SC-2 marketing, raise your price & make some jack

[jon_j_rambo]

SC-2 marketing: I like your first product so I want your company to do well. Go ahead & raise your price. Can you believe as a consumer I'm saying that?

As a game player, I go for quality & willing to pay for it. When I see a game for $25, my first thought is simple, you get what you pay for, the game must suck. SC is awesome. I'd pay $50 for an overhaul.

You can always lower your price later. I don't know what your goals are, budget, or what other buyer's hot buttons are. But NEW computer games go for $50 in the States.

Put some graphics & more music in the game. That's good for $5 / unit. Throw in some historically stuff like Sid Meier, you know, old war maps with a bunch of arrows, that's another $5 / unit.

I'd charge $35 - $45. Maybe your could package the original SC w/ SC-2? Just giving some suggestions.

"Show me the Money !!!" --- Jerry McGuire in the movie, Jerry McGuire.

Rambo knows Wargames

Rambo knows Cash

Rambo knows alot of stuff

[ October 24, 2003, 01:47 AM: Message edited by: jon_j_rambo ]

[Logan Hartke]

Discounts for forum members or original SC owners?

Logan Hartke

[Blashy]

I would be happy if everything stayed as is except for the editor (a MUCH more extensive) and a full world map.

[jon_j_rambo]

How about a name change? SC & SC-2 are a little dry. A title which lets the buyer know what time era or something would be better. Any ideas for a new name?

[Les the Sarge 9-1]

Rambo has a real point (where marketing is concerned).

One of the things I had drummed into my head during courses on marketing, is the consumer WILL be suspicious of your product if it doesn't meet expectations.

Price is one of them.

SC is a new game, and the price is not far off from several years old software. That is of course an odd looking detail to a consumer.

People EXPECT to have to pay for quality, the moment they don't have to, they get suspicious. They ponder and muse over why you don't want to be like everyone else.

I learned during a business start up course, that the item I planned to sell through my business could NOT be priced as low as I wished it to be priced. It was immaterial that I could do it and make a hefty profit. The consumer would see my massively lower priced article as suspect.

Customers are odd creatures

So yep, if SC2 hits the market Hubert, don't hesitate to raise the price to where your fellow wargame manufacturers sell at.

We fans won't be screaming about being screwed over by a suddenly full of himself designer (well I won't be at any rate).

Your game is a proven product Hubert. You don't have to prove to us what we already feel is the case.

[Les the Sarge 9-1]

Rambo the only people calling it SC and SC2 are the fans hehe, the market calls it Strategic Command

If Hubert gave it another name, we would only convert that to letters only a fan would be able to identify

[jon_j_rambo]

Sarge --- Thanks for seeing my buying point. When I saw the $25 tag, I felt like a "dumpster diver".

"I like the big Money" -- Cain, in the movie Menence 2 Society.

[jon_j_rambo]

Sarge --- That's my other point. When shopping for a game on the internet, I'm going to be drawn by the title if searching a list or something. Strategic Command is too bland. Tells you nothing, it gives the impression it's an air combat game: Strategic Air Command (SAC), comes first to mind. I figure I'll be flying F-14s out of Dayton, Ohio.

I'll try to think of something cool. Something that tells you it's WW-2 or at least in Europe.

[Korut Zelva]

I dunno, I'm not buying SC1 partly because of the price.

25$ US is like 93284729834792384792$ CAN

But i guess I would mortgage my house if it gets to 15$.

[Hubert Cater]

The exchange rate is at it's highest value in almost 10 years! That put's SC at around $33 CDN. Not bad in my opinion

Hubert

[SeaMonkey]

HC says "$33 not bad IMO", sorry, but what an understatement. The cost of fun nowadays? This game's price is irrelevent, if somehow you could equate the enjoyment of play and interaction of the forum to dollars and cents; the worth to each (who appreciate it)individual is astronomically priceless, for everything else there is Mastercard.

[jon_j_rambo]

I would definetely put some historical pictures & maps like Sid Meier, it will raise "the class" of your game. The gaming world loves history. It's also a selling point...people who might not be "big gamers", might be pursuaded by the history stuff.

Another thing: Get a cool cover for the game. Put more symbols on the cover. Symbols sell...Silverstar, Captain Jack flag, & throw in the Cross of Iron for little Wolfgang.

Battlefront's website could used some pictures too.

[Edwin P.]

For those interested in including historical information - pictures and audio clips - visit the following thread:

Chrome Thread - With Historical Audio Files

The audio clips include radio broadcasts of major events during the war.

[Canuck]

I disagree. If Strategic Command had have been

45$ like Combat Mission then I never would have bought it. I am one of those people who are constantly screaming about the high prices of strategy games. The only reason why I bought Korsun Pocket was because the store had mispriced it as 19.99 pounds instead of 29.99 pounds.

I STILL have yet to buy CMBB because it will still cost me over 50$ US and I noticed with frustration yesterday that even though Hearts of Iron has been out for almost a year, the price has barely changed.

To me it's little wonder why there's so little growth in the wargame industry. People aren't willing to invest 50$ in a game that they will most likely not "get into."

I think that if you have a low price and provide a demo, then people will buy the game if they enjoy the demo.

I suppose that for 25$ I was probably also thinking "bargain bin game." However after playing the excellent demo I was thinking BARGAIN game!!

