A little too hopeful for PS2 and its advertising?

mefy · 2011-11-13, 08:47 PM

PS1 definitely had it's fair share of problems but the main reason why not many people played it in the end was because not that many people even heard about the game due to horrible marketing. We can look at the lack of dev support and problem which never got fixed in game etc., however I like to look at those problems at symptoms from a larger problem: numbers. If PS1 had a much larger player base due to successful marketing, i'm willing to bet that a lot of the 'major problems' as far as in-game problems are concerned would have been fixed, since more players = more money in the end which means more people listen to us more often(usually anyways).

I work in the marketing department of a company and it's my job to pull new clientele off the street that have never heard about us before. I know the importance of promoting a good product, and being able to compare it to its competition, and the power of building good relationships with these new clients so that they do the networking for us and tell their friends how good of a product and the positive experience they had with us, and that's what successful marketing is all about in the end.

Now, I don't play BF3 of MW3 and don't plan to... but it's really all thats going around in the gaming community right now, it's all everyone seems to play and all they seem to talk about. Can't really blame them, those companies create great games but more importantly, they have their marketing down. How many BF3/MW3 commercials have you seen? I don't even own a TV in my home anymore but have seen the commercials a few times whether at a friends house or a theater screen commercial, etc..

Every time I bring up PS1/PS2 discussion, people never really know what i'm talking about. If I show them the old PS1, all the do is laugh at the graphics, and if I show them the PS2 trailer, they say it looks like a Halo ripoff. I know it's comparing apples to oranges in the end, but most people just simply don't understand what the game is capable of.

I think one of the things this game and the people who talk about it should get away from is the sales pitch 'Battle with thousands of players on an epic scale'. Seriously... whens the last time you were on a PS battlefield with even 500 players in total from all 3 factions? I think it's a misleading phrase and until we can specifically deliver a battle of at least a thousand players on a single cont on a single server, then we should get away from this old pitch.

SOE is a big department and could easily afford the TV commercials and extensive marketing campaigns that would be required to get this games name out there to the masses, but the question is will they do it this time? It seems like SOE makes a lot of good games with potential, but always loses momentum when it comes to making its game known which ultimately leads to the games downfall in the end.

Now look, I know the game is in its very early infanthood, but if you expect any old vet players to be able to successfully promote this new game then we're going to need a much better trailer for starters showing a wide spectrum that the game has to offer, again I know the game is very young and its not to be expected yet, but I just cant sell a product if I can't compare it to its competition... Ya dig?

Ultimately though, actions are louder then words in the end. The successful population of this game shouldn't even have to rely on the old players at all, SOE has everything they need to make it happen, I just hope that my hopes aren't too high this time and they can actually deliver. I really appreciate the DEVs communication with the old player base, and I hope we can make this new game be able to hold its own out there against the other big wigs.

Sifer2 · 2011-11-13, 10:00 PM

I think they should save their budget until Beta at least. And then yes they should promote the hell out of it. I hate to say it but it probably needs a none gameplay CG movie just to impress the casual tards. Something I know they are capable of doing well since the DC universe story trailers were freaking incredible. They need something like that just to get some attention so people will look it up.

Then they need Dev walkthrough trailers explaining the scale an concept of the game to go along with it for the people who look the game up. Since BF an MW are such popular an well known examples of the genre I wonder if they could use that actually. Maybe some sort of trailer where it starts out with like a 32 player battle in some small place. The zooms out to show a larger conflict going on that rivals the biggest Battlefield 3 maps. And then have Galaxy dropships cruise in dropping people off, and zoom out farther showing hundreds of players and tanks an stuff. I think that is the only way to sell the scale of the game to the average idiot. Start with something small they are familiar with an then beat them over the head with the concept of massively multiplayer FPS.

Hamma · 2011-11-13, 10:48 PM

Another very important thing to remember is that this is a totally different day in age in terms of gaming. Word of mouth aka "Social Media" plays a HUGE part in everything.

Also, back then you needed a screaming system to play PS not to even mention internet connections back then. Marketing is still important for sure but I dont think you need a media giant like EA to make a successful MMOFPS.

