EA: we spend 66-75% of a Game's Budget on marketing

Derangel said:
Considering vSync messing with controls was the only major problem the game had I'd say its not a huge injustice that it wasn't patched. Games with far worse problems are never fixed.
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Derangel I get the impression that you are a shill for EA, or you are John Riccitello in disguise. If not, you are nothing but an apologist, its consumers like you which perpetuate this corporate mentality with publishers that makes them think they have free reign to fuck over their consumers whenever they want. No other type of product would be able to get away with such egregious disregard of consumer rights!

The fact that EA treats its PC consumer base with such disdain that it cannot be bothered patching basic bugs is insulting.
 
How much money do the other big companies spend on marketing? If it was only EA that was spending that much on marketing games then I would understand why people would bash them. However, for all we know this could be the norm.
 
great games do not need advertisement. when a great game comes around you tell everyone about it.

sure it can help a mediocre game sell well but it is going to make that game any better? i love to see companies advertise all over TV for a video game only to see every review of it the game just trash the game.

i am generally a year behind on most games, it lets me wait pick up only the gems. so much just crap comes out no wonder they lose money. you sell crap dont expect to make a lot of money.

only thing hurting the game market is now there is 1000's of sites to review games and hundreds of more posts online about games. when a game comes out and it sucks everyone knows about it right away. they cant trick people in to buying crap anymore.

never been a fan of EA and this is one of the reasons why.
 
defiant007 said:
Derangel I get the impression that you are a shill for EA, or you are John Riccitello in disguise. If not, you are nothing but an apologist, its consumers like you which perpetuate this corporate mentality with publishers that makes them think they have free reign to fuck over their consumers whenever they want. No other type of product would be able to get away with such egregious disregard of consumer rights!

The fact that EA treats its PC consumer base with such disdain that it cannot be bothered patching basic bugs is insulting.
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I'm not saying their perfect or anything, just making a point that they did a really good job with Dead Space. Patch support is crap industry wide at the moment. I don't see how EA is treating us with disdain. They've been a hell of a lot better to PC gamers than Atari and Activision have recently. Patch support is iffy, but lets see if Visceral does better with whatever they make next. I give a lot of leeway to new studios and new teams. If this were Bioware, Mythic, or some of EA's other studios not releasing patches for their games then I might have a different opinion. I'm not going to slam every thing EA does just because they're EA. If/when they do something I don't like I'll say something. Otherwise I'm not going to look for reasons to hate them like other people do. I have no reason to.
 
gesicht said:
great games do not need advertisement. when a great game comes around you tell everyone about it.

sure it can help a mediocre game sell well but it is going to make that game any better? i love to see companies advertise all over TV for a video game only to see every review of it the game just trash the game.

i am generally a year behind on most games, it lets me wait pick up only the gems. so much just crap comes out no wonder they lose money. you sell crap dont expect to make a lot of money.

only thing hurting the game market is now there is 1000's of sites to review games and hundreds of more posts online about games. when a game comes out and it sucks everyone knows about it right away. they cant trick people in to buying crap anymore.

never been a fan of EA and this is one of the reasons why.
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Sorry, but that is complete crap. Games do need marketing. When were a small industry that worked, but it is FAR too big now. Most people don't pay attention to game news. Sadly we need huge marketing schemes for big games to sell. This isn't a couple guys making games in their mother's basement anymore.
 
Derangel said:
Lego whatever games sell many times better on consoles and are advertised. Pop Cap places adds around the internet. Doom and UT come from a day when the gaming community was pretty small so word of mouth worked. Now days it really doesn't.
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pop cap lets you play their games online and buy them if you like them............that is where they get most of their business from.

ever been on XBL?

all the top sellers are games that are HIGHLY RATED by the community on XBL and there is no advertisement outside of XBL and xbox.com
 
gesicht said:
great games do not need advertisement. when a great game comes around you tell everyone about it.

sure it can help a mediocre game sell well but it is going to make that game any better? i love to see companies advertise all over TV for a video game only to see every review of it the game just trash the game.

i am generally a year behind on most games, it lets me wait pick up only the gems. so much just crap comes out no wonder they lose money. you sell crap dont expect to make a lot of money.

only thing hurting the game market is now there is 1000's of sites to review games and hundreds of more posts online about games. when a game comes out and it sucks everyone knows about it right away. they cant trick people in to buying crap anymore.

never been a fan of EA and this is one of the reasons why.
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There have been GREAT games that have not been as popular as they should have been. Some were mentioned before by another poster such as System Shock 2, Sacrifice and I'll add a few more: Freespace 2, Planescape: Torment, Giants Citizen Kabuto, Tyrian 2k, and more...
 
YeuEmMaiMai said:
^ you got it wrong and the guy you guoted got it right.
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I wish he was right. He isn't. The industry can't survive on word of mouth alone anymore. Most gamers don't pay attention to game news. That's just the way it is. The internet doesn't really matter. Now, its a little different for PC games, but the biggest money maker is consoles. That is where these ads are focused. Its not like they're spending all this money advertising PC titles, its not worth it. That level of push doesn't do as much for this group as it does for consoles. At the same time, it costs a lot to make these games and ad costs are going to go up too. We're not in some little cottage industry anymore and we have to realize this. Gaming is a huge business.
 
Derangel no matter how much you try to justify it, there is a point that publishers are beginning to reach in terms of marketing budgets which is just plain ridiculous!

Honestly how much marketing do you need to let the masses know about a game so that they can subsequently do some googling to find out more information?! A simple TV campaign with in-game graphics and gameplay should do the trick in most cases, along with a web page address.

