Suggestions for TW3 marketing strategy

[Dan_Normandy]

In Spain the first book was released about 2002 (coinciding with the first visit of Sapkowski to the country). From the wikia

The stories and novels have been translated into Dutch, Bulgarian, Czech, Serbian, Swedish, Russian, German, Italian, Lithuanian, French, Portugese, Spanish and Finnish. An English translation of Ostatnie życzenie (The Last Wish), the first short story collection, was published in the United Kingdom by Gollancz in 2007 and in the United States by Orbit in 2008

The other translations (at least the ones from the first books) were long before the release of the first game.

 

[Deletent]

I thank all the moms & dads who made all the babies that grew up, and are making this game. I thank my mom & dad for making me just so I can play it.

hahaha . Joker. The next step of Sapkowski will be selling rights for HBO for example or some Hollywood studios, but it will be possible if CDPR 's game Witcher 3 will have great success. Let's see...

 

[Deletent]

By the way what about China it's very big market)) who know how many copies of game TW2 was sold?)

 

[ONLY_ONCE]

By the way what about China it's very big market)) who know how many copies of game TW2 was sold?)

Well now that China is getting xbone, it will be cool to see how many get one just for TW3. I don't know if they get ps4 yet I guess we'll see.

 

[501105]

Well today was the first time that I saw part of the two swords trailer used on youtube as a commercial between videos.
Which was extremely funny in my case, since it meant a TW3 commercial before viewing a TW3 soundtrack song.

 

[Scryar]

Just found this Witcher 3 promotion in the australian gaming magazine Hyper.
I find it a bit odd, that there is no mention of a ps4 version of the game, especially because it' a magazine which also features playstation games.(alongside with xbox, pc, nintendo and mobile)
Does CD Project Red have some advertising deal with Microsoft ? And couldn't such an advertising rather hurt the sales, because people will think the game will only release on pc and xbox one?

 

[Garrison72]

You mean the XBox One, the all-in-one family entertainment system?

 

[eskiMoe]

the all-in-one family entertainment system?

Perfect system for the game then:

 

[sidspyker]

You mean the XBox One, the all-in-one family entertainment system?

Pssh that's just Marcin being Marcin
"MM360"

 

[eskiMoe]

Also regarding that promotion.

Xbox One version of the game + 4K TV.

 

[Garrison72]

Pssh that's just Marcin being Marcin
"MM360"

K, I'll stop.

 

[Vigilance.492]

That promotion pissed me off, simply because I pre-ordered too early and now I'm out of the running because it's only pre-orders after a certain time.
Oh whatever. I already have a 4K monitor anyway, it's just that a shot at a big ass 65" one for downstairs just for pre-ordering something I'm already pre-ordering would have been cool.

@scryar I'm not really sure. Look I've tried to ignore the whole "CDPR has a marketing deal with Microsoft", because we don't have any proper hard evidence, but more & more I'm starting to believe it. How far that deal goes I guess we don't know, and I'm definitely not going to throw around any sort of ridiculous parity claims, but it's certainly a little frustrating because I feel like CDPR have put their eggs in the wrong basket. Not that I'm endorsing the idea that they should have tried to do a marketing deal with Sony, but I think they should have just stayed neutral, and not done deals with anyone. Kept to themselves, marketed by themselves and busted out millions of sales, all by themselves.
But business is business and what can you do, it might have in-fact actually been very useful and TW3 might not have the same hype behind it if it wasn't for the MS help via E3 and whatnot.

I don't think people are unaware it's releasing on the PS4 and that could possibly hurt sales... I actually think the more likely scenario in Australia could be that the PS4 version is selling so well, that they're specifically only putting X1/PC on the promotional image because they're trying to tempt more of those sales. The PS4 is selling like bloody hotcakes, and whilst I'd love to have my head in the clouds and assume that TW3 is selling like crazy when it comes to retail PC, the fact is that no matter what incentives they offer in a retail box, many many PC gamers will still just buy from GoG or Steam (And really there's nothing wrong with that GoG purchase, it's probably better).
I think it all really is redundant, no matter how much Microsoft tries to market Multiplats, the fact of the matter is that the PS4 has a gigantic lead, and multiplats are selling more on the PS4. It all just feels like wasted money to me, but no, I don't think EB/Microsoft/CDPR or whoever is losing out at all by not throwing the PS4 version on that image, simply because the PS4 version of games are selling regardless.

 

[Scryar]

@Vigilance
I agree with your post, althought i think such an advertising could hurt the sales if it's done regurarly. Witcher 3 is the first game coming out on a playstation console and many people (especially the more casual playstation players) won't know about it. And such a promotion definitly won't help to enlightem them.
Another point I agree with putting their eggs in the wrong basktet.

Vgchartzs counts the the retail preorders of the game in the USA
Witcher 3 Ps4 version: 114,635
Witcher 3 PC Version: 61,133
Witcher 3 Xbox One version:60,817
http://www.vgchartz.com/preorders/

First of all I think these numbers are pretty impressive. PC preorders will be much higher considering 92'% of the sales are digital (http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/digital-sales-make-up-92-of-global-game-revenues/034551) and it also didn't count the digital playstation/xbox preorders.
Secondly the Witcher games are traditionally strong in europe and the release is still 4 1/2 months away and their heavy marketing campaign didn't evens start.