HELLFISH88 · 2011-11-13, 11:19 PM

Hamma is correct. People keep forgetting how much things have evolved since the early 2000's. Everyone is plugged in 24/7 now. There are 7 year old schoolchildren sitting in Class with Smartphones possessing the processing power of the computer's we all played planetside on. Smartphones and Social media ceaselessly feed us information even without us searching for it in the first place. Gaming has surpassed Film in Gross profit and even in this horrid economy continues to grow at an exponential rate. Everyone is looking for a fun distraction to take our minds off our actual problems so don't think they're isn't a demand.

SOE know's ALL of this. Or at least our Development Team does. Pay attention to how effectively they are utilizing things like PSU and Twitter. They are releasing video Blogs and saturating all of the media which covers the gaming industry almost 24/7. It seems like every week there is a new MASSIVELY article popping up about Planetside and i do believe we are the feature cover article in the European edition of PC Gamer.

Yes, SOE fucked it up the first time around...but that was nearly a decade ago and I think it's unfair of us to keep throwing it back in their faces. They understand. They have told us as much. Don't you hate it when someone refuses to allow a mistake of your past to die? Higby is one of us. He knows what it's like to be on the other end of process. T-Ray shit's experience which is as valuable as Gold. All the Iconography and flavor that made the contemporary Fallout's such a Success? ALL T-RAY.

They got this.

We Got this.

It's only a matter of time.

______________________________________

RedKnights · 2011-11-13, 11:23 PM

A huge part of the marketing is going to be the fact it's free to play and will be available on steam most likely.

That ALONE will ensure tons of people will try the game, and most I think will enjoy it. You saw what happened with DCUO, where populations increased massively. I know I quite often will just see what games are free to play and try them out. At the same time, I think a front page Youtube ad would be sufficiently effective along with doing the same for Steam.

Those thing together will most likely be more than sufficient.

HELLFISH88 · 2011-11-13, 11:36 PM

Addition:

What I would Really like to see is some kind of Mass demonstration at some point down the road. Like maybe Next year's fan fair or after Beta has worked it's magic. How about we get a bunch of us player's and Fanboys together and put on a show for SOE to flaunt to the world? We could very easily stage some battle's during BETA to show off the interesting aspects of the game. Think of it like a giant Play. We could have Galaxy raids, Massive tank and Aerial engagements and Coordinated Orbital strikes all Narrated and presented by our development team. It would be like one giant Gameplay trailer.

The Terran Team is dug into a base, but here comes a New Conglomerate MAX Crash aimed at taking down the Gen! The combat is Fierce as Terran and Conglomerate Infantry and MAX units duke it out inside the base; but just as the shields drop and Conglomerate armor moves in to secure the Courtyard a MASSIVE fleet of Scythe's arrive and lays waste to both Terran and Conglomerate Air forces. Following the Scythe's come the Vanu Galaxy's which deploy Troops and light armor into the hills! Vanu Teams easily steal away the Conglomerates Tower and all of the sudden the NC find themselves surrounded and fighting on multiple fronts. The Terrans take advantage of this and from the brink of defeat push the conglomerate out of the Base interior and low and behold We have a massive, dynamic Clusterfuck battle to show off.

Time this right and we can even showcase Forelight's Weather and Day/night Cycles.

This may be just a bit of masturbation but I think this would be a great piece of media to really get the public pumped up! I remember Participating in the SINO Tests and loved every minute of it.

Squeegeez · 2011-11-14, 12:15 AM

RedKnights has some great ideas. What I'd personally like to see with advertising is fan made videos boasting the numbers possible. You know, the massive stuff that happens. Also outfit videos showing off certain aspects of play.

ooo, just read your post Hellfish, I like the way you think

Marth Koopa · 2011-11-14, 01:02 AM

Marketing will probably get rolling when they have enough of the game done to get some badass footage going.

Sifer2 · 2011-11-14, 02:05 AM

It's nice they are using twitter and all. But its not enough. I have not seen this game discussed on any forum except this one an maybe SOE's official one's. So the game is still very under the radar. Which is fine for now but they will need to get the wheels turning by Beta time.

