Letter from the Producer, XXVIII (05/28/2012)

[Starlord]

So word on the rumor mill(ie this thread) is that they're moving up the trailer(which could be nothing huge anyway) is being moved to August? That's a bloody brilliant(if not expected) move, and it shows that marketing knows what they're doing(and that they're smarter than most of you). For one thing, this move(and this letter) show that while this community might "help" with feedback in certain fine-tuning, it still isn't anywhere near big enough to have a large impact, and that's exactly what SE is going for.

A quick Google search will show you how many people have been in attendance to e3 over the past few years, and while it did increase over last year, it's pretty much flat lining around 45k attendance given the nature of the attendees, which is a relatively static number of industry professionals, analysts, investors, etc. SE probably isn't worried about all these suits because fuck it, they're SE and they've already mentioned previously that they ain't worried about that sort of thing.

Meanwhile over in Europa, Gamescom is only in it's FOURTH year(2009 -2012), and it has already seen a whopping 275 THOUSAND attendance. The audience also has a key element that e3 has dismissed: the gamers and fans. You aren't going to see non-professionals at e3, and that means that at Gamesom, there are actual THRONGS of people and fans(your target audience) PLAYING YOUR GAME.

There's still a large portion of gamers that don't get their information online or through the lodestone. Hell, I have people in my Linkshell that don't even know what the Lodestone even is. Going to a gaming con and hearing a lot of buzz about certain things on the show floor can attract a much larger following. Besides, most major NA gaming outlets are sending people to Köln for Gamescom anyway. Give the site and online info for the people who know how to find it, and make the big splash at Gamescom like they did originally in 2009.

Two sides to every coin: Side 1 E3 45,000 attendance, Side 2 Gamescon 275,000 which one would they want to do E3 with less attendance, or Gamescom with 4 times the amount of E3? This is exactly why they made this change, Thanks Malakhim!

[Colino]

Two sides to every coin: Side 1 E3 45,000 attendance, Side 2 Gamescon 275,000 which one would they want to do E3 with less attendance, or Gamescom with 4 times the amount of E3? This is exactly why they made this change, Thanks Malakhim!

This statement is so unbelivably stupid I can't even begin to respond.

E3 is broadcast on television and online to MILLIONS every year. It's an industry only event but it's second to NO event as far as announcements, reveals and releases are concerned.

Gamescom is a PUBLIC show and is meant mostly as a showcase of demos and products previously announced (usually at e3). Obviously a PUBLIC show will have a lot more attendees than a PRIVATE show. But attendance accounts for absolutely nothing because the actual announcements happen at E3 every year and are broadcast/published/streamed to EVERYONE.

There's a reason Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo and all the other industry leaders present and announce their newest products during their own E3 press conferences and not at Gamescom.

[viion]

Two sides to every coin: Side 1 E3 45,000 attendance, Side 2 Gamescon 275,000 which one would they want to do E3 with less attendance, or Gamescom with 4 times the amount of E3? This is exactly why they made this change, Thanks Malakhim!

Right because its not like its streamed live anywhere, you have to be at e3 to see it.

Numbers = Nothing.

Guildwars 2 @ Gamescom will stomp all over XIV and pull in the people anyway lol.

[Scherwiz]

All that I got out of this thread.

Frick

Frack

[AdvancedWind]

Two sides to every coin: Side 1 E3 45,000 attendance, Side 2 Gamescon 275,000 which one would they want to do E3 with less attendance, or Gamescom with 4 times the amount of E3? This is exactly why they made this change, Thanks Malakhim!

Except one little thing: E3 has 45,000 people plus hundreds of thousands of online views on streams and is the one gaming event that gets the most coverage in pretty much every gaming site. From Gamespot to IGN to Kotaku to randomguysgamingblog.com, E3 will be the one thing everyone will be talking about. If someone farts on E3, the whole world will know seconds later. That kind of thing just doesn't happen with Gamescon, TGS or any other gaming event.

So, I too believe that not presenting FFXIV on E3 is an error. They need to start marketing FFXIV 2.0 as early as possible, and yes, E3 would be a nice start, with or without a trailer. August might be too late, given the fact that so many people out there either believe the game is the exact same thing as 2010 or think it's has been shut down and erased from everyone's memories.

To me, it seems that SE is missing pretty much every chance they get to market this thing, and like I've said, when they actually decide to start it, it might already be too late.