Steam Marketing

[hazmatt]

I was thinking to maybe print up some flyers and see if I could leave them at the Dayton air museum or maybe hand out some at air shows. It sounded like people thing this was a dumb idea?

I'm willing to do something, but I would like to do something that would have some effect.

Anybody have some better ideas?

[Ack-Ack]

Anybody have some better ideas?

Yeah, address the problems that are causing new players not to stick around for their 2 week trial.  Unfortunately, there isn't a magic band aid solution and there are multiple reasons why new players aren't stick around.

[Biggamer]

free to play aint gonna work on aces high. Iracing aint free to play. World of Warcraft aint free to play they are doing just fine same monthly sub fees as we got.

it has been years since we have had a new ride put in the game what is people supposed to do once bored with whats in the game.

all these other games release new content all the time they don't go 3 months without putting something out and some even faster then that.

keep bringing new content to the game so people don't got time to get bored.

if it wasn't for bustr I don't think we would have anything new to look at every update released is for bug fixes for VR that 98% of the community don't have.

 

[FLS]

I was thinking to maybe print up some flyers and see if I could leave them at the Dayton air museum or maybe hand out some at air shows. It sounded like people thing this was a dumb idea?

I'm willing to do something, but I would like to do something that would have some effect.

Anybody have some better ideas?

I think talking to people who might be interested is as much marketing as we need to worry about.

[FLS]

Heaven forbid people have an open mind. Difference of opinion is one thing cast in stone is another.

Sounds like you think people should change their minds to agree with you. Is it OK to have an open mind and think you're wrong?

[guncrasher]

you know just about 100% of the ideas here have been proposed dozens of times before.  some have been implemented like well steam, it has thousands and thousands of downloads and a few dozen players that perhaps stuck around.  others are just plain silly, let's give them spits and zeroes for free. hell yeah, subscribers would stop paying and we would have world of spits and zeroes.  advertise, hitech has mentioned before it's not a good return on investment.  I saw an ad for aces high on history chanel, i think, a year before I subscribed.  I subscribed because my old squadies told me about this game.  not sure if we still have the we pay you if you bring subscribers options, think that worked in the beginning, not lately.

what the answer is, I dont now.  but dont get your panties in a bunch because you think your unique idea is not gonna work mostly because it has been proposed before and it wasnt a good idea then either.

I do know this thing works for sure.  tell your friends about it, maybe hitech could add a box when they subscribe naming you as a referal.  I dont know pay a buck or two towards your subscription for as long as the other player is a subscriber.

word of mouth works better than anything else.  I belong to the legion and I tell them I have a mission, I'll see you tomorrow, they all wish me luck and next day I come in and I give them short stories or make up bs to make me the greatest player in aces high history.  they laugh, but I do know this, some are interested and if they could afford a computer, I would teach them at least how to get off the runway.  some have come to my house and while hesitating to play if I had the money I would hook them all up and make a new squad, pigs on the wing with walkers.


semp

[Hungry]

Sounds like you think people should change their minds to agree with you. Is it OK to have an open mind and think you're wrong?

That was a response to Wiley, sure as long as its open to both ways, you must admit there are some here that are very close minded.  I must point out in my original post I wasn't debating or downing opinions, I simply pointed out that calling a section of your subscribers Dolts may not have been the best approach.  Other words and phrasing would have gotten the point across just as well

[Biggamer]

another idea could be "recruit a friend system" if you bring a friend into the game you get 1 free month on your account so does the new recruit also the new recruit has a 5.0 perk bonus multiplier for the entire month he/she has free.

[Vraciu]

Marketing not the issue.

Poor introductory interface the issue. 

Noobs are lost before they begin. 

[The Fugitive]

you know just about 100% of the ideas here have been proposed dozens of times before.  some have been implemented like well steam, it has thousands and thousands of downloads and a few dozen players that perhaps stuck around.  others are just plain silly, let's give them spits and zeroes for free. hell yeah, subscribers would stop paying and we would have world of spits and zeroes.  advertise, hitech has mentioned before it's not a good return on investment.  I saw an ad for aces high on history chanel, i think, a year before I subscribed.  I subscribed because my old squadies told me about this game.  not sure if we still have the we pay you if you bring subscribers options, think that worked in the beginning, not lately.

what the answer is, I dont now.  but dont get your panties in a bunch because you think your unique idea is not gonna work mostly because it has been proposed before and it wasnt a good idea then either.

I do know this thing works for sure.  tell your friends about it, maybe hitech could add a box when they subscribe naming you as a referal.  I dont know pay a buck or two towards your subscription for as long as the other player is a subscriber.

word of mouth works better than anything else.  I belong to the legion and I tell them I have a mission, I'll see you tomorrow, they all wish me luck and next day I come in and I give them short stories or make up bs to make me the greatest player in aces high history.  they laugh, but I do know this, some are interested and if they could afford a computer, I would teach them at least how to get off the runway.  some have come to my house and while hesitating to play if I had the money I would hook them all up and make a new squad, pigs on the wing with walkers.


semp

I have been playing the game for almost 18 years now..... I have kinda run out of people to tell about the game.