It really needs one good trailer to get it on the map really. Something to get the journalist going and in turn the gaming forum crowds talking about it. And like I said an easy way to do that ironically is a none gameplay CG movie that is entertaining. Like Star Wars TOR has been abusing big time. That games actual gameplay looks terribad but those CG trailers are damn good lol.

mefy · 2011-11-14, 02:35 AM

Hellfish, I do partly agree with you that they are aware of their past mistakes, however I have not yet heard or seen any guarantee from them that this crucial mistake will be avoided this time around. Please correct me if i'm wrong.

It's cool and all to be on the PS2 bandwagon, as I am... I check this site everyday for new info and pics, just the idea of PS2 is like a dream come true. Again I really do appreciate the comms that are established between us and the DEVS.

And no doubt, social media is much more integrated in our lives then it was 8 years ago, again I will not argue that this will play an important role in 'getting the word out' for PS2.... however:

I think we should take the issue a bit more seriously then just casually pushing it aside. If we want numbers and a playerbase as big as most modern shooter games coming out have with multiple servers, then we will need a MUCH better marketing infrastructure with this game and like mentioned above, the name alone is still unknown to the masses and we're pretty much under the radar whether we want to accept it or not.

I really hope some DEV or something can come reassure me here, because marketing is really what will bring in the numbers, it doesn't matter how good your product is, if you don't have a steady trickling stream of new clientele, then your product will slowly die off which is exactly what my job is, to make sure we always have new leads and 'playerbase'.

This game will have a lot of competition in the shooter realm. How can we get some of those diehard shooter fans to look our way, instead of turn a blind eye like we're some red headed step child ripoff from the 'real' games that everyone else plays? I know we can do it guys, but the bulk of the work will have to come from SOE. Television and large advertisements is what will be key here. I hope they can pull it off this time.

Tapman · 2011-11-14, 05:00 AM

Think about it this way for a moment. They haven't even come up with final releasable VS character/weapon models, we don't even have an idea of when Beta is going to be released let alone details about game mechanics. In addition to that constant effort, the directors of this project are also on Twitter every day to post screenshots and updates, doing interviews with large gaming sites, and even posting on the fansite and interacting with the community, with the fans who have mostly felt ignored for 8 years and still sometimes gripe about the failures of the past. They are reconnecting with us because we witnessed the good and the bad and have kept the conversation going about how to improve this amazing concept even when we had no reason to believe it would ever be heard, they know that knowledge and loyalty are valuable assets. This is a complex project with several different teams all working on different areas simultaneously, marketing has to be timed properly.

Marketing comes in stages, you can notice the same trend for video games for years already. Once Beta hits they will have the numbers to monitor and record the type of battles that will end up in the series of viral videos that will be ogled by millions of gamers during closed and open Beta, just like Battlefield 3! The following videos are in the order from oldest to newest, all posted in the 3 months or so leading up to release, including one from a third party tester, observe:

The key here is viral, I think that there are enough other examples out there of how to get people interested enough to watch a video all the way through. All of the video footage released so far for Planetside 2 has not appealed to the masses, it is definitely more for the veterans today and new players down the line but they are mostly scenes and information you might see in the game manual. Once the development gets to the point where they can let us get our feet wet, I guarantee that there will be several videos that will come together to capture the attention of the masses, explain it quickly, and get them excited for it. SOE just has to make sure that those videos all find their way in front of people who have massive followings on Twitter, pay for commercials on TV/internet before/after release, get some billboards in high-population/traffic places, show it off in high-profile press events, PREPARE FOR THE NUMBERS, and then keep their promises to the community regarding things like not selling power and keeping us involved in the continued development. The recipe is there and they seem to be following it so far, at least in my opinion.

Corax · 2011-11-14, 05:18 AM

Originally Posted by HELLFISH88

Addition:

What I would Really like to see is some kind of Mass demonstration at some point down the road. Like maybe Next year's fan fair or after Beta has worked it's magic. How about we get a bunch of us player's and Fanboys together and put on a show for SOE to flaunt to the world? We could very easily stage some battle's during BETA to show off the interesting aspects of the game. Think of it like a giant Play. We could have Galaxy raids, Massive tank and Aerial engagements and Coordinated Orbital strikes all Narrated and presented by our development team. It would be like one giant Gameplay trailer.

