Reply With QuoteAre you secretly working for a marketing company?
Some of you may have followed the problems this week related to the release of Galactic Civilizations II... specifically the fact that many retailers and e-tailers did not have any copies at the release date. Many of us had pre-ordered from them, rather than directly from Stardock, because we (and Stardock) were told we'd get a Collector's Edition with extra goodies. Not only was there poor distribution but not all the retailers ordered the Collector's Edition. The distributor was Take 2. Stardock is both developer and publisher.
The short of this: the release of GalCiv at the retail level has had problems. And Brad, on the GalCiv forums, have vowed to make everyone happy:
In another post he wrote:Believe me, I understand your frustration. We have it too. I won't go into details but suffice to say we have our frustrations on this too.
It's no one's fault in particular. We were told that all pre-orders from all sources in NA would be fulfilled with the CE version. But that turned out not to be the case.
The only difference between the two version is that CE version has a different box style and comes with a fold out tech tree. And I'm saying for the record that anyone who really wants that fold out tech tree can email [email protected], include their serial #, and we'll mail them for free one of those tech tree posters.
Sometimes life has disappointments. After all, we spent 2 years of our lives working on the game so having it not be widely available at retail on the same day as the digital release due to higher expected demand coupled with the holiday (Presidents Day) is a bit of a bummer.
But in the bigger scheme of things, it's small potatoes isn't it? It should be about the game itself. That's what this is about. Making a fun, good PC strategy game that hopefully will give you months or even years of enjoyment.
Other publishers often go into denial or hiding. They should take a lesson from this. This approach will prompt many people to keep coming back to Stardock again and again.BTW, with regarsd to the tech tree thing, if necessary, I'd be willing to make sure we get enough of those things so that we can physically mail them to anyone who requests one that got the first batch of the retail game.
Your the customer after all. It doesn't matter who's at fault. It's OUR responsibility to make sure you are happy with the purchase regardless of where you got it.
Thanks, Brad and good luck.
Are you secretly working for a marketing company?
No. A fanboy, perhaps, but I have no vested interest in the company or game. I just thought this kind of response from a dev deserves some praise.Originally Posted by Charles
If that were the case, it wouldn't be much of a secret anymore.
he had 1 post before this thread... I sense that forum marketing the PA guys were talking about!
Civ 4 had similar problems at launch (with the tech tree, even!) and it got skewered by the forums (C4F, Apolyton). I imagine that the audience isnt a whole lot different either. Just an observation.
I'm not a marketer, but I understand your skepticism since I am new to the forum. I joined last week after an exchange of emails with Tom Chick and he knows my background. That said, it does look suspicious to see a boosterish post like that from a newcomer. Feel free delete/ignore whatever.
The same Tom Chick that co-authored the GC2 manual? Even more suspicious!
;)
Troy
Tom Chick is a viral marketer! I demand that he's to be banned from these forums!
God forgive me for making that thread.
Chris Woods
He may, but we aren't likely to. :)
You personally destroyed the internet.
"Tyler, too" eh?
Maybe he's from Tippecanoe.
Troy
Whatever, indeed. It's interesting that your name can be attributed to one of the earliest examples of modern political campaigning. An exchange of e-mails and pehaps some hard cider? A pat on the back and cigars? These forums aren't your Log Cabin campaign paper.
I think it's pretty obvious what you're trying to pull here. Is the destabilization of Iraq not enough?
Why do you hate America?
Meta jokes aside, props to Brad for being honest and making the best of a bad situation.
I thought I was Tom Chick. I'm so confused.
Anyway, thanks for the kind words.
Hopefully it'll be widely available by mid next week.
Wow Brad, so you're giving away free tech trees to anyone who has a boxed copies? How kind of you :). Guess you were wrong about the evil corporation ;).
No problem, you can pay me later.
That was a joke folks! Just a joke...
Actually Tyler is my dog. Part Corgi, part German Shepard. He thinks he's all shepard. Somedays I feel like that. Hence, tylertoo.
Let me get this straight. Somedays you think you're a German Shepherd?
Oh, man, are we going to enjoy this guy...
To get this thread back on track-
Brad, you and your crew are class acts. I've been in your shoes and know what you are going through. I also know I could NOT do as good a job as you are.
Don't the the net trolls get you down.
-CJ
(disclaimer - I'm not in the game biz anymore but I did pick up GalCiv2 based on Brad's comments and the stuff on their website. Great freaking game!)
Last edited by CJ Martin; 02-24-2006 at 02:50 PM. Reason: I'm an idiot
Oh, we still eat babies. So it's a selective thing.
I had thought I could live w/o the fold out tech tree, but I thought the techs would be explained in the manulal- and they don't seem to be. That plus the fairly sparse information available in-game makes the techs a lot less fun for me. Is there a plan to have a dowloadable pdf (or other format) of the techs?
If only someone would knock this concept into the fucktard minds at Egosoft. Whenever anything goes wrong with X3 they start screaming that it was their publishers fault and that they refuse to help their customers.
Here's to hoping they go under soon.
You mean those PA guys that are in Blizzard's pocket :)
Shills! Well, this makes my job a whole lot easier. hah
Tippecanoe........?
The campaign slogan for President Harrison was "Tippecanoe and Tyler too!" Tippecanoe was the site of one of his victories over American Indians and Tyler was his running mate.
Troy
Riiiiiight. Tell us another one, Mr. Durden.
The first rule of Shoot Club is...
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