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Dam... I never expected that. But i guess that's business.

And I have to say Thank you to Sharpnel for the forum offer, This place is great and the effort you put here is immense, There isn't a forum i've been on that I've enjoyed more than here. I'll have to go buy a copy of Dominions II or some other Shrapnel Sold Product now out of Loyalty http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/wink.gif

Re: (Shocking) News!!!!!
 

I am disappointed that he is leaving especially before SEV comes out. IMHO, I feel that he is losing more then he realizes, If you take into account this forum and those on it that not only play his game but actually go out and advertise it, I don't see Strategy lst having the same kind of player forum base, but I might be wrong. If he looks at Strategy's lst forum site he might realize that their setup and forums don't compare to ours. I have a number of their games, and I have seen that their support is a minus compared to Shrapnel's as well as the friendly feelng in their forums is not anywhere near to par as Shrapnel. I do wish him luck and hope he eventually returns to us. We'll miss him

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Yea, I kinda found out about this when not long after it was decided (was in contact with Aaron during a now-abandoned project we were doing)

Re: (Shocking) News!!!!!
 

Surprising indeed. I am not sure the game will be any better by getting into the retailer stores; if all goes well (not a given in itself), it might result in a better market penetration abroad though. At least in France, a game *has* to be available in stores and in French to sell really well, and will usually not even be reviewed in the mainstream press if the first condition isn't met. Strategy 1st may be able to help in those areas... or perhaps not.

I gather Strategy 1st does business like everyone else in the retail industry? That is, will the game drop in prices once it has been available for a few months? If so, it will be another matter: I would expect many sales of SEIV to have been made months or even years after the game was first published, and those were still profitable. SEV is unlikely to get that kind of window of time while nearing games selling much more quickly.

Well, we shall see I guess. I am glad SEV will still be "sheltered" on those boards; hats off to Shrapnel for that.

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Holy crap! This sucks, I always had nothing but good things to say about Shrapnel and their support....I doubt I can say the same thing about Strategy First....Damn. And I sure as hell hope that switching publishers won't increase the price of SEV when it comes out...I'm not exactly rolling in cash, and I can't afford an increase.

Does anyone have any idea why Aaron is going away from Shrapnel, and heading for the retail market?? The obvious consideration is that he thinks he can make more money, but I'm not sure if that's going to happen. I mean, how many people do you know that actually enjoy strategy games, especially games like SEIV?? As a proportion of the gaming population it is quite small, and I'm not so sure SEV will do well in retail. I sure hope it does, that'd be great, but I have my doubts. Obviously Aaron doesn't though.

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well, S-F has some very flashy looking games. The game designers all have some very flashy looking web pages. Even the glamor shots of SE5 dont stack up with whats already out at S-F.

So I honestly think that MM is going to sink like a rock in that environment. The kiddies just are not going to be interested when the bells and whistles are not chromed.

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Alneyan: I heard that Andres made a Spanish translation of SEIV once, perhaps you could do a French translation, perhaps even for Malfador itself, as they would then also be able to sell more copies in, say, Canada.

And as for further comments:
Good luck Aaron. Here's hoping SEV will appeal to the "mainstream" gamers more, so it attracts more attention in the gaming world.

Who knows..... in a few years you might actually be on the E3 with a Malfador stand! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

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I fear that dumbing it down to mass-market levels will totally ruin the game.

Hopefully it will just mean dumbed down and graphics-intensive stock settings, with higher quality** mods for the rest of us.

-----

** Complex, challenging and imagination-firing, with lots of decisions to consider among designs, strategies and development. To hell with graphics; make it a good, hearty spreadsheeter, and use an ASCII-art shipset http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

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Alneyan, this is the retailers' bad and there isn't much the publisher can do about it. If a game doesn't hit a certain turn level (so many copies per week), then the retailer either wants the publisher to take it back (free the shelf space for something that turns faster) or reduce the price (bargain bin it). The publisher can't pay to bring the games back from retail, then turn them around again to get them to the consumer - it would be a losing proposition. So there only option is to reduce the price.

It is why retail is so undesirable for niche games. They can't do the numbers quick enough to keep them out of the bargain bins. They aren't allowed to develop a following, the shelf space is too precious to the retailer.

You should read our blog on "Why Traditional Retail and Niche Games Don’t Work" - posted on 2/24/2005 - for the scary numbers.

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Truefully I think SEIV was a perfect match for Shrapnel. And I think that Shrapnel helped SEIV as much as SEIV helped shrapnel.

I am disappointed with the announcement. The protental for bigger is not always the protential for better.

This series is not a mainstream game. It is for a small piece of the market.