Steam Marketing

[SPKmes]

I'm a bit late to this foray ... but I agree with Pommy. It is not a dig @ the game...it is a dig...or not even a dig...it is a heartfelt observation..... wording is everything these days..... with so much fake..... keeping it real is liberating.....( and here is the obligatory not from America gibe at them ) I know...I know...a horrible word for some in America ( end of gibe )....yeah , yeah.... sad as it is.....because feelings, Trump words....(No not that Trump!!!).... and that feeling is good everywhere......Holy toejam...Am I wasted or what ....hahahaha

but yeah... I agree with Pommy..... and it is not about what this thread has turned into

I look forward to reading this in the morning   <S>

[CptTrips]

Read the whole part you quoted. It is all I hear about them..... if it ain't free they are not interested.

Yeah, because games like War Thunder have never made a dollar in profit, right?  Ever, right?



The market is the market Shuffler.  You either figure out how to appeal to it, or you go out of business.  It is never the market's obligation to adjust itself to your products preferences.  Those who stubbornly demand that, end up working as Walmart greeters.

You don't even have to go full Fremium, there is a whole spectrum of intermediate options.  Even having a small subset of free to play planes in he Melee could have benefits.

1.  It help populate an increasingly empty arena so the paying customers actually do feel like they are paying for a MMOG.
2.  It maintains contact with customers that would have simply uninstalled after a two-week trial.   

Every day they keep coming to the arena is another day you have to try and convince them.  Yeah, some will never convert and play the lesser planes for free for ever.  But over time, many eventually will, even if they had originally intended not to.  That is how War Thunder eventually makes it's money.  Enough, eventually over time, finally decide to convert to make them profitable.  They wear them down, but never discard them as long as they are willing to keep coming back.

AH on the other hand, unnecessarily discards potential customers after a short, two-week take-it-or-leave it trial.  And they are NOT closing the deal in that time-span.

You could get away with that in 1999.  I don't think it is working anymore.  Obviously.

Back in 1999, there were very few online combat options. You were yanking in a 5 lbs bass on 10 lbs test line.  Two-weeks, YANK!  Take-it-or-leave-it.
Today, there are soooo many options...you are trying to coax in a 5 lbs bass on 2 lbs test line. If you just YANK at two-weeks, you'll end up with a birds-nest of line in your lap, not a 5 lbs bass.
You have to work them in gently, even giving them some line when needed. You can't just YANK.  The most important thing is just to keep them on the line as long as possible and keep working them in, bit by bit until you can get a net on them.

What is being done currently is not working.  Obviously.  Unless you put your head in the sand and decide to believe in magic, that is not going to change unless you change something. Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting magically different results is what crazy people do.


 

[Bear76]

See rule 4

[CptTrips]

See rule #4

[Bear76]

I don't know that is so much a Hitech motto as it is some of his customers.

He is kinda in a hard place.  Even if he wanted to change things, there is a significant old geezer mafia here that would go bat-chit apoplectic if he dare changed anything from the way it was in 1999.

They'd rather just watch the numbers dwindle to zero as they sit around the cracker barrel whittling, talking about those damn free-loading Millennial's and their skinny jeans.   

I'm an old geezer too, but it is a matter of personal choice if you let your mind rust shut.

AH II came out in 2004, AHIII did't come out until 2016.  What games take 12 years to make a major update and survive let alone grow? Hundred of players left because it was dated . We were told a big thing called "Combat Tour" was going to massively increase numbers. It never materialized. Many were excited about it and got frustrated and left. I played religiously for 16 years so I have seen it for myself. I don't recall seeing you in that time.

[CptTrips]

AH II came out in 2004, AHIII did't come out until 2016.  What games take 12 years to make a major update and survive let alone grow? Hundred of players left because it was dated . We were told a big thing called "Combat Tour" was going to massively increase numbers. It never materialized. Many were excited about it and got frustrated and left. I played religiously for 16 years so I have seen it for myself. I don't recall seeing you in that time.

I agree that the abandonment of Combat Tour was a big disappointment. I personally feel like that was the inflection point as far as the loss of community momentum even if the actual numbers didn't really take a hit until the Recession.

I used to fly under the handle AKWabbit.  I flew from the first weeks of Beta until about 2004 or so.  I come back every couple of years for a while under different handles.  I came back recently when I saw they had added VR support.

So, do you have an account now?

[Shuffler]

Yeah, because games like War Thunder have never made a dollar in profit, right?  Ever, right?



The market is the market Shuffler.  You either figure out how to appeal to it, or you go out of business.  It is never the market's obligation to adjust itself to your products preferences.  Those who stubbornly demand that, end up working as Walmart greeters.

You don't even have to go full Fremium, there is a whole spectrum of intermediate options.  Even having a small subset of free to play planes in he Melee could have benefits.

1.  It help populate an increasingly empty arena so the paying customers actually do feel like they are paying for a MMOG.
2.  It maintains contact with customers that would have simply uninstalled after a two-week trial.   

Every day they keep coming to the arena is another day you have to try and convince them.  Yeah, some will never convert and play the lesser planes for free for ever.  But over time, many eventually will, even if they had originally intended not to.  That is how War Thunder eventually makes it's money.  Enough, eventually over time, finally decide to convert to make them profitable.  They wear them down, but never discard them as long as they are willing to keep coming back.

AH on the other hand, unnecessarily discards potential customers after a short, two-week take-it-or-leave it trial.  And they are NOT closing the deal in that time-span.

You could get away with that in 1999.  I don't think it is working anymore.  Obviously.