But there is still a big difference between the xbox and playstation preorders. The preorders of the ps4 version are almost twice as many as the xbox version. It's surprising because the playstation 4 and xbox One are very close in sales in the USA (unlike the rest of the world with the exception of UK)
and it's a new franchise for the playstation players. I don't have any numbers for europe, but considering not-uk europe is sony-land it should be even a much bigger difference here.

You could argue that's the reason why the are advertising the game for xbox one like in the promotion I posted. But I don't see how it might help to ignore the console plattform, on which the game will probably heavily outsell the other console version of the game. Going with Microsoft (like with the GWENT cardset) is in my opinion not a very wise move. Staying neutral and paying theirselves or making the publishers pay for the advertising( isn't that their job anyway?) would be the better alternative.
But well, maybe it was just a exception and there is nothing to worry about. I just don't like the cooperation with microsoft, because they are known for buying exclusive content. And after the Gwent debacle, I'm rather attentive if CD Project Red is too close with Microsoft.

 

[eskiMoe]

First of all I think these numbers are pretty impressive. PC preorders will be much higher considering 92'% of the sales are digital (http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/read/digital-sales-make-up-92-of-global-game-revenues/034551)

Taking the sales of a single game might change the percentages quite dramatically though.

For instance, the PC retail sales of The Witcher 2 were actually much higher than average compared to digital sales back when it was released so I highly doubt over 90% of The Witcher 3 sales will be digital. But nevertheless, digital distribution continues to grow each year and retail sales are withering. Most of the sales will be digital, no question about it. I just doubt their quite that high.

Also, vgchartz is't exactly known to be accurate with their numbers..

 

[sidspyker]

Yeah that, VGChartz and Accuracy are two different universes. Plus TW3 is pretty damn hyped already, they hardly need to 'cater' to any special market anymore and as we've seen in the past, Witcher games have made the most $$ a while after release IIRC I forgot the term used for that. Combine that with the lack of many titles on either of the next-gen consoles presently. I doubt sales on the PS4(or XB1) are something they have to worry about at all.

EDIT: Okay just saw the image, it wasn't displaying before for me.

 

[Vigilance.492]

@scryar
As stated, VGChartz isn't very accurate, so how the pre-orders currently sit we simply don't know, but without a doubt I'd say the PS4 pre-orders are ahead of the Xbox One.

One thing about the competition is it does count if you pre-order on PS4, it's just simply that they've dropped displaying the PS4 version on that promotional image. Now if they had dropped the PS4 version from the promotion altogether, then that would be a little odd, however it's definitely my guess that it has been done on purpose to not display it on the promo image specifically to increase X1/PC sales. Now I doubt Microsoft gain nearly as much from a PC sale of a game as they do an Xbox One copy, so I guess it's debatable whether or not Microsoft have their hands somewhere in this promo, it's still possible I guess. However in general I do agree with you, I don't see why (Especially when the promo still includes pre-ordering the PS4) they would intentionally want to shoot themselves in the foot and not display the PS4 version.

Perhaps we're just putting too much strength in the promo image, maybe people aren't that stupid and anyone looking to pre-order TW3 knows it's coming on PS4 and knows what they're going to pre-order and aren't going to be swayed by some Promotional Image. Although I have a pretty hard time putting trust in the general public, people having common sense and their ability to not by swayed by crappy marketing.

I think casual or otherwise The Witcher 3 is pretty well in the public eye of most people who follow Video Games, and if someone is interested then they're just going to pre-order on whatever platform they have or whatever they own that is the strongest. If I look at it as positively as possible, really something like this promotion (And the GWENT cards & Cloth Map with the X1 CE) only affects people who own multiple platforms and are not sure which version to buy ... They might see the additional CE contents and that ensures a X1 purchase, or they might see the promotion and think it only applies to PC/X1 and so they purposefully buy one of those over the PS4 version, but I don't think it'll gain more purchases in general and I also don't think it will be negative for sales at all, PS4 just loses out on a tiny bit of promotion (Partially redundant for them anyway probably).

 

[Me_HD_i]

CDPR be like, YO WE GOT WITCHER 3 FOR XBONE THE ALL IN ONE FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM AND PC COME 'N GET IT!!!!!!!!!!!!

PS4 version,,,,,? yeah.....we got that too...ugh

 

[DukeAlmighty]

I don't understand, why CDPR are doing so many hands on previews all over place just 2 months before release ? Graphics are on high and It's not the final build we gonna see anyway, so the result they get is mixed reviews, which can hurt the sales.
The game will go gold 1 month before release, no ?
Isn't that enough time to send review copies with final build for the journalists, so they can do proper reviews before release ?

 

[guilhermecn]

It would be good if Cd Red could do a preview with some press guys from Brazil. There's a very positive response about the game and a lot of people are waiting for it.

I've written 4 articles with the latest news about the game on a big Brazilian gaming comunity, gamevicio.com, and received close to 30.000 views and 400 coments (most very positive).