Marketing is important

During my ongoing literature review I often discover interesting facts about things I’ve never thought about. Sometimes I can connect these facts with my own observations: The result is mostly a completely new idea why things are as they are. Maybe these ideas are new to you, too. Therefore I’ll share my new science based knowledge with you!

This week: This time, I think about the pre-release marketing issues of No Man’s Sky.

As a huge fan of exploration computer games, I was looking forward to the release of No Man’s Sky (NMS), a science-fiction computer game that allows the players to explore a procedurally generated universe consisting of a nearly endless amount of unique solar systems, planets, animals as well as flowers. For this purpose, players are able to travel between different solar systems using various types of spacecraft. Once a player has arrived in a new solar system, he can approach and land on one of the procedurally generated planets in order to thoroughly explore it. Furthermore, players are able to mine resources, craft new items and trade with Non-Player Characters (NPC).

The concept of being able to explore unique planets no one has seen before really got my interest. In addition, procedurally generated terrain can, depending on the variables, result in very spectacular landscapes and an endless stream of new experiences. Moreover, as the gameplay is all about the exploration of the universe, the game does not force the players into a certain direction by giving them clear goals they have to complete in order to proceed with the game. Hence, the game provides the players with a complete freedom thus allowing them to enjoy a generated planet as long as they like.

Unfortunately, some pre-release marketing mistakes resulted in big problems for the developers and a huge disappointment for many players who eagerly anticipated the release of the game. The latter problem was a result of the pre-release marketing campaign that caused a huge hype around NMS and the exploration of an endless virtual world. As a result of this, players were expecting more from the game than what actually was planned. Hence, after the game got released, many players were disappointed as the game has not satisfied their overhyped expectations.

However, the main problem is caused by the price of the game which is sold for €59,99 [1]–price for a highly polished mainstream AAA game entertaining the majority of regular computer game players. In contrast to those games, NMS, due to its unique gameplay, does not satisfy the demands of the mainstream computer game players. Instead, it mostly addresses players who enjoy a more slow paced gameplay and the exploration of virtual worlds. Since the emergence of indy games, those niche games have become more and more common. However, in contrast to NMS, those games are normally sold for €20 – €30.

Furthermore, a high price of a game is only justified when it is completely finished and includes all of its features. Unfortunately, NMS had some serious performance issues during the first days after the release and does not include all of the planned features [2]. The developers even announced before the actual release of the game that they will implement more features in order to expand the gameplay of NMS [3].

Improving and expanding a game after its initial release has become common these days, but it is mostly done in form of an early access release. An early access release provides interested players with the game at its current development state. Over time, the developers continue to add new features to the game and even tweak many things based on the suggestions of their playerbase. However, early access games are normally sold for a lower price than the final product.

In the end, based on the gameplay videos I have watched so far, NMS seems to be a very immersive and interesting game I would like to play myself. Additionally, I would like to support the small development team by buying their product in order to help them continuing their work. Unfortunately, due to the huge marketing mistake of selling NMS overprived, I am still hesitant. Maybe I will get my hands on the game when it is finished or when it is offered with a discount…

As a conclusion, marketing does not change the quality of a game, but it still can have a significant impact on the success of a game on the market.