Back in 1999, there were very few online combat options. You were yanking in a 5 lbs bass on 10 lbs test line.  Two-weeks, YANK!  Take-it-or-leave-it.
Today, there are soooo many options...you are trying to coax in a 5 lbs bass on 2 lbs test line. If you just YANK at two-weeks, you'll end up with a birds-nest of line in your lap, not a 5 lbs bass.
You have to work them in gently, even giving them some line when needed. You can't just YANK.  The most important thing is just to keep them on the line as long as possible and keep working them in, bit by bit until you can get a net on them.

What is being done currently is not working.  Obviously.  Unless you put your head in the sand and decide to believe in magic, that is not going to change unless you change something. Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting magically different results is what crazy people do.


 

Free is free. If you pay a fee it ain't free.

Simple.

[CptTrips]

[bustr]

Where people get frustrated with Hitech on this path is they want to make a difference now and get him committed "NOW".

They want Hitech to respond immediately, while knowing pretty well in most cases he won't for many reasons. Foremost I suspect that the conversation, once he does take part, goes to heck in a few response posts when he won't capitulate and run with all the marketing opinions from our vast array of industry professionals. Vengeful personal assaults on him and his business acumen seem to be the standard as the whole conversation falls apart each time he does take part. And others hop in to pile on with their past personal issues with Hitech for good measure because he can't afford to ban hammer all of you while you take advantage of that.

So if I was a new potential customer and popped in and read these conversations, I would never come back. Now if the intention is to drive away new customers, you are still batting 1000 with this current iteration of the soap opera: Hitech you are killing your game and have to do what we tell you to save your OLD Kester from yourself. You keep accusing Hitech of driving away new customers becasue you are identifying for him how he is a marketing failure where it comes to the E-gaming industry. Then these posts do exactly that to any new customer who reads them.

It's amazing this company has survived so long with such dedicated marketing efforts for all of Hitech's competition working to drive away new customers.

Since Hitech doesn't answer you for obvious reasons while some of the long list of your ideas are interesting. Why don't you gents start a post where you list your idea with no personalizing, competitive justification, assaults on Hitech, or each other, and leave it at that? Add to it over time as you get new ideas ruminating on your thrones. Then Hitech will at least have a laundry list to look at until you guys can't take it anymore and 4chan it to death like your usual soap opera. I can hope it might last anyway. You may even stop your regular contribution to chasing away new customers.

[AAIK]

Guys, HT isnt perfect but the issue of saving a dying game is a song that has been sung for many a decade. Games like Ultima online or Everquest have been attempting to reignite the flame, the critical mass for as long as they remember. Warbirds as well hasn't given up.

HT probably needs an acute study of the methods of failure of games so he can avoid the same fate.

There are no new ideas under the sun but you gotta focus on the basics, the fundamentals to succeed. Things like exposure...

Maybe what we need are stories, videos and songs that celebrate what AH was and legendify it. Tales that talk of what once was, what is and what will be. Maybe if we all accept that AH is dying we might spare it that fate. Songs and praise to lament what we lost...

[FLOOB]

I agree with the OP. Advertising AH as a free game is going to lead to a lot of disappointed people and some of them will leave a review.

[streakeagle]

Step 1: People need to try the game.
Step 2: People need to like the game enough to pay to stay.

Marketing principally affects the volume of Step 1.
No amount of marketing will change Step 2.

No matter how good the game is, if people don't like it, they aren't going to pay to stay.

I know a lot of people between Tampa and Orlando. I know a lot of people all over the country. I even know some people outside the country. Not counting people I have met online through simming, and aside from one neighbor that loves FSX and intends to build a full-scale 737 pit, I don't know anyone that actually has the combination of time, interest, and money to play any flight sim. No one at work is even interested enough to come over and try my setup. Visitors to my house are amazed for a few minutes, then move on.

I know there are more people playing/flying than you see online in the forums of various games, but it feels like the relatively small online community is all there is. It is depressing. There is no shortage of shooter games or sports games, but most flying games are arcade quality and even then aren't nearly as popular as other genres.

[hazmatt]

Why don't we focus on solutions we can do as players? I am not currently playing any online games but I would love to see this one survive.

World War II online has been hanging on for a long time but appears to be in the same situation. Granted there's a much more FPS to that game but it does have some flying involved.

They offered a "hero" program where people could pay more then the subscription fee if they wanted and got some perks from it which I don't recall.

They also do fund raisers on Gofundme or whatever it's called for special projects. Maybe we could fund some advertising drive?

Airshows air museums etc. Maybe focus on places where people who have an interest go?

Maybe offer free 40 eny planes that you can earn perks with but then you have to pay to use your perks?

Personally I think that smaller maps might make it not seem as empty. I remember we had some map in AW that had like 3 islands  with bases and one in the middle that was nonstop fights in that area.

These are just some ideas off the top of my head. I think we should try to focus more on solutions if we're going to have this discussion again.

[streakeagle]

I just saw Ace High pop up in the Oculus Rift store. The reviews are brutal. People can't even figure out the controls and give up. They don't know a good flight sim from a bad one, just whether or not it is easy to get flying have fun. It is a shame to see one of the best WW2 air combat flight sims ever made ridiculed because it is too complex for the average gamer.

[CptTrips]

Really what should happen is that Warbirds, WWIIOnine, and Aces High should combine resources, man-power, and user-base, form a new combined company and produce a hybrid game that takes all the best ideas and puts them together.

There simply isn't a big enough online multi-player WWII market anymore to split 3 ways.  All that is doing is bleeding 3 separate companies dry.

(Hunkering down for incoming....)