Are we lacking advertising?

I hope I'm not breaking any rules with this post, so I'll be super careful.

A certain other MMORPG is going above and beyond with their advertising...and...still nothing for CoX. This other game is now advertising on their very own mountain dew flavors (which, by the way, is advertised on television). And now...they may even get their own movie.

I know CoX is popular and all, but am I the only one thinking a little advertising is in order? It just seems strange that other games are going through all this trouble and we...well...just get people XD

You are not the only one that thinks Paragon Studios should do a touch of advertising.

However, I think it is absurd that a Video Game has its name slapped on a soda... sometimes enough is too much.

Command & Conquer Orange Crush... yum!

While watching Big Bang Theory, I saw no less than 7 large CoX advertisements in a comic book store they gang was in. While this is fine, this in no way leverages the property to coincide with the current Superhero movie and media trend. Superheroes are outrageously popular right now, but the only ads for CoX i see are in shows that cater to our demographic (the geeks).

WoW advertises to the masses. Their ads are *everywhere* so they get a huge cross section of the population that at the very least tries the game long enough to inflate their numbers.

I also feel that Paragon is doing the game a disservice by not advertising anywhere near enough.

I was brought into the game by word of mouth. i had never even heard of it until 3 years ago. I even had the "bootleg edition" disks sitting in a stack, not knowing what this game was, and not caring enough to load it up.

Please, Paragon. Advertise in places other than Chuck and Big Bang Theory. Non-geeks LOVE superheroes right now. Why aren't the numbers swelling?

You can't compare any other MMO to World of Warcraft. WoW is an entirely different beast. Blizzard already had hardcore gamers in their pocket with Diablo and the Starcraft/Warcraft RTS games. Their fanbase was in the millions before WoW even went into beta - not to mention they own Asia.

No amount of advertising is going to get CoX even remotely close to WoW's subscription count, even if you just count the U.S. To match or even outdo WoW, an MMO has to set out to do it from the start - ala the currently in production Warhammer 40K MMO.

CoX is a niche game and there's nothing wrong with that. It has it's own space and for the most part keeps it's subscriptions at a steady level. It could be doing a lot worse.

Honestly, the OP should be more concerned with the competition around the corner (Champions Online) and the competition on the horizon (DC Universe Online and the in-production Marvel Universe). The superhero MMO space is about to become very crowded.

[ QUOTE ]
While watching Big Bang Theory, I saw no less than 7 large CoX advertisements in a comic book store they gang was in. While this is fine, this in no way leverages the property to coincide with the current Superhero movie and media trend. Superheroes are outrageously popular right now, but the only ads for CoX i see are in shows that cater to our demographic (the geeks).

WoW advertises to the masses. Their ads are *everywhere* so they get a huge cross section of the population that at the very least tries the game long enough to inflate their numbers.

I also feel that Paragon is doing the game a disservice by not advertising anywhere near enough.

I was brought into the game by word of mouth. i had never even heard of it until 3 years ago. I even had the "bootleg edition" disks sitting in a stack, not knowing what this game was, and not caring enough to load it up.

Please, Paragon. Advertise in places other than Chuck and Big Bang Theory. Non-geeks LOVE superheroes right now. Why aren't the numbers swelling?

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First off, when I saw the amount of CoX stuff in the Big Bang Theory episodes I squealed like a little girl, nice to know someone else saw that in the show and it wasn't me.

Secondly, when you mentioned that WoW was everywhere, the WoW commercials with Ozzy Ozbourne and Mr T. came into mind. Then I thought of CoX doing something similar.

But I couldn't get the image of Woody Allen doing the same style commercial, just for CoX hehehe...

The way I see it, I kinda like CoX not being in everyones faces, saves the game from being over populated with jerks and keeps us out of the news seeing as how people haven't died from playing it 651273 hours straight without eating.

I saw we drew the long straw and got the smart people.

QR

I always thought that having a commercial during an episode of Heroes would have been perfect. Of course, they can't do that now since Heroes sucks anymore.