Did Bungie/MS honestly need to spend hundreds of thousands (it looks like a very expensive ad) of dollars on their latest live action Halo ODST TV advertisement which could instead have been put to better use to develop the game!?

http://kotaku.com/5352913/halo-3-odsts-amazing-live-action-trailer

Whilst undeniably a cool ad, its a complete waste of money IMHO.
 
sparks said:
and the other 25-33% got to exec salaries.
NOTHING on games.....
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No, half of that went to salaries. The rest was split between the employee-soul-sucking-machine and the department to 'acquire, assimilate and crush small talented development houses'.
 
defiant007 said:
Derangel no matter how much you try to justify it, there is a point that publishers are beginning to reach in terms of marketing budgets which is just plain ridiculous!

Honestly how much marketing do you need to let the masses know about a game so that they can subsequently do some googling to find out more information?! A simple TV campaign with in-game graphics and gameplay should do the trick in most cases, along with a web page address.

Did Bungie/MS honestly need to spend hundreds of thousands (it looks like a very expensive ad) of dollars on their latest live action Halo ODST TV advertisement which could instead have been put to better use to develop the game!?

http://kotaku.com/5352913/halo-3-odsts-amazing-live-action-trailer

Whilst undeniably a cool ad, its a complete waste of money IMHO.
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Lets wait to see how well ODST sells to see if it was worth it. I'm not saying I like this whole thing, but I'd rather see game companies continue to stay in business. There is a reason I'm not against EA or Activisions yearly franchises (though Guitar Hero is starting to push my acceptance limit) because I know it allows them to fund the other games that I actually like from these guys. You have to remember, gaming is a multi-billion dollar a year industry. I would be interested in seeing how much movie studios spend on ads versus how much the actual movie cost to make. I bet you the ratio is similar to this. Like it or not, this is the truth of the matter.

These massive ad campaigns reach people who don't read the magazines and done visit the sites, who only play a few games a year. Call them casual gamers or whatever, but these are the people who keep this industry running. I'm not saying marketing can't get insane at times (Halo 3 anyone?), but for the most part its all on level with movies. This whole topic makes it sound like EA is the only one doing this, they're not. However, they're the only ones honest about it. I've had a very good idea that this was the case for a long time, so it never came as a surprise to me at all. I shrug it off and move on with my life because I understand that it is simply the way business works in large industries.
 
defiant007 said:
Another example of a fucking stupid marketing ploy which is a complete waste of money...sending journalists cheques for $200!

http://www.kotaku.com.au/2009/09/electronic-arts-tests-journalists-greed-with-cash/
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I'm trying to do my best not and get pissed about this and rant because that is exactly what their marketing department wants. No such thing as bad press they say. I will say that EA's marketing department seems hell bent on convincing me they don't have a bloody clue about the game and its not making me want it. Ok, even if the marketing was spot on I probably wouldn't want it just on a matter of principal.
 
Derangel said:
Lets wait to see how well ODST sells to see if it was worth it.
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The point is that you could leave flaming bags of shit on peoples doorsteps with the Halo ODST logo on it and it would still sell squillions, because it is that type franchise. Money spent on frivolous advertising campaigns like this are unnecessary.
 
defiant007 said:
The point is that you could leave flaming bags of shit on peoples doorsteps with the Halo ODST logo on it and it would still sell squillions, because it is that type franchise. Money spent on frivolous advertising campaigns like this are unnecessary.
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There is a good point to be made with what you said, however people do still need to be aware that the game is coming. Tossing a "AAA" title on store shelves without telling your biggest market isn't overly intelligent. That being said, you do have a point that they may be going overkill with their marketing. I will admit that if ODST was on the PC I'd be paying some attention to it since it does seem to do at least a few things different compared to previous games.
 
Derangel said:
There is a good point to be made with what you said, however people do still need to be aware that the game is coming. Tossing a "AAA" title on store shelves without telling your biggest market isn't overly intelligent. That being said, you do have a point that they may be going overkill with their marketing. I will admit that if ODST was on the PC I'd be paying some attention to it since it does seem to do at least a few things different compared to previous games.
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Hey I'm not saying don't have some TV ads with in-game footage....but why go to all the trouble and expense of a live action trailer? One is relatively costless apart from live air time, the other requires shit loads of money in terms of scripting, directing, editing, casting, etc.
 
defiant007 said:
Hey I'm not saying don't have some TV ads with in-game footage....but why go to all the trouble and expense of a live action trailer? One is relatively costless apart from live air time, the other requires shit loads of money in terms of scripting, directing, editing, casting, etc.
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Probably because someone somewhere down the line thought it would be a good investment. I'll take live action ODST trailers over the crap EA's PR team is doing for Dante's Inferno.
 
why is this surprising? EA likes money, just like other companies. The basic idea of marketing is that if you make even the SMALLEST difference in buyer decisions with ads, the will be a HUGE increase in profit.
 
bLake said:
why is this surprising? EA likes money, just like other companies. The basic idea of marketing is that if you make even the SMALLEST difference in buyer decisions with ads, the will be a HUGE increase in profit.
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Too bad that theory didn't work out so well for wolfenstein.

http://www.evilavatar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=95023

Maybe...just maybe...they should have spent less time marketing the game and more time actually crafting an experience worth paying for.
 
defiant007 said:
Too bad that theory didn't work out so well for wolfenstein.

http://www.evilavatar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=95023

Maybe...just maybe...they should have spent less time marketing the game and more time actually crafting an experience worth paying for.
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Wolfenstein was pretty poorly marketed, not a shock though Activision hasn't been overly active with marketing id properties for years. I liked Wolfenstein. It was an old school shooter, we don't have enough for those games anymore. Everything has to be some god damn CoD clone.
 
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