As long as it has rotated mode, I'll be at least somewhat interested.
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As long as it has rotated mode, I'll be at least somewhat interested.
That's where I sit as well.
I'm pretty much not interested unless they can get this to the states for $20 or less. Just not enough new content for someone who owns the original.
If I had slept on the original release though, I'd probably scoop it up. It's definitely one of my faves.
Interesting stuff from Grev's blog, translated by adversesolutions on GAF:
No wonder they went full-retail for Under Defeat. Sounds like the "shooters should be $10 on XBLA" thing didn't work out for them.Quote:
Maruyama was very frank that Grev games always sell about 10,000 + a thousand or two in terms of sell-in. Strania sold about the same amount, but at a lower price point, so they ate a loss with the project.
I'm not really sure that logic makes a lot of sense either, though. People aren't buying shooters even at that price point, and I think a full retail price is going to alienate potential buyers even more. Shooters are a rapidly narrowing niche market that's more than likely going to end up on iOS/arcade exclusively. They're often underwhelming visually to those that don't know any better, and they don't really have any sort of crossover appeal to gamers that didn't grow up playing them in the 8 and 16-bit eras. For better or for worse, people expect more for their money these days. Just look at some of the replies in this thread. A lot of us still champion the genre, but very few would pay more than $20 or so for this game. I wouldn't, either. The sales numbers are consistently low because the fan base is small. Price and the means by which you acquire the games probably aren't going to change that.
Yeah, you gotta market a bit if you're doing a downloadable title. That doesn't necessarily mean "buy advertising," or anything, but you have to get the game out there and they just didn't. It's too bad, it was a sweet price point and no import bullshit.
That's kind of the point, though, isn't it? The low price thing got them the same sales as the retail releases, so they figure they should stick to the method that's been proven to earn way more for them. UD is a bit different being a port, but maybe they're going retail with it to try to make up for losses with Strania? I don't know.Quote:
Originally Posted by No One
Strania really did have no marketing on the Western front, though. I wonder how effectively they pushed it in Japan.
This is true. It was probably one of the most non-hyped Live releases ever over here, almost as though they knew nobody was going to give a shit. Perhaps that defeatist attitude is part of the problem, too. It's a shame; while certainly not their best, it deserved better than it got.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tain
A bunch of people aren't going to buy G.Rev Shooter XYZ because it was advertised. Maybe in the early days of XBLA, when 1-2 games came out a week and people tried everything, but not today.
G.Rev has 10,000 fans. 10,000 fans who will pay $10 for G.Rev and 10,000 fans who will pay $60 for G.Rev. So they might as well charge $60 and make that money. Throwing a few bucks at advertising isn't going to bring them any more fans because not many more than 10,000 people care about this genre (unless it's a Treasure game).
No, because there are no potential buyers to alienate. Either you buy shmups or not. The audience isn't going to grow, at least not from a G.Rev game.Quote:
Originally Posted by No One
Marketing is not the same thing as advertising. Doing some interviews, sending out preview builds, and getting some hype going is a good way to put your game on the radar in a way that Strania just absolutely was not. It didn't even get reviewed on more than a couple sites. That's a problem.Quote:
Originally Posted by Diff-chan
This is a self fulfilling prophecy when the only way someone would even know about Strania is if they were fans who followed what G.rev did.Quote:
G.Rev has 10,000 fans. 10,000 fans who will pay $10 for G.Rev and 10,000 fans who will pay $60 for G.Rev.
It's beyond obvious that there is a substantial untapped market of people that like shooters on XBLA but don't necessarily even know who the fuck G.rev is.
For what it's worth, I'm not importing Under Defeat, and haven't imported a G.rev game since the original Under Defeat, but I DID buy Strania, and I would buy UD if it was a PSN/XBLA release. The market does exist.