Guild Wars 2: Missing Advertisement?

[Devirae]

In a Dutch games magazine there was a 2 page advertisement with the knight holding the sword facing to the left

http://en.support.guildwars2.com/ < that guy.

[terrahero]

Advertisement is very, very expensive (especially on TV). If they got such a large amount of prepurchases and preorders (that exceeded all expectations) you've obviously already hit a large portion of your target audience. Target audience for MMO's is relative small compared to other genrés.

So why pump a ton of money into advertisement, when word of mouth does a great job?

[Scrogg]

There are a couple of possibilities;

You could say they are choosing to spend resources (money) on development over advertising, figuring that a polished and enjoyable game will create all of the advertisement they need (happy players who can't shut up about how awesome the game is)

Or

They don't want the headaches of too many people who aren't really their target market. You heavily promote a game with advertising and you have a launch that crushes servers. People who don't even know that much about the game buy it (hey they had shiny tv commercials it must be awesomesauce) and cause a headache of a launch when in actuality a large percentage will quit playing after a month or so and all that extra server real estate goes to waste.

I really think they have it right, Put out a few blurbs here and there on places where MMO gamers go and build up the curiosity, then let the public do their advertising for them. Hell, that's how I got interested in the game, tired of WoW, waiting for TOR to come out and while chatting with a friend of mine he mentioned Guild Wars was gonna make an MMO and that it was going to try to do things different. That was all he said, I was thinking in the back of mind that no one was going to topple Blizzard from their throne (and that's still probably true) but it sparked my curiosity enough that I started looking for more info and educating myself about the game.
I never even bought TOR, watching the ANET manifesto video and seeing what they envisioned I knew TOR was not going to satisfy.

[Deleted]

You could say they are choosing to spend resources (money) on development over advertising, figuring that a polished and enjoyable game will create all of the advertisement they need (happy players who can't shut up about how awesome the game is)

I think that's it, and that's a very good idea, many games company today (mostly console game) spend MORE in ads than they do in game development total no-sens.

If you make a good game it will sell itself

[Deleted]

My own website that uses adsense has full flash GW2 advertisements, and also still-image advertisements.

and i've seen them multiple times on mmorpg website as well, so they definitely have them

[Voidism]

I think it's good. More money for game development.

[Lucky_]

Note that it's the PUBLISHER that is responsible for marketing. Not developer.

So nag on NCSoft here, not arenanet. Of course, NCSoft is not in the best place financially right now, and definitely doesn't have anywhere near marketing muscle of Activision Blizzard or EA.

[DrakeWurrum]

anywhere near marketing muscle of Activision Blizzard or EA.

Ironically, both of them, I hear, are looking to sell. So maybe they don't have nearly as much marketing muscle as they could?

[Lucky_]

Ironically, both of them, I hear, are looking to sell. So maybe they don't have nearly as much marketing muscle as they could?

You may not have noticed, but global economy is in the shitter and money is moving to industries that aren't in consumer luxuries business, as that is the first business to suffer from shrinking middle class.

[Qatol]

Good word of mouth is always fantastic advertising. It doesn't cast as wide of a net as mass advertising, but the audience pays more attention.

[charlieprince]

found this picture funny, GW2 just posted it on their fb page



even without advertisements! hahaha

even without ads!

[BoysBoysBoys]

They do it the simple way. Go to gaming conventions, show their stuff off, and let everyone else do the rest. ❤

[charlieprince]

They do it the simple way. Go to gaming conventions, show their stuff off, and let everyone else do the rest. ❤

I was pleasantly surprised to see GW2's facebook post specially considering this thread we had going here on mmo-c..

LOL!

GW2 had the #1, 2, 3 and 5 best sellers on Amazon!

[Schmiggy]

There's been plenty of advertising I thought? Heck, they even played main trailer for it at the movies before The Dark Knight Rises.

[charlieprince]

There's been plenty of advertising I thought? Heck, they even played main trailer for it at the movies before The Dark Knight Rises.

hahaha lol!! that made me laugh

well played schmiggy, well played!

...you now have muh permushun

[Schmiggy]

hahaha lol!! that made me laugh

well played schmiggy, well played!

...you now have muh permushun

I am so confused by your post..

[ThisWillNotStand]

Nvidia has a tool dedicated just to tell whether your video card is powerful enough to run GW2. I'd say their advertisement is subtle and mysteriously attractive

[Deleted]

Nvidia has a tool dedicated just to tell whether your video card is powerful enough to run GW2. I'd say their advertisement is subtle and mysteriously attractive

Link to said tool?

[KCguy]

I've gone to a few stores and they have huge cardboard cut outs up and posters up. Take into account that with social media and them releasing stuff at video game conferences, word of mouth has spread.

[ThisWillNotStand]

Link to said tool?

http://www.geforce.com/games-applica...er?id=hp-promo