EA Plans to Try Good Games Instead of Good Ads

[iamnotincompliance]

I can't think of the last time I saw a game commercial on TV from any company, let alone EA.

Personally, I thought the [a href=http://www.dragonagejourneys.com/]2D isometric Dragon Age flash game[/a] was utterly brilliant from a marketing standpoint. Far superior to the DA:Origins "demo" that was simply a character creator.

To suddenly switch gears for a moment, EA is right (did I just write that?) in one respect. Recommendations from people who know my tastes in games are likely to generate sales. As are demos. No one I know had DA:O at that time, and if I went by the demo... well, I wouldn't own it. Recommendations, proper demos, more Flash-based goodness, series that have proven themselves in my eyes, those will get my money, EA. Commercials, even if I had seen them, wouldn't do shit. Good for you to finally realize that.

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Okay, the Steam Thanksgiving and Christmas sales really drove home the Origins purchase, but without Journeys, I wouldn't have even bothered looking at it. So more Flash-based goodness! You have the budget for that sort of thing now!

Oh, and better games in general, but I shouldn't have to say that.

 

[Avientine]

Well at least they realize the mistake and are fixing it.

That's a good thing I suppose, but if the games still suck maybe they should dig deeper.
Like at the people who get in groups and come up with the ideas for some of these games.

I'll believe it when I see it. :/

 

[blankedboy]

Good. It's about time for EA to start getting it's act together.

Now if only they could stop releasing the same game with minor changes over and over again. >_>

Which were all for the worse since 2002.
Ugh, I hate that ad.

 

[Artemus_Cain]

Wow. I guess thtey've learned their lesson from all those shitty sports games and Dante's Inferno. Wasted too much money on a dumb and confusing superbowl ad instead of making a game that was a bigger ripoff than... okay Dante's Inferno was the worst ripoff ever.

 

[dochmbi]

All the power is in the hands of the people. If the people will buy shitty games that get advertised a lot, then that's what they will get. If they will only buy games which have good reviews from a large number of unrelated and unbiased game journalists, then that's what they will get.

You could even go so far as to say that buying a shitty game is unethical.

 

[Tetsuhara]

Let's not forget the different gaming magazines out there as well as sites like this one that offer game reviews and information.

No matter how much money you blow on buying TV time to hype your game, you're still at the mercy of the reviews and comments of people that actually played the game. I always check out different mags and online reviews before I make a game purchase.

In fact, the biggest effect TV has on my game-buying habits is watching X-Play on G4TV. I'm much more inclined to buy or skip a game based on their reviews then on any ad I see.

 

[FaithorFire]

Does anyone have the figure of how much was spent on marketing for COD6, VS. how much was spent making the game? I remember that figure literally made my jaw drop, and I think it would be relevant here...

$200 million in Marketing
$40 million in Development

http://ve3d.ign.com/articles/news/51534/Modern-Warfare-2-Cost-200-Million-Hidden-Game-Modes-Unlocked-On-PC

OT: I'll believe it when I see it, but if its true then... GO FUCKING ESCAPISTS
That means that word-of-mouth, gamer run forums like this are forcing a turn around in business models. Any way this works out, its good for us: Either marketing budgets fall and retail prices go with them *or* more effort really does go into development which equals better games

 

[DanDeFool]

Umm... Duh?

This is why businesspeople get to me: they want to make money off of certain products or services, and often they don't understand or care about the product/service they're trying to sell.

If Mr. EA Executive #155A pulled a random gamer off the street, and asked them what motivated them to buy the last five games they bought, they would have learned this in about a quarter of a second.

But no. They just come out of Harvard business school and try to apply book-knowledge to the real world; assuming that what works for soft drinks and depression meds will work for everything.

Okay, maybe that's a little unfair, but when I hear about some "top" manager spouting something that's patently obvious to millions of their customers, while realizing that they make more in a year than I will in most of my adult life, is more than a little infuriating.

 

[Pyrokinesis1019]

EA doesn't make games. It just screws up their multiplayer. *Battlefield*
It's nice to know they've decided to finally make good games.
'cause they were too busy doing what before. . . . ? Trying to make bad games?

 

[hieiwrath]

Man I bought Command & Conquer 4, it is one of the worst games I have seen and I was a fan of the series. To me at least the C&C3 was good enough.
I will only buy games from EA if it has a demo or someone I know or a site I trust likes it.