Here i am working on closing out another game. This means that i am close to putting the game through a final (i hope) Playtest review and then onto the Peer review. Once through that it is onto the marketplace. Once again without any idea or control of just when it goes live.
This game is going to be more of an issue than my previous ones. Mainly because i am setting up some competitions to run for T-Shirts and hats. However it is difficult to launch those comps when you don't actually have a good control of when your game will go live. It has been asked for of course and i know Microsoft are looking at it (ok, i don't but i hope they are :). If i could pass Peer Reveiw and then have 14 days or so before it auto releases, that would be awesome. I am sure most of the people that publish on Xblig couldn't care less when their game goes live. Then there will also be the people that feel friday night is the best time to go live (they will be playing with fire for that one though).
My reason for needing control is of course that when my PAID FOR press release goes live and i announce my competitions, it would be nice for people to be able to find the game on the 'only chart that matters' the new releases list. If the game goes live several days before my marketting gets out, then i will already be way down the list thanks to crapps and barelygames. This is not ideal. Not that i need perfect of course.
I just need a bit of help, i put so much time and effort into the marketing and extras and a lot of that effort could be wasted depending on random factors.
Maybe the situation will work out well, and maybe next release will have some kind of control... Time will tell.
Laters
Monday, August 23, 2010
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Good post mate, I agree completely with what you are saying. Controlled releases help with marketing and not only that, your featuring content to your customers with correct timing (seasonal and/or demographic based timing)
ReplyDeleteMost games that dominate the rankings are 'apparently' (from most posts I've read) developed to satisfy a customers need for a product (what most people call trash games on XBLIG). A Random vibrating, avatar-does-this-now game does indeed satisfy a demographic and that is why they do so well.
It would be refreshing to know that If I wanted to create some hype to market to *my* demographic, I would be able to count down to a release day.
Keep up the good work, I look forward to playing your game.