-simulators/2278-what-s-changing-with-our-combat-simulator-aces-high-in-2023

It is what it is.  Good luck with that.

I really like this part:

"Aces High will not change, just as it has not undergone any massive changes since we first introduced it in 2000, twenty-two years ago."

     So incrementally.....there have been changes that have changed the game play since AH1.  So F2P would just be another incremental change. 

     I can't count the number of game changes that have been put in place since 2000....but to dismiss them all and say this is the same game.... is untrue and really shoots ones self in the foot from a marketing standpoint.   Just basically say...we are and old game for old people....we will never change.  Then wonder, how do I get more people to sign up?   The only ones wondering that are the players.  Obviously, this game will run as-is until subscriptions fall below 10% above overhead costs.   Then it will get shutdown.   I would guess it would happen immediately after the billing cycle.  LOL.   

     I am surprised every time I successfully log on!

     Kill Red Guys!

     

[Eagler]

As it is the best ww2 a2a combat multiplayer going, I  hope it finds a marketing strategy to keep it going for another 23 years...or 10 as my eyes will probably limit my play by then 😀

I don't need much more than smaller maps to concentrate the action for the 100 some odd online when I log-on in the evenings

I have all the planes and graphics I need plus some fantastic players to team with or try to shoot down

Who/why ask for more?

Eagler

[CptTrips]

Obviously, this game will run as-is until subscriptions fall below 10% above overhead costs.   Then it will get shutdown.   I would guess it would happen immediately after the billing cycle.  LOL.   

I am surprised every time I successfully log on!

Heh.  On the good side, I suspect the remaining population is fairly stable.  Anyone who would have bailed because of lack of new innovation would have already left.  The remaining population is still here for the social network as much as anything else.  AS long as the forum, vox, and lonely gramps chat room chan200 are working, they'll show up to yuck it up with old friends.  Maybe with an occasional "Pew! Pew!".  That's cool.  That is a value to the remaining customers. 

I suspect the cost of running the servers (power and bandwidth) is probably pretty low at this point.  It just purrs away in his closet.  He could go get another job.  Just an evening or two a week to publish a skins pack.

So it can linger around in its current state for quite some time longer I suspect.  I see two big threats (assuming drawing in no new blood and burning through the remaining players):

1.  Natural mortality.  There is probably a fairly tight demographic curve for AH players.  Those who where in their prime gamer years when WB was at it's peak.  Think of a age distribution bell curve.  A few 80 yo, some 70 yo, a lot of 60 yo, some 50 yo, a few 40 yo, maybe some 30 yo ex-squeakers. As that bell curve shifts in age, cohorts start hitting their expiration date.  There are a lot more obituary threads now than 10 years ago it seems.  As the hump of that bell curve moves into their expiration date, expect an obituary thread or two a month.  Even so, it would take a while to drop the numbers so low that it wouldn't be worth the electricity or bandwidth to let the server continue to run in the closet.

2.  Another threat might be an economic crash.  I'd like to see a Lusche chart of how 2008 effected player count.  Maybe that can be inferred from changes in deaths per hour?  Hours played per day? People with marginal subscriptions they weren't quite willing to close might change their minds after their retirement portfolios drop by 50%. 

Regardless, if AH were going to have to shut down, I'm sure they would give everyone a couple of months notice.  I don't believe HTC would ever inappropriately charge someone's card.  But I'm pretty sure you were just joking.

[-gg-]

As it is the best ww2 a2a combat multiplayer going, I  hope it finds a marketing strategy to keep it going for another 23 years...or 10 as my eyes will probably limit my play by then 😀

I don't need much more than smaller maps to concentrate the action for the 100 some odd online when I log-on in the evenings

I have all the planes and graphics I need plus some fantastic players to team with or try to shoot down

Who/why ask for more?

Eagler

It really is.

I hope that HT can get more eyes on this game, because I think better exposure to search engines would help a lot over time. I think people that are searching for a WWII combat game are more likely to find War Thunder and even Warbrids before AH starts showing up in returns.

In my opinion, AH should be the top game anyone see when looking for this kind of game.

The website needs to have all the crap, old content moved off the front page. The front page needs to be a better landing page. The front page needs to have only content focused on what kind of game it is, and it's not hard to do. It's not hard to get Google to start indexing this kind of website with such a small, specific niche - to get Google to list AH in the top results for anyone searching for any game related to WWII or even just multiplayer sim games. Not hard at all.

[CptTrips]

I hope that HT can get more eyes on this game,

I’m not an expert on SEO, so I will assume you are right on everything you say.  That is something that might be worth trying, but only because it is almost free.  Try some different approaches and track you metrics and see if any changes increase discoverability.

However, I’m not convinced it would make much difference.  I’m not sure eyes on target is the main problem.  Conversion rate is the problem.

Steam is a platform of gamers.  Gamers who go to that platform do spend money.  They will have looked at the product page and seen screenshots and knew exactly what kind of game it was (other than thinking it had F2P plane-set like WT.  ).

I used to have the link, but there were a ridiculous number of trial downloads during the Steam launch.  Tens of thousands per month or something silly.  I think HT said he is getting around 1% conversion rate.  That could mean anything depending on your definition of “around”.  It could be 1.1% or 0.0000000126%.  Anything above zero can be rounded up to “around” one percent.

