About the EU campaign for maid outfit and fat chocobo

[Bracken]

I didn't want to put where I work on here, but I work at Morrisons, and our store does not stock this item (I don't know about the other stores) but we have never stocked it...

I think Game Master lied about how big they are over here

[Snugglebutt]

I think Game Master lied about how big they are over here

They probably wrote their own wiki page entry to paint themselves in a more positive light. The figures I could find showed their circulation was only around 53k globally for this specific magazine in 2006. In 2012 the circulation of this magazine was down to a total of 23k and by now it would of dropped even more significantly for it as the number of internet savy gamers increased, getting gaming information for free online. No matter how you look at it this was a bad decision.

Future Publishing must have paid off SE with a large lump sum to get this promotion because if the deal with SE was merely a percentage of the profits on these magazines as part of the promotion then the extremely limited circulation of this magazine would make them hardly any income, maybe FP lied about the sales and popularity of this magazine too. It is also bad for players because unlike the NA and JP promotions, UK players have to wait 3 months to get what NA and JP players got within 24 hours and most of them will not be able to get copies of all three magazines because of the VERY low circulation of this product across not just the UK but also the globe in general.

I actually work in publishing and unless SE got paid off with a large lump sum, this was a bad deal. Bad for SE and bad for UK players. The only way this could of been a better deal for SE and UK players is if the promotion spanned all Future Publishing's gaming portfolio so people had a choice but alas this deal apparently only takes into account just one of Future's magazines and a very low circulation on at that. Even then however...forcing UK players to wait 3 months when NA and JP got theirs right away is insulting in itself. The fact that there was no digital only option which could of allowed for unlimited purchases of the magazine is also a really bad deal, the only limitation if had allowed that would of been how many codes SE wanted to let them use.

The reason they had to span 3 magazines is because the cost of the magazine did not equate to the same cost which NA and JP players had to pay aka each magazine is 5.00 GBP so purchasing 3 equals around the same amount roughly NA and JP had to pay when taking into account potential currency values. The consequence of it making people wait 3 months though is not acceptable and will probably leave a bitter taste in the mouths of even those who take part, that will hurt SE's reputation and their players perception of them. Deleting some of the posts which were not rude or insulting is not going to help matters too like one of my previous ones.

No matter how you look at this it was a series of really poor decisions and lack of foresight from a partnership with a very low circulation magazine and only one of that publishers magazines being part of the deal, no digital option to allow for potentially infinite purchases and the fact there is a 3 month wait for UK players compared to the NA and JP waiting/collection period which generally was within 24 hours. Sorry SE if you do not like hearing this but try imagining how we feel because I guarantee we are more unhappy about this than you are.

[InuraBera]

I think Game Master lied about how big they are over here

Yeah, it definitely feels like it.

I've never seen a GamesMaster in a decade, heck, finding anything bar the 'Official PlayStation' or 'Official Xbox' magazines is impossible...and I wouldn't buy them anyway.

That they have then sold out because they are using physical issues...it really does boggle the mind. I would have loved the NA deal, and been okay with the Japan deal (though it would not doubt have issues here in the UK anyway) but all I can hope for now is either the Mogstation, or another EU country deal that seems reasonable.

That said, it reminds me of the really dodgy company they used for Credit Card payments in the UK during 1.0 that no one had heard of either - needs to be more local knowledge used for these kind of things.