[JerseyJohn]

Edwin

Just got back from your linked Chrome Thread and really enjoyed listening to the old broadcasts.

Great stuff, even better than when I listened to them the first time!

[Edwin P.]

JerseyJohn

Glad to hear that you liked it.

Hopefully SC2 will include historical information and/or include tools that will allow users to add their own information to the game.

[Shaka of Carthage]

Member #4691

I'm curious. Even after you played the demo, are you saying you wouldn't have paid $45 for SC?

I think one of the keys to successfulling selling SC is the demo. The ability to play the game, with no limitations (other than the number of turns) will tell you quickly enough if its a game you will enjoy.

Contrast it with an HOI demo. How many people would never had bought HOI after playing a demo of it?

[kurt88]

To me it's little wonder why there's so little growth in the wargame industry. People aren't willing to invest 50$ in a game that they will most likely not "get into."

One has the means of informing himself before actually purchasing you know.

Magazines,forums,online reviews,demo's.

Try to be a smart buyer,prevent buying games you won't get in to.

I really don't mind spending 50€ on a game like SC,it has saved me at least 200€ in the pub and has made sure I've grown to like this community.

Btw,29,99 pounds (45€) for Korsun is a bargain.

I'll be sure to be that game when it comes out over here,even for 50€.

[jon_j_rambo]

When it comes to quality of a computer game relating to the cost: I'd pay $50+ for a good game, & I regret any price for a bad one. That is a subjective comment, but truthful. The bad games goto the garbage or donated to somebody. The good ones go into the CD-reader.

[Les the Sarge 9-1]

Not all games are known quantities even long after they leave the mainstream.

But consider this. Even while it is FREE now people are still only encountering Steel Panthers YEARS after it was first made.

Then there are all those games out there that suck, and you still get to pay full price.

There are all the games out there that get called "best game ever" and naturally they should not have to justify their cost.

But to put computer wargames into proper perspective for those that can't part with 50 bucks even for a first rate game, consider this.

ASL's Armies of Oblivion, the most recent module, which is just an add on, retails for 112 bucks US. Yeah try and cry about your 50 dollar game now

The remake of A3R and Rising sun known as A World at War is going to cost you 175 bucks US.

That's primarily why I think Hubert can ask a bit more for his SC if he wishes, and why he really should be asking for 40 bucks US at least for his next version if he achieves one.

And it is why I have something of a deaf ear to anyone that thinks 40 - 50 bucks for a good wargame is too much.

People that think 50 bucks for a good wargame like say Korsun Pocket is to much, are just bloody soft

[ October 26, 2003, 12:15 PM: Message edited by: Les the Sarge 9-1 ]

[kurt88]

Mmm, looks like my euro sign transformed itself into a cube!

[Desert Dave]

My guess is that the game was originally priced a little lower than equivalent games, because Hubert wanted as much EXPOSURE as possible... :cool:

BECAUSE, in a certain sense he always had SC2 in mind!

And then, with a more detailed and elaborate product, the new price would be... justified.

As far as everyone ACTIVELY campaigning and promoting higher prices for computer games, well, I guess I have to wonder... :confused:

Are you not familiar with... inflation?

Or, the toiling & moiling (... and so unfortunate, well, they deserve just what they get!) Lower Classes, who have to struggle mightily with making simple ends meet, with cobbling together sufficient rent monies?

What is this?

I suppose, for those who are pretty well off and sitting in the Hobbse-constructed Industrial cat-seat, oh, no problem, me myself can afford ANY price, so why should I worry over those (... GEOMETRICALLY increasing) OTHERS who aren't so well off... LOL!

[ October 26, 2003, 12:44 PM: Message edited by: Immer Etwas ]

[kurt88]

Yep inflation is a real pain.

I have to save for a few months to get me a game.

But if the quality is up there, I don't mind.

Consider how much SC saved you money.It did for me anyway.

If SC2 comes out I really won't look at the price,just long enough to determine how long it's gonna take before I can place my order.

[Canuck]

No I wouldn't pay 40$ or 45$ for SC. It's far to simple a game for that. Usually the game boils down to making the exact same moves every time you play it. I think that's why lots of people play the game hardcore for a month, and then decide it's time to move on.

*edit* I'll offer the comparison of the CM series for those of you who've played it. Don't you agree that it's different every time you play it? Even if you play the same scenario over and over, rarely does it play the same way twice.

To me a game like that has the depth that warrants an extra 20$.

[ October 27, 2003, 01:34 AM: Message edited by: Member # 4691 ]

[jon_j_rambo]

Yes, SC is a simple game, & it isn't very sexy...limited bells & whistles. It's a strategy game, not a first person shooter. I like it simple. So many games require a "Click-fest", which means you spend the whole game clicking on a main menu, then click on a sub menu, then adjust some resource by 5%, then click another unit. Click, click, click...lame games (Age of Empires for instance).

SC is great because it is simple, yet complex. Complex in the manner of strategy (short & long term). The downside to the long term is how long it takes to play, not the simplicity.

The Chessmaster computer game series is very simple & sells for $50 new. That series has been going on for years because of the popularity of chess. It's a simple & profitable.

I hope Hubert keeps working on the SC series & makes a nice profit.