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Guild Wars 2 Marketing Problem


Runecrest.8940

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I love this game and I try to recommend it everywhere I go, but I notice at least in my country (Puerto Rico) you will not know about GW2 unless you search for it. Gamestop left the island a long time ago. No posters or exposure there, Best buy cards and game codes "at least in my closest store" are not even connected to arenanet apparently. I bought 2-3 Gem cards and every time had to ask for a replacement code, and once tried to buy an expansion and the code was not even on the receipt as it was suppose to. Also 0 Exposure in their stores, 0 physical copies or visible game cards etc. There are 0 physical copies anywhere in my country, no big deal BUT people finding the game box at least is some exposure to the game. WoW for example is often in sight in every PC games section, so people might be curious and try it, but not GW2.

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The problem is that marketing costs money. Even things which don't look like marketing - like having boxed copies of the game on store shelves. Personally I think it's a shady practice but at least some stores (like my former employer in the UK) will actually sell shelf space to companies and then keep their games in those spots regardless of whether anyone ever buys them. Except when the expansions came out we sold maybe 1 copy of WoW every month or two, but they had their own section on the shelves as well as spaces in the charts at all times because Blizzard paid for that space. That was about a decade ago now, but I can't imagine things have changed much since then, except that physical copies of games are even rarer.

Which isn't to say that Anet shouldn't do it, but it means they have to weigh the cost against the profit it's likely to bring in and the cost/profit from other forms of marketing and decide which are likely to be best for them. I don't know what in-store marketing costs (I was just a lowly shop drone, I just laid out the fake charts week after week, I didn't get involved in deciding them). I'm pretty sure Blizzard didn't gain enough sales to justify what they spent on that space. I suspect the main benefit to them was the subtle reassurance to existing customers that they were playing the biggest MMO on the market and therefore it was worth keeping up their subscription, but I'm not sure how you'd even measure the effect of that.

Anet does do marketing, but they seem to use mainly online marketing. I assume they've decided that's the best value for money for reaching their target audience.

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I don't get these 'marketing problems' ... as an MMO player, I'm always on the look out for what is coming or things I'm interested in. That's how I found out about GW2. Is that exceptional? I think LOTS of players of these kinds of game do the same ... so in that sense, GW2 isn't some hidden gem that's hard to encounter.

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Physical copies are becoming rare even for more popular games than this. Digital is just cheaper to distribute.

Regarding adverstising, they launched a campaign including posters and live action clips. Not sure how effective traditional advertising is though. Those types of ads aim to grab "normies", but usually those are drawn towards the recent trends (like fortnite). MMOrpgs are not the mainstream genre they were a decade ago.

I have to admit though, this new Black Desert trailer with Megan Fox did grab my eye. Still, not sure spending money on celebrity ads is what we need at this point of GW's life.

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I am not sure if the marketing is worth it. But I think for example, the new offer that offers the full game for only $30 and play anytime you want without worries about monthly fees etc seems like a nice product to expose for new people looking to try an MMO for the 1st time. "Full Online MMO game all expansions included, $30 Free to play" seems worth marketing. Not going full marketing, but at least expose the game before a new expansion.

Anyway, I will do my part and recommend the game to everyone I know.

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I miss not getting a Box for my game. There is something about going into a gaming store, seeing what else is about, maybe trying a new game out. I brought my first PC to play the Sims after seeing it in the store, which then lead me to branch out and find the original Guildwars. I wouldn't of known about it if my local supermarket hadn't had the games in PC games chart available to buy. ;)
The last game I played had a naked female Advertise it so let's not go there, eh?

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Gw2 has more positive marketing in recent months than ever. I hear there name dropped more often in many of my mmo news outlets. The only problem gw2 had was that alot of thier partners used to just shit on them constantly to the point where positivity wasnt an option anymore. Now that most of them are mostly gone its been smooth sailing. Nothing is worse than hearing about a game and the 1st few videos is just people complaining. Funny thing is those that complain and "quit" are still playing the game. Goes to show you that gw2 fills that niche mmo people crave.

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