The "top story" on the web page is the F4F update from May 2017, more than 2 years ago.

Adding free planes and tanks to the game isnt going to cut a lot of subscriptions. Would you cut yours if you couldnt fly the pony only to fly the "free" planes allowed? I doubt that. I think seeing as the majority of players that have stayed are very much ok with paying the subscription and many have been here for years..... far past the time "most players get tired of a game and move on from".

Yes the game game is a "nitch" type game, but if there is enough elements to make it appealing, or not so many things that turn players off more new players will play it. Look at "call of Duty". A WWII FPS  game and it draw thousands of players. Why, because it has quick action and is easy to learn and get started in it. This game must be adjusted to work better with "todays" gamers as apposed to the rest of us.

Steam was a great addition, but HTC wasn't ready. Poor marketing and only half done VR killed the postings and now do nothing but warn away any new player. A relaunch with things that address those issues could help. Paying some steam "video gods" to re post about the game in its new format could go a long way in rubbing that tarnish off what is said about the game at steam.

Again, if HTC would be a bit more vocal about what and where they are going with the game players could help. "IF" HTC is would do a re-release at steam, the rest of us could help by flooding the steam boards with "positive" post about the game and the "new" format..... what ever it may be. If none of us hears anything "official" from HTC then we have nothing to push, promote, or can "spread the word". Everything is "hearsay".

Personally, as a customer I'd rather hear the truth than have smoke blown up my backside.

Wiley.

I'd rather hear the truth a bit more often! In a world where it seems to lean more towards "What have you done for me lately?" building a new server setup over the last year just isnt enough.

What can we look forward too other than maybe one more "Bustr" map?

[Ciaphas]

Aces high Sits in an interesting but difficult spot within the "subscription" based genre.

most sub based games have content injections at a rate that keeps the player interested. It would be hard to do in AH because of the type of content it already has.

We have a one shoe fits all asset list for bases, ships etc. These never change in design.

We have more aircraft than any other game of this kind and frankly adding more doesn't really have a "value added" appeal when you have the same ground content and two types of tile sets (Pacific and European) to use the content on.

So to add content that would keep the player wanting would be difficult.

The interface does feel dated and in my opinion needs some updating and there should be a step through mission for new players that would show them the basics of the UI, mapping controllers, take off and landing and how to fire guns, switch secondary weapons and how to fire their secondary weapons in all types of airframes (fighter, attack, GV and bombers)

I still don't think that will be enough but it would be a good start.

gamers these days like to see change in their gaming environments and in AH we have essentially the same buildings, trees, bases etc... on every map. It can get monotonous at times.



** While the software the HiTech uses is pretty cool, I think that other modeling applications would come in handy. All that is needed is the scale requirements, LOD file tree and the damage file tree requirements. **








Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[FLS]

That was a response to Wiley, sure as long as its open to both ways, you must admit there are some here that are very close minded.  I must point out in my original post I wasn't debating or downing opinions, I simply pointed out that calling a section of your subscribers Dolts may not have been the best approach.  Other words and phrasing would have gotten the point across just as well

Now you're being tactful. That wasn't so hard. 

[Shuffler]

Either way, calling posters to your bbs in a "marketing" thread Dolts, lol, every marketing manager Ive ever worked for is shaking his head in disbelief

He didn't call everyone a dolt.

[Volron]

free to play aint gonna work on aces high. Iracing aint free to play. World of Warcraft aint free to play they are doing just fine same monthly sub fees as we got.

it has been years since we have had a new ride put in the game what is people supposed to do once bored with whats in the game.

all these other games release new content all the time they don't go 3 months without putting something out and some even faster then that.

keep bringing new content to the game so people don't got time to get bored.

if it wasn't for bustr I don't think we would have anything new to look at every update released is for bug fixes for VR that 98% of the community don't have.

 

Let's point out the obvious problem with your comparison:

iRacing Team:  A lot bigger than HTC.

World of Warcraft Team:  Significantly bigger than HTC, and probably larger than iRacing's Team I would suspect.



Now, for some reason, I just cannot understand how or why they are able to bump out content "regularly" while HTC cannot....

[FLOOB]

AH had a large influx of subscribers due to AH tv ad. But I guess it wasn’t enough to offset the advertising cost? The new player retention rate has basically stayed the same throughout the boom and the bust. To me that suggests that public ignorance of the existence of AH is hurting us more than trial player retention rate. I think that is where we need to start. I don't believe there is much we can do to influence the new player retention rate. Most gamers just aren't going to like AH, period. Just not most peeps cup of tea.