How many people on this forum came in fresh from the Steam launch and are still here?  If you are there I’d like to hear.  I’d be interested. 

It’s why it is silly for people to tell HT to advertise.  Or set up tables at air shows and hand out t-shirts to rando’s. 

There is no national media buy that will ever be more targeted to a potential player based than the eyes that were put on the product from the Steam launch.  If Steam players reject the product, you are not likely to have much luck elsewhere no matter how many eyes you bring.  Not enough to justify any kind of reasonable ROI.  I’m sure HT would throw money at advertising like a Congressman if he felt there was a positive ROI.

Bottom line is, first you fix the conversion rate so you can have a positive ROI.  When you understand how that needs to be solved, then you pour on the volume. 

The bottom line is the current product, in it’s current form, is out of sync with the current markets tastes and expectations.

The alternative is to just keep what you have for the customers you still have left and just leave any new content to what the customers themselves are willing to produce.  That is not an unreasonable business decision.  It’s just sad and depressing.  Feels like the end of an era.  AH was very innovative in it’s early days.  The willingness to break new ground and a relentless development pace is always what impressed me about AH.

It’s easy to forget how revolutionary the flat rate subscription was at the time.  And then they cut THAT in half again.  They were bold AF in their day.  They looked and realized that the hourly model was becoming obsolete and not what the market wanted.  They risked a new approach.  Sadly, I wonder if they’ve missed the same shift away from old school two-week trial and subscription model. 

[-gg-]

I’m not an expert on SEO, so I will assume you are right on everything you say.  That is something that might be worth trying, but only because it is almost free.  Try some different approaches and track you metrics and see if any changes increase discoverability.

However, I’m not convinced it would make much difference.  I’m not sure eyes on target is the main problem.  Conversion rate is the problem.

Steam is a platform of gamers.  Gamers who go to that platform do spend money.  They will have looked at the product page and seen screenshots and knew exactly what kind of game it was (other than thinking it had F2P plane-set like WT.  ).

I used to have the link, but there were a ridiculous number of trial downloads during the Steam launch.  Tens of thousands per month or something silly.  I think HT said he is getting around 1% conversion rate.  That could mean anything depending on your definition of “around”.  It could be 1.1% or 0.0000000126%.  Anything above zero can be rounded up to “around” one percent.

How many people on this forum came in fresh from the Steam launch and are still here?  If you are there I’d like to hear.  I’d be interested. 

It’s why it is silly for people to tell HT to advertise.  Or set up tables at air shows and hand out t-shirts to rando’s. 

There is no national media buy that will ever be more targeted to a potential player based than the eyes that were put on the product from the Steam launch.  If Steam players reject the product, you are not likely to have much luck elsewhere no matter how many eyes you bring.  Not enough to justify any kind of reasonable ROI.  I’m sure HT would throw money at advertising like a Congressman if he felt there was a positive ROI.

Bottom line is, first you fix the conversion rate so you can have a positive ROI.  When you understand how that needs to be solved, then you pour on the volume. 

The bottom line is the current product, in it’s current form, is out of sync with the current markets tastes and expectations.

The alternative is to just keep what you have for the customers you still have left and just leave any new content to what the customers themselves are willing to produce.  That is not an unreasonable business decision.  It’s just sad and depressing.  Feels like the end of an era.  AH was very innovative in it’s early days.  The willingness to break new ground and a relentless development pace is always what impressed me about AH.

It’s easy to forget how revolutionary the flat rate subscription was at the time.  And then they cut THAT in half again.  They were bold AF in their day.  They looked and realized that the hourly model was becoming obsolete and not what the market wanted.  They risked a new approach.  Sadly, I wonder if they’ve missed the same shift away from old school two-week trial and subscription model.

SEO will make a difference over time. It won't get massive amounts of players all at once, but it will get people who are specifically looking for a WWII combat/fighter sim game. And those people are out there. The first results they see now are thins like War Thunder and DCS.

The SEO is almost set and forget too. It's basically free, other than a little time.

[CptTrips]

The SEO is almost set and forget too. It's basically free, other than a little time.

Sure.  The price sounds right.

[Brooke]

A few 80 yo, some 70 yo, a lot of 60 yo, some 50 yo, a few 40 yo, maybe some 30 yo ex-squeakers.

I'm adding two 12 year olds for the February scenario.  (My daughters -- been waiting for when they'd be old enough to give a scenario a go. )

[CptTrips]

I'm adding two 12 year olds for the February scenario.  (My daughters -- been waiting for when they'd be old enough to give a scenario a go. )

Awesome. 

[AKIron]

I'm adding two 12 year olds for the February scenario.  (My daughters -- been waiting for when they'd be old enough to give a scenario a go. )

Enjoy it while you can. Boys will become their primary interest in a year or two.

[AKIron]

Ask me how I know.   

From 1980.

[CptTrips]

Ask me how I know.   

Look at those three youngsters.

[Nefarious]

It would be nice if we could create some quality shorts/tiktoks for AH.

I've been seeing a lot of WT and DCS shorts on Youtube. These could be helpful to train pilots in all sorts of different types of things.

It would also be nice to share special events and other news of the AH facebook page and other social media sites.

[Brooke]

Ask me how I know.   

From 1980.

(Image removed from quote.)

Man, time flies.  That is a sweet looking family, mr akiron