Missing that kind of opportunity during the first season....

cest la vie

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You can't compare any other MMO to World of Warcraft. WoW is an entirely different beast. Blizzard already had hardcore gamers in their pocket with Diablo and the Starcraft/Warcraft RTS games. Their fanbase was in the millions before WoW even went into beta - not to mention they own Asia.

No amount of advertising is going to get CoX even remotely close to WoW's subscription count, even if you just count the U.S. To match or even outdo WoW, an MMO has to set out to do it from the start - ala the currently in production Warhammer 40K MMO.

CoX is a niche game and there's nothing wrong with that. It has it's own space and for the most part keeps it's subscriptions at a steady level. It could be doing a lot worse.

Honestly, the OP should be more concerned with the competition around the corner (Champions Online) and the competition on the horizon (DC Universe Online and the in-production Marvel Universe). The superhero MMO space is about to become very crowded.

[/ QUOTE ]

Have you tried Champions? Its nothing like COx. And I meant that in a bad way, its really awful. (The toons aren't even purty!)

That other game has enough of the worlds population playing it that it should be illegal for them to advertise...

This has been talked about for the past 4 years on these boards. Seems The Devs dont want to advertise in a way that would bring in a good amount of people.

They have for the most part kept out the dregs unlike WoW.

Its questionable whether the advertising would ever pay for its cost. The devs aren't stupid- and neither are their marketers. They DO make cost-to-value judgements on these kinds of things.

Maybe they've done their jobs and realized that the COST to run something like a TV promotion would EXCEED the VALUE of the new accounts that it would attract.

Remember,
1) WoW will run on a piece-of-crap 6-year-old PC with integrated graphics. Almost any PC in regular use today will play it. That means that most of the market reached by, say, TV, probably has a PC that could play it. It's much more cost-effective to narrowly target people that're more likely to have systems that'll play the game well

2) Game stores tend to charge MMO's more for their advertising space than "traditional" games that give them higher profit margins (they don't get a cut of the subscription $$, so they extort it through other means) and WoW's driven up the price point further by buying out so much of it. Again, the cost to attract people through those means may now exceed the money that'll be recovered from those people.

3) Banner advertisement? Cheap and potentially targeted toward PC gamers, but there are so many questionable-quality "discount MMO" flooding these markets, you've got to wonder whether you'll just be lumped into them. I know that if I hadn't followed the *other superhero MMO* about to be released, I'd think the ads I've seen for that game represented another 2-d web-based fiasco.

4) Timing is critical. Many of the people attracted to the aforementioned *other hero mmo* through the ads will, if they've never heard of CoH, get exposure to CoH when people make the natural comparisons... free exposure as that game launches. At the same time, I16 and Going Rogue will keep things in the press.

Then- maybe- just maybe- as the expansion gets closer to launch... it'll be time for a few strategic placements.

lol!, I just dont think they want to pay for it...

Get Shatner to run some promos with Mr. T... maybe in tights standing under Atlas?

You say we need more adverts, that huge amounts of ppl would be a good thing...hmm...i remeber when the game first went live and we were the hottest thing on thing on the face of the planet.</e takes off rose colored glasses>, I also remember all that went with it, all the kill stealing, griefing, surliness on the broadcast, (and after it was intro'd) help channels, all the truely AWFUL PuGs. Our community may not number in the millions, but our gaming enviornment is among the more pleasant experiances out there. NEVER underestimate the power of word of mouth. It eventually is what makes or breaks a game, although i will say a stratigically placed post or two on the "other hero" MMO boards atm would prolly be the best advert one could do ;D.


-Tink-

*wanders onto the thread*

Case in point - NCSoft creates an ad for I-16, and then doesn't exactly go out of their way to tell people about it. They should have been running this at least a couple of weeks in advance of the issue going live. Even if TV or movie ads are cost-prohibitive, banner ads on websites? Flash movies? They could be doing a LOT more.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite