Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Aces High General Discussion => Topic started by: mthrockmor on November 26, 2016, 06:26:11 PM
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When is HiTech going to market AH3?
The numbers have cratered, with large maps leading to mostly a horrible situation online. No need repeating the complaints, nor the suggestions, because neither of them matter. I have long suspected that HiTech anticipates AH3 will require all new computers, so slowly kill off the old player base in anticipation of creating a new player base. Fine. Step one, mission accomplished. Now, when will the marketing campaign happen? Or, when will you adjust the maps to reflect the numbers?
Note: It is highly unlikely an answer will be forthcoming, more likely this thread will be locked and I'll be banned for a period of time. But, we should all keep paying our $14.95. I know, and if I don't like it leave. I know, I know...
It would be nice for HiTech to actually respond in another way.
boo
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Who says HTC plans on doing any marketing? They have had the chance to push social media and have only fumbled along. Social media is free, all you have to do is use it. Just like that new movie coming out next month you have to generate interest one way or another. Posting multiple times on social media daily could help generate interest. Interest from that younger crowd that is sooooo much into social media.
As for chasing out the old guys with the old computers.... LOL!!! ya Im sure that was at the top of their list to do. My computer is 3-4 years old and runs the game pretty much maxed out, Im not going any where. Those that have lost out, it is there own fault. During the two years they took to create this up grade a buck or two put aside would have bought a pretty darn good computer when the new version came out. Don't blame HTC for upgrading, blame those that refused to upgrade.
Maps, I don't play everyday, but the only maps I see in play are the smaller maps. Poor game play generates the lack of action, not the maps.
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Funny...its cratered and everyone needs to just shut up! That's been the response for a couple years now. Sounds like a tribute to Fidel Castro.
boo
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Funny...its cratered and everyone needs to just shut up! That's been the response for a couple years now. Sounds like a tribute to Fidel Castro.
boo
I agree that numbers are way down, but so far we haven't seen anything new in the way or marketing from HTC. The excuse has been why bother if all they can show is AH2. Well AH3 is out, whats the excuse now? I think Hitech doesn't believe in spending money for a small return. Well, thats fine, but he has a free option available now in social media and he doesn't seem to want to use it.
They hired someone , but we saw very little from her. Was it too hard to get anything from HTC to post without letting out any secrets? Who knows, maybe she just wasn't the right person for the job. They did try the "boxed" version of the game in Europe, but I guess that didn't work out too well either.
I haven't seen much effort in the way of marketing from HTC other than the TV spot they had years ago and the boxed version they released in europe. What we say here on the boards isn't really going to make much of a difference in how HTC handles the marketing. When it comes to their business, they don't take much in the way of recommendations no matter how well meaning.
The same goes for the game. Very few recommendations are excepted. On one hand they have tried many of the "ideas" over the years in this game or the one Hitech built before. I think they have a pretty good idea of what works and what doesn't. On the other hand, TIMES CHANGE. Players are different, they approach the game differently and new things steer the game in unexpected ways. Could changes in the game make changes in game play? Sure, but would that help, or hurt more than what we have now?
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What are the chances HT is polishing this up to sell to another gaming company? Thus, they don't care about numbers, just technology.
Boo
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What are the chances HT is polishing this up to sell to another gaming company? Thus, they don't care about numbers, just technology.
Boo
Personally I don't think that is on the table. Who would pay top dollar for a game in its decline.... numbers wise?
No They have a great game, very good graphics and good setup with a small overhead, they just need to push what they have. I think Hitech is a bit jaded on the whole advertising thing. It seems he has been burned before. Thats why I thing he should be pushing the social media side of things. Its free! I wish I could get a few weeks off from work to spend time in the game to post to social media what was going on in the game. No big details like so and so was attacking NOE at such and such, but minor details like what was going on in the chat, what bases just got captured who landed X amount of kills and so on. Posting every few minutes with updates would generate interest.
Generate interest on social media and you start pulling more folks in. More folks in mean more players playing ALL styles of play. More styles means more action for everyone.
Social media is free, all it takes is time and a bit of imagination to spark interest.
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They should at least put together a social media plan and let the community implement. I'd even help.
Boo
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Personally I don't think that is on the table. Who would pay top dollar for a game in its decline.... numbers wise?
Maybe for the hidden subscribers like me. I'm sure I'm not alone.
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I agree but the again I don't. :old:
I send on a regular basis marketing suggestions to HTC but have had no replies :old:
I think they are evaluating my ideas and will get back to me shortly. :old:
Is it true sandles and socks are requires attire in the HTC offices?
Pipz was asking by the way :old:
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Seems to me that the numbers were increasing, shortly before and after AH3 went live. I'm still seeing a number of old sticks returning to the game.
Agreed...HTC needs to make the game more visible on social media. The every other month blurb on Facebook isn't gonna do it.
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Maybe for the hidden subscribers like me. I'm sure I'm not alone.
The quote is out of context, we were talking about someone BUYING HTC out, not subscribers to the game.
If HTC was looking to sell, Im sure he would want to get top dollar for the business, but with the numbers declining that would be a tough sell.
Seems to me that the numbers were increasing, shortly before and after AH3 went live. I'm still seeing a number of old sticks returning to the game.
Agreed...HTC needs to make the game more visible on social media. The every other month blurb on Facebook isn't gonna do it.
Agreed, it has been fun seeing some of those old names on the screen again. There are more otw if you look at the BBS. A few are looking to buy new computers this weekend and are looking to get back into it.
The issue will be keeping these guys. Granted it IS a holiday weekend here in the US, but a few times I jumped into the game I never saw the numbers hit 200 :(
Case in point, about 5-6 of us rooks were hitting a Bish island with a like number defending. With 2 CV off the coast the flights in were only a few minutes, and the CVs were far enough out that the Bish weren't fighting under our cv puffy ack. We almost had it a couple of time but "resupply" bit us on the ass. We did a quick turn about and grabbed the V base they were using to resupply, and then turned our attack back towards the airfield.
This battle went on for almost a couple of hours. Even after the CV got sunk we kept up enough pressure while we had to defend the V base. A fun time just like the old days. Numbers stayed fairly even thought it all. Lots of deaths and kills had by all. No pickers to ruin the fun. No spawn campers at the fields. I don't even think we ever dropped the hangers, tho they did drop both cv's eventually.
I dont know what happened from the Bish stand point but all of a sudden I guess it looked like we were too close, or maybe we were just having too much fun, but the "horde" had to come in and suicide into the cv that was closing again, and 20+ guys came in to take a V base. :rolleyes: From then on it was hordes on both fronts. Needless to say I logged not too long after that.
These guys coming back left for a reason. My guess is they will be reminded of the reason soon after loggin back in. We need more players, and the game needs to be tweaked a bit to put the emphasis back on fighting not just on rolling bases.
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Antisocial media. Many do not use it at all.
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Antisocial media. Many do not use it at all.
but a very great many do use it. This is a pool they can draw new players from.
Your already hooked, you dont need to join facebook :devil
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Antisocial media. Many do not use it at all.
Social media is the current and future way of advertising, and like Fugi said...it is absolutely free. No need to pay for a commercial to air anymore. Just make a video and post it on FB, watch people share it and get the word out.
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We need more players, and the game needs to be tweaked a bit to put the emphasis back on fighting not just on rolling bases.
I'm seeing quite a bit more pure air combat, although the base grabbing still goes on. NDIsles map is always good for a dedicated dog fights on center isle.
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The quote is out of context, we were talking about someone BUYING HTC out, not subscribers to the game.
If HTC was looking to sell, Im sure he would want to get top dollar for the business, but with the numbers declining that would be a tough sell.
Not out of context. I knew exactly what you said.
Anyone wanting to buy a business like HTC is going to pay for subscribers, not players. While I'm sure numbers are down I also suspect there's a reasonable contingent of people who hold onto their subscriptions without actively playing.
Another factor in that purchase decision is in how sticky the subscriber base is. I suspect HT's subscriber base is pretty sticky.
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..... I also suspect there's a reasonable contingent of people who hold onto their subscriptions without actively playing.
Another factor in that purchase decision is in how sticky the subscriber base is. I suspect HT's subscriber base is pretty sticky.
I'm one of those in a sense. This is the only puter game that interests me. I maintain my subscription, despite periodic months of of little or no activity in the game.....depends on what else is going on in RL at the time. I do so because I want this game to be here when I do want to play, and realize it's a small outfit with a limited player base, it so I feel it worthwhile to support Hitech whether I'm active or not.
