Information Drought?

[stealth_nsk]

::insert joke about the patronage social policies::

You know, you have the best avatar ever

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

any idea why this is the case? i mean, what's the benefit in terms of marketing of revealing everything weeks in advance? i'd guess with digital downloads, you'd want to create a lot of buzz right around release time. but i don't know anything about making money. (in real life. much better with that in civ. )

It has to do with exposure and buzz. Every time they release information, people read about it which exposes them to the sales message and they (we) talk about it, which exposes others. Every exposure causes more people hear about it and some of them will make the choice to buy the game.

It all doesn't happen instantly though. Hundreds or thousands of us see the new info the same day it is revealed. However others will only find out days or weeks later when we talk about it. Then as the novelty wears off the buzz dies down and fewer people hear it for the first time.

The key is to reveal the final piece (preferably one that generates a lot of conversation) at just the right moment so that the buzz crescendo coincides with the release date. That way the most people are exposed to information at just the right time to allow them to make an impulse purchase.

 

[blackcatatonic]

So it's pretty clear that there aren't going to be any clues or hints posted today - although that may not mean anything other than 'we know they all know, so we're going to look pretty dumb if we post a shadowy outline of Enrico Dandolo with the caption "ooooh, who could this POSSIBLY be?"'

If we're not getting magazine articles/confirmations tomorrow, I'm not sure that we will before release.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

I'm pretty sure they are going to pretend like the leak never happened. I think that's 2K's normal policy.

I'm leaning towards next week now. There could be a Q&A tomorrow, but I doubt it.

I doubt it will be the first week of July. The US Independence Day celebrations would interfere with publication.

 

[m15a]

It has to do with exposure and buzz. Every time they release information, people read about it which exposes them to the sales message and they (we) talk about it, which exposes others. Every exposure causes more people hear about it and some of them will make the choice to buy the game.

It all doesn't happen instantly though. Hundreds or thousands of us see the new info the same day it is revealed. However others will only find out days or weeks later when we talk about it. Then as the novelty wears off the buzz dies down and fewer people hear it for the first time.

The key is to reveal the final piece (preferably one that generates a lot of conversation) at just the right moment so that the buzz crescendo coincides with the release date. That way the most people are exposed to information at just the right time to allow them to make an impulse purchase.

thanks. that makes sense, although i still wonder if it's still too early for the "final piece" (venice, i'm guessing unless there's something else we don't know about).

You know, you have the best avatar ever

thanks! i wasn't sure if anyone noticed.

 

[kingchris20]

Yeah! We got a little "water" for the drought!

 

[mitsho]

That drop just evaporated on contact with the hot stone though

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

Yeah! We got a little "water" for the drought!

Yeah. I kinda feel a little dumb now for being all depressive about not getting anything this week.

 

[blackcatatonic]

Next week or bust for magazine articles.

So it looks like we'll get to inside two weeks of the US release date with no official confirmation of the last two Civs. Really, Firaxis?

The Q&A certainly helped to fill the silence on the new info front, but it strikes me as very odd that they still haven't said anything on the leak this close to release. I suspect that their original plans for the final Civ reveals have been dropped.

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

No. It's official policy not to comment on leaks. Remember the Steam leak back in January? No comments, and inevitably it doesn't affect their release schedule.

 

[blackcatatonic]

Yes, but does the 'no comment on leaks' extend to not commenting at all on leaked material? So surely if that is the case, we should expect them not to mention Venice/the Shoshone at all before release?

I wasn't very clear in my previous post - I don't find it odd that they haven't said anything about the leak itself, but it does strike me as odd that they are still refusing to confirm the final two Civs.

 

[Rob (R8XFT)]

Yes, but does the 'no comment on leaks' extend to not commenting at all on leaked material? So surely if that is the case, we should expect them not to mention Venice/the Shoshone at all before release?

I wasn't very clear in my previous post - I don't find it odd that they haven't said anything about the leak itself, but it does strike me as odd that they are still refusing to confirm the final two Civs.

I wouldn't have thought that the leak would have put them off revealing the civs at the point they wanted to; having said that, it's now over 5 weeks since they revealed Morocco and Indonesia, so why they've waited until now, I don't know. When the picture of Theodora was leaked last year, and taken down early, we got the "official" image not long after. It would be nice for them to do what they did with G&K and show each new leaders' intro video.

What would be devilishly good is if they reserved at least one of these leaked civs for a later DLC and produced a different civ that maybe they were preparing for DLC - just to show us that you can't always believe leaks .

 

[Eagle Pursuit]

Yes, but does the 'no comment on leaks' extend to not commenting at all on leaked material? So surely if that is the case, we should expect them not to mention Venice/the Shoshone at all before release?

No. Revealing the final civs does not count as commenting on the leaks. They will continue per their original intentions as if the leak never occurred.

While all the civ forums on all the internet may be aware of the leak, that doesn't constitute the majority of the market for this product. They will reveal the final civs in order to have the maximum "buzz" at just the right time to drive sales on July 9th.

Maybe they realized that revealing Sweden last year a full month+ before release was counter-productive because the "buzz" died down long before G&K released.

 

[Konsti]

What would be devilishly good is if they reserved at least one of these leaked civs for a later DLC and produced a different civ that maybe they were preparing for DLC - just to show us that you can't always believe leaks .

Dont give them any ideas!!!!!!!
I am looking forward to shoshone and venice, dont want to buy DLC for that....

 

[Rob (R8XFT)]

I think the campaign has gone on for too long; I understand them announcing BNW before PAX East though to create some interest there. If it wasn't for that, it would've been great to have had the initial announcement at the start of May, with a steady trickle of new information leading up to the release; screenshots letting us try and work out who might be included, a new civ revealed every 1-2 weeks. Then again, I'm not in Marketing, so what do I know ?

 

[JFD]

Perhaps testing Venice thoroughly is taking longer than expected.

 

[VainoValkea]

I actually hope they do that with the Shoshone and replace it with the Kingdom of Kongo or something. Although, the cunning Great Merchant sitting in the Firaxis office would probably replace Venice instead to get more shinies as people are already all hyped up for it!

 

[SnowKomodo]

I actually hope they do that with the Shoshone and replace it with the Kingdom of Kongo or something. Although, the cunning Great Merchant sitting in the Firaxis office would probably replace Venice instead to get more shinies as people are already all hyped up for it!

Kongo is starting to runaway as the favorite over in the Ideas and Suggestions poll.

A Kongo DLC at some point would be sweet

 

[Melo-Franco]

What would be devilishly good is if they reserved at least one of these leaked civs for a later DLC and produced a different civ that maybe they were preparing for DLC - just to show us that you can't always believe leaks .

I would totally love it. Both civs look like meh.

 

[VainoValkea]

Kongo is starting to runaway as the favorite over in the Ideas and Suggestions poll.

A Kongo DLC at some point would be sweet

What can I say - Africa needs more love!