The Terran Team is dug into a base, but here comes a New Conglomerate MAX Crash aimed at taking down the Gen! The combat is Fierce as Terran and Conglomerate Infantry and MAX units duke it out inside the base; but just as the shields drop and Conglomerate armor moves in to secure the Courtyard a MASSIVE fleet of Scythe's arrive and lays waste to both Terran and Conglomerate Air forces. Following the Scythe's come the Vanu Galaxy's which deploy Troops and light armor into the hills! Vanu Teams easily steal away the Conglomerates Tower and all of the sudden the NC find themselves surrounded and fighting on multiple fronts. The Terrans take advantage of this and from the brink of defeat push the conglomerate out of the Base interior and low and behold We have a massive, dynamic Clusterfuck battle to show off.

Time this right and we can even showcase Forelight's Weather and Day/night Cycles.

This may be just a bit of masturbation but I think this would be a great piece of media to really get the public pumped up! I remember Participating in the SINO Tests and loved every minute of it.

I am fully behind this idea 100%

Give SOE/Higs/TRay/the entire PS2 team something to really promote and push across all fronts of the media.

Something that pushes its games to the very limit. Script it out a bit for co-ordination purposes, to maximize the gravitas the filming has. Put out the call and roster asap across the forums here. Hell even stick The desginers of this game at the forefront.

Have em all say something like "This is Planetside 2". Then cut to the onset of the NC attack.

Have multiple dedicated camera men/women so there can be many many different views to see the game in action from.

Make it a lasting fight that starts out small (3 sides leaders) and works its way up until the continent is Locked. Show casing the sheer mind-blowing insane greatness that Planetside 2 can be.

And then cut to shots of each empires beachhead somewhere (or sanc esque) location. That shows each empires taking flight with a near uncountable amount of Galxies/Libs/Fighters etc.

We get everyone, all those outfits that are still rockin ps1 and all the players that will be returning. Lets put out the call to everyone that even thinks they might be there for something like this. I want to see this thing happen.

.......Fuck it, im putting a script together just in the off chance we can get something like this rolling.

Bruttal · 2011-11-14, 05:46 AM

I think during open beta they should have some devs doing live streams on like justin.tv or something. let them play the game and do some cometary on whats going on and what there trying to do One for each faction PS2-NC PS2-TR PS2-VS streams . yeah yeah exploitation other factions can listen in on the feeds to try and counter it but it's beta who cares its about testing everything to the limits!.

Mastachief · 2011-11-14, 07:49 AM

I think that the beta will give us plenty of opportunity to create fan videos promoting the games strengths once it goes retail of course. As for scale, poplock a cont in beta and all mass in one place take a screen shot and plaster the numbers across then do the same with *insert generic shooter number 6 here*.

The most important thing is you, promote the game and start now. My facebook has a planetside 2 album that i add everything to, each time i do this it gets plastered on all my friends walls including the people i regularly attended LAN parties with.

Our outfits have surely grown to encompass more games than just planetside and as such have attracted non planetside players use and encourage these people to follow planetside 2.

Hamma · 2011-11-14, 10:38 AM

Originally Posted by Sifer2

It's nice they are using twitter and all. But its not enough. I have not seen this game discussed on any forum except this one an maybe SOE's official one's. So the game is still very under the radar. Which is fine for now but they will need to get the wheels turning by Beta time.

It really needs one good trailer to get it on the map really. Something to get the journalist going and in turn the gaming forum crowds talking about it. And like I said an easy way to do that ironically is a none gameplay CG movie that is entertaining. Like Star Wars TOR has been abusing big time. That games actual gameplay looks terribad but those CG trailers are damn good lol.

I keep seeing people say this and I disagree 100%. This game is being discussed all over the internet, just because it isn't being discussed on some random obscure internet forum doesn't mean it isn't being discussed. I see referrals all day long in our web logs from various places talking about PlanetSide2.

I also had a large talk about this in IRC with someone saying "People don't know about the game". Well.. why not? It's been published on every major gaming news website/blog, not to mention PC Gamer print magazines and on Facebook. If someone doesn't know about PlanetSide 2 then they aren't reading about gaming at all and as such aren't very much gamers.

I realize PlanetSide could do all sorts of flashy TV ads but those seem like a total waste of money. Targeting specific gaming news sites and social media gets you at the people you want to know about the game without showing expensive commercials to people who won't play the game regardless.