Another thought on the value of social networking. My oldest son started a successful online business, logicalincrements.com, with a guy from Malaysia that he met online. I recall early on that they got a huge boost in traffic from someone posting about the site on Reddit. I know little about Reddit, but apparently the post caught a lot of attention. The day of the Reddit post, the site received so much traffic that it shut down the Amazon server that was hosting the site.
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All we need is scantly clad women to promote this game on social media. With hot models wearing aces high 3 swim suits and raving about how much fun it is to play, should increase player numbers. Look what kate upton did for game of war. Hitec should see if she would be onboard to do a commercial for aces high 3. She could say things like Fly Fast and live or spawn quickly do not delay. Will you be my copilot!!
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A twitch commercial for Aces High on War Thunder, IL2, World of Tanks, and that ship game would probably pull some people over....the commericial should focus on the flight model honestly which is where Aces High has it's major advantage over many games.
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Social media is the current and future way of advertising, and like Fugi said...it is absolutely free. No need to pay for a commercial to air anymore. Just make a video and post it on FB, watch people share it and get the word out.
It is not the current or future of advertising. That is why you see folks begging for likes on these boards and others. Facebook is more of a game with poor security.
Facebook is not free. Your information is worth money to other companies.
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Marketing is fine and dandy.. good idea.
A better idea would be first adjusting game mechanics to provoke combat, not sissyness. You know, to give them something to get addicted to, bot bored from.
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Sorry guys... but I'd pony (no pun intended) up $25-$30 to keep this game
up and running :rock
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It is not the current or future of advertising. That is why you see folks begging for likes on these boards and others. Facebook is more of a game with poor security.
Facebook is not free. Your information is worth money to other companies.
Then please explain away why every game which has a facebook/twitter/instagram/google+/etc also has thousands or hundreds of thousands or millions more players than this game. Surely it cannot be any sort of modern marketing tool.
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Then please explain away why every game which has a facebook/twitter/instagram/google+/etc also has thousands or hundreds of thousands or millions more players than this game. Surely it cannot be any sort of modern marketing tool.
They don't have just a facebook/twitter et al account. That's just a part of the marketing game. You must have that stuff today, but that alone doesn't bring in anything. Note HTC has a facebook page too...
Effective marketing / advertising is still not for free. Not at all.
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Sorry guys... but I'd pony (no pun intended) up $25-$30 to keep this game
up and running :rock
So would I if I were still in the workforce but health issues forced retirement last year. Fixed income = tight budget. I'd be gone over $20 @ month.
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Sorry guys... but I'd pony (no pun intended) up $25-$30 to keep this game
up and running :rock
Bumping the subscription rate would get rid of the rif-raf, and give the arenas even smaller numbers.
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Maybe the real answer could be that the "investors" of the game are so rich, that they use this game as a tax write off. If that was the case, then the money spent on marketing would be tax write off as well.
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Sorry guys... but I'd pony (no pun intended) up $25-$30 to keep this game
up and running :rock
That wouldn't help the long run
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I we old think the value is not the player base but the new game design. Maybe a young company acquired it, integrates it into something else, and voila.
An organic, social media campaign needs to be developed.
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I we old think the value is not the player base but the new game design. Maybe a young company acquired it, integrates it into something else, and voila.
An organic, social media campaign needs to be developed.
Twitch, Youtube(falling off a bit now),Twitter and Reddit.....that's where the gamers of the interwebs hang out the most. Facebook is more about politics and social status now
Would be nice to see a big twitch streamer or youtuber start playing Aces High...there's guys that play a game and 5K people get the game just to try to play with them.(I dont know an actual number but it's a lot) (Summit1G, Lyric, Vanoosgaming, ect ect)
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Hmm just saw this , All that can Join be there Dec 7 for the live stream event.
http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,383427.0.html (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,383427.0.html)
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Based on the limited experience I have from my squad and some close friends here concerning numbers online:
Only one have not made it into AH3 due to old computer / graphic card.
2 refuse to fly (but kept account ) until water can be seen as water with wakes.
Others have complained about ENY with players non-upped planes/vehicles that are included, and wait until ENY restrictions ease off.
Some fly less since base-taking is much harder since uppers in planes are far less, replaced by pesky wirbies spawning / M3 hordes resupplying within a minute or 2 (this includes me).
Add to this more acks makes it harder since many seem to chose to man them than upping in planes.
I fly more deacking missions than in AH2, but these M3's resupplying missions make these missions almost void.
