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

[Colino]

Which means they will market the game at E3, ie they WILL be showing something.

First of all I already pointed out how poorly worded that sentence is. Second of all, just a few lines after he explicitly states how the roadmap has been updated to say that marketing will commence in AUGUST (so AFTER E3) and

But during our most recent global PR planning meeting, we came to the conclusion that the most effective way to introduce version 2.0 to the world would be with a flood of new material rather than just a trickle.

Which is in contradiction to the only one line where he says "public release of version 2.0" which again is EXTREMELY poorly worded.

[Lurex]

"But during our most recent global PR planning meeting, we came to the conclusion that the most effective way to introduce version 2.0 to the world would be with a flood of new material rather than just a trickle"

Why is there only a "trickle" of information available at this point in time? That is what worries me. So we are going to have "new material" in 2 months time. I just don't get it.

[Baxta]

true but its right in time for the lead up for the 2.0 beta and roll out to start.

I see what there playing at here. There going to put every thing they have into one strike and hope for a knockout.

It is one hell of a gamble, one i hope pays off for them.

This is about the only conclusion I could come to aswell. Skip E3 becuase they deem it too early, so they have a few interviews etc. but they keep the lid on. Have a big push in August, when things are quiet and hope the media picks up on it and they can generate enough hype to lead them into TGS and launch in a strong position.

Like you say though, seems a gamble to me too. There is a reason August is a quiet month and TGS is always more difficult for the western market to get info from unless they're dedicated. Oh well, fingers crossed.

[Jinko]

true but its right in time for the lead up for the 2.0 beta and roll out to start.

I see what there playing at here. There going to put every thing they have into one strike and hope for a knockout.

It is one hell of a gamble, one i hope pays off for them.

Capcom released a trailer for RE6 ages ago and many more since, its called great advertising strategy, something SE have never been good at.

Even FF13-2's adversing was pretty lacking until the last few months.

[Hycinthus]

"But during our most recent global PR planning meeting, we came to the conclusion that the most effective way to introduce version 2.0 to the world would be with a flood of new material rather than just a trickle"

Why is there only a "trickle" of information available at this point in time? That is what worries me. So we are going to have "new material" in 2 months time. I just don't get it.

Miracle patch coming in 2 months will make that "trickle" into a "flood".

[Delsus]

First of all I already pointed out how poorly worded that sentence is. Second of all, just a few lines after he explicitly states how the roadmap has been updated to say that marketing will commence in AUGUST (so AFTER E3) and



Which is in contradiction to the only one line where he says "public release of version 2.0" which again is EXTREMELY poorly worded.

Or it could be a whole load of gameplay is released at E3, then at Gamescom they only show the trailer. The trailer will be CGI and is not really material, if they show gameplay of as much content as they can (solo play, party play, dungeons, primals, crafting, gathering) along with new pdfs of concept art etc etc, that is a flood of material, then throw the trailer out as an after thought, the content shown in E3 will get alot of views, people going Wow that GAMEPLAY looks awesome, possibly Wow that game is still going, and is trying to come back from the ashes, etc and both of these views will get people to preorder, unlike a CGI trailer.

[Req]

Capcom released a trailer for RE6 ages ago and many more since, its called great advertising strategy, something SE have never been good at.

Even FF13-2's adversing was pretty lacking until the last few months.

I am sure we will get our commercials with pop idols singing in the background coming on every 5 minutes too once they release 2.0. Just have faith.

[Atoli]

Ehm...am I missing something or why does everyone think they are skipping E3?
They aren't, they said there will be a shitload of NEW information on FFXIV 2.0 on E3 as well as a website afterwards.
NEW as in "stuff we haven't seen yet in the PDFs".

The ONLY thing they aren't showing is a trailer, and seriously, I'm kind of happy about that.
Trailers never really show anything about what has changed, they always look cool even if the game is crap.
If they only showed a trailer, everyone would have been like "Meeh. They are just hyping their broken game with an awesome-looking trailer while the game is actually shit."
By NOT doing that but rather showing information on what has changed and will continue to change with the release of 2.0, they can show way better that FFXIV 2.0 is NOT the same old broken game with only a new wrapping.

[Jinko]

I am sure we will get our commercials with pop idols singing in the background coming on every 5 minutes too once they release 2.0. Just have faith.

I don't think you advertise an MMO with pop idols :P

What I don't understand is how people are expecting in game footage when they aren't even showing a trailer.

SE have been pretty foolish they should have made an in game footage trailer instead of the opening CGI trailer for E3.

[Onidemon]

Or they can show the relevent gameplay that everyone wants to see, they can see how the UI will work, see how things look, then release the CGI trailer showing abilities we do not have (Fire Arrow) and things we will never see ingame (or anything like it) at a later date.

The 1.0 trailer/opening movie has very little to do with the game, there are the races, classes, leves and a flashback in Mor Dhona, who thought we would get the Magic arrows we saw in the trailer.

It shows nothing of how the game will play, its not even represetative of the graphics, just CGI and useless, this will be what the new trailer will be like, not showing the game, but other movies like gameplay have some use, they are just getting thier priorities straight, the first thing they need is to do something to pull players in and preorder 2.0, and ONLY gameplay will do that, a CGI trailer will do nothing.

There is no gameplay at E3 period. The most you will see is interviews and artwork. If there was actual gameplay detailing how 2.0 will work and all then there would be no need to withdraw that trailer. Everyone has to understand that they are keeping the info under wraps for a longer time and not that they have something even bigger planned for E3.