More marketing needed?

Firstly, I'm in no way telling Anet what they should or shouldn't do. I can't stand it when people do that and be rude about it on top of it This is just something that I thought of while making some coffee lol.

Do you think Guild Wars has been marketed enough? Living in South Africa, I have only ever seen one Ad in a gaming magazine. Besides that I've seen nothing. Many people here play the game, but then there's a huge amount of people who have never heard of it. You don't see Guild Wars displays in store windows. You do, however, see WoW displays.

Has the game been marketed more in other countries? I'd love to see more people playing the game, which I think can be achieved by a sudden stream of TV and internet ads.

Just an obsessed fan's two cents

Marketing is usually worth the investment. I occasionally see an advert in a magazine along with other NCSoft products. Oh, and there are posters in EB a couple of months before release. (Around pre-order time.)

Well Lydz, overall games are not advertised that much here in South Africa. Sure there are ads in some magazines such as NAG and a poster or so at gaming stores, but I just do not think that we are a big enough market here. Our broadband Internet is a joke (thank you Telkom) and I am disgusted by the amount of piracy I see around here.

Now a game like Guild Wars require a decent Internet connection, something which most South Africans can't afford. Our dial-up is just way too slow. Those who can afford it tend to play WOW because they think they get something better because they have to pay extra. Or at least that's what I've seen from most of the South African gamers.

If A-Net advertises here and they only make money from selling the games, well I don't think they'd break even. The gaming market is just too small.

I would love to see some ads though. But I don't think it's worthwhile for A-Net to advertise here.

Anet doesnt actually have a marketing department.

And it shows.

When Nightfall was released here in the USA, up against the Neverwinter nights, Final Fantasy 12, the original relase date of WOW: Burning crusade, Playstation 3, and Nintendo Wii... you saw absolutely nothing about Nightfall in any gaming media. When the gaming media actually reviewed Nightfall weeks after the release date... It was too late, the players of Guild Wars had got their pre-orders and nobody else saw the game and it was off the charts. Gamestop/EB Games, for example, actually had to have a $19.99 clearance sale to get rid of extra inventory in december.

If anet had a marketing department, it is perhaps possible that the game could have achieved the "mindshare" necessary to sell to the general public.

A.net is a developer, NC Soft the publisher (although I know NC Soft owns A.net), and usually in games the marketing and marketing budget are down to the publisher. So I wouldn't expect A.net to have a marketing department. I'm pretty sure NC Soft will have one though....

Incidentally, NC Soft have a small stand at this weekends Collectormania in Milton Keynes, selling amongst other things Nightfall and Factions CEs. No Prophecies though, I asked.

I think our gaming market has a lot of potential. We've sold around 1 million PS2s (yes this isn't much compared to the rest of the world but for a second world country it isn't bad), which is far more expensive than a GW game. I think people would try it if they knew it existed. I get random invites on Xfire from people from SA and they ask me wth Guild Wars is lol. I think everyone is FPS crazy here which needs to change!

ArenaNet has hired a director of marketing. That was announced during the GW:EN/GW2 interviews/articles period.

From the beginning, NCSoft considered GW experimental, and ANet put their budget into developers instead of advertising. It was a case of you can have a great and growing game or you can have a mediocre game with great ads, of which we have seen many come and go.

Advertising, with its development and space costs, is a high-ticket budget item. I, personally, was glad that money was spent on improving the game.