My 2 öre.
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Maybe the real answer could be that the "investors" of the game are so rich, that they use this game as a tax write off. If that was the case, then the money spent on marketing would be tax write off as well.
All businesses have tax write offs. If you owned a business you'd know they have lots of taxes that can't be written off. For instance, did you know that every computer, chair, desk, machine, vehicle, etc., the company has to pay a tax on even though they own it? Then there is property tax, which can go up far more than your homestead. Then the tax on the building including upgrades. Matching the payroll tax you pay in. Lots of taxes when you own a business.
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All businesses have tax write offs. If you owned a business you'd know they have lots of taxes that can't be written off. For instance, did you know that every computer, chair, desk, machine, vehicle, etc., the company has to pay a tax on even though they own it? Then there is property tax, which can go up far more than your homestead. Then the tax on the building including upgrades. Matching the payroll tax you pay in. Lots of taxes when you own a business.
Never owned a business. I have been told of a few businesses that have been used as a total write off. Just saying the lack of marketing could be relative to business write off or tax write off. For poor boy like me, all sounds the same to me. Rich investors doing what they know best.
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Never owned a business. I have been told of a few businesses that have been used as a total write off. Just saying the lack of marketing could be relative to business write off or tax write off. For poor boy like me, all sounds the same to me. Rich investors doing what they know best.
Total write off is a misnomer. You can write off a percentage of a machine you buy. You can do it over a period of years or in certain circumstances you can write most of it off in a year or two. That is most of the taxable worth of the purchase. Not the whole machine. You still owe yearly taxes on the machine as long as you own it.
Most folks would be shocked at how businesses are taxed and how much have to be paid. That is even with the so called write offs.
If you own a business that has no brick and mortar then you miss out on quite a bit of that fun.
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Antisocial media. Many do not use it at all.
What % equal many? http://www.pewinternet.org/2016/11/11/social-media-update-2016/ (http://www.pewinternet.org/2016/11/11/social-media-update-2016/)
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Total write off is a misnomer. You can write off a percentage of a machine you buy. You can do it over a period of years or in certain circumstances you can write most of it off in a year or two. That is most of the taxable worth of the purchase. Not the whole machine. You still owe yearly taxes on the machine as long as you own it.
Most folks would be shocked at how businesses are taxed and how much have to be paid. That is even with the so called write offs.
If you own a business that has no brick and mortar then you miss out on quite a bit of that fun.
As a small business owner taxes are what kill us.
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What % equal many? http://www.pewinternet.org/2016/11/11/social-media-update-2016/ (http://www.pewinternet.org/2016/11/11/social-media-update-2016/)
Looks like about 40% of men over 50 aren't using the most popular social media (Facebook). I'm guessing that is an important demographic for AH.
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One of the problems is that for the most part the only people who play this game are elderly english speaking north americans. Only a tiny amount of foriegners play AH. At 0400 US central time the MA is for all practical purposes empty. Once again the yanks are the only ones pulling their own weight. Africans, eurasians, aussies and pacific islanders and south americans all need to step up and start doing their part!
Also AH is a boutique game, I've played off and on since 1999 and HTC has never seemed bothered by low numbers of subscribers, in fact it seems like they like it that way. That's something forum posters often fail to consider.
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Looks like about 40% of men over 50 aren't using the most popular social media (Facebook). I'm guessing that is an important demographic for AH.
Even more misleading is the fact that many people with Facebook accounts never use Facebook. They have an account so they can post on a news site or some other site that only allows Facebook post. Facebook otherwise never gets used.
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I reckon advertising will come when stutters are gone..
It would be a Broken product shoved out into the market to proceed now..
Bet it is infuriating them no end
Also as non mercian...doing my bit..I do have Facebook but it is not going to show what video games I play..aces high is a guilty pleasure for me..its not something I shout about..
Hope they iron out the stutters and get some ads on tv or the Internet or even your Facebook..twitter.myspace !..anywhere really..and we get some numbers back...we need the numbers globally too..!
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Even more misleading is the fact that many people with Facebook accounts never use Facebook. They have an account so they can post on a news site or some other site that only allows Facebook post. Facebook otherwise never gets used.
Where is this study posted?
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Looks like about 40% of men over 50 aren't using the most popular social media (Facebook). I'm guessing that is an important demographic for AH.
Important, but not what I would consider "not many"...