Don Bradman Cricket 14 General Discussion

I don't work in marketing and I accept Big Ant have experience and (probably) know what they're doing but I'm surprised there hasn't been more groundwork laid in terms of general awareness.

I'm sure they'll make up for it once things swing into gear.
 
In general the gaming public cannot stand more than one-two months of hype before a game is released, any more than that and they're onto something else. As soon as you registered for PC and were no longer "guests" you also were no longer "members of the general public" from my point of view, you made an investment of your time that they just are not prepared to do.

The FIFA's of this world, like blockbuster film, tell of release dates so far in advance so that everyone else steers clear of them which enables them to have near on 100% of the money in the market. We are not in that space, I dream of our Cricket game being strong enough one day to pick a weekend and own it but that requires not only an awesome first game but a heritage of delivering them for many years.

Right at the start here I put forward that this is a marathon not a sprint. C14 along with TTC are the two single biggest investments we have made to date. We own them ourselves and I have a vision of making Cricket the core of Big Ant Studios going forward for many years, what happens in the next few months is important however I have a long term view to protect and my strategy is based on that. A strong base game with frequent updates between major releases.

Patience is required to stay sane on this journey, perhaps check out South Park's Wii episode - btw I notice there's been no Wii U episode? :)
 
Bravo ross bravo. The only thing I would add is people these days can not wait so maybe something small released like the name with a catchy catch phrase like ea sports it's in the game. You already have this with cricket like you have never seen before, you just have to release it to the public. Good luck ross in the near future.:thumbs
 
That's nice so your marketing starts 2 months before the release so if its releasing in August you will be starting the marketing of the game this month ......Eagerly waiting for the trailers and Screenshots as this game has become our only hope for an awesome experience of cricket....:cheers
 
In general the gaming public cannot stand more than one-two months of hype before a game is released, any more than that and they're onto something else. As soon as you registered for PC and were no longer "guests" you also were no longer "members of the general public" from my point of view, you made an investment of your time that they just are not prepared to do.

The FIFA's of this world, like blockbuster film, tell of release dates so far in advance so that everyone else steers clear of them which enables them to have near on 100% of the money in the market. We are not in that space, I dream of our Cricket game being strong enough one day to pick a weekend and own it but that requires not only an awesome first game but a heritage of delivering them for many years.

Right at the start here I put forward that this is a marathon not a sprint. C14 along with TTC are the two single biggest investments we have made to date. We own them ourselves and I have a vision of making Cricket the core of Big Ant Studios going forward for many years, what happens in the next few months is important however I have a long term view to protect and my strategy is based on that. A strong base game with frequent updates between major releases.

Patience is required to stay sane on this journey, perhaps check out South Park's Wii episode - btw I notice there's been no Wii U episode? :)

I agree to almost everything that you wrote above....however a part of me still feels that there are people out there who dont even know BigAnt is making a cricket game and would therefore buy the other game that might release before BigAnt, without getting the 'chance' to evaluate the two. When I talk about people out there, I dont necessarily mean the general public who dont care to read about games online....I am talking about people who are regular on the net for games. If nothing, you can just release a single press release with the info you have already told us and you can mention about the CA beta so that when people google the internet for a cricket game, they can see an article about Cricket14 as well and then make an informed decision.

For e.g. right now when I search 'cricket game 2013' on google, I get atleast 2-3 links for AC13 and their screenshots......BigAnt Cricket 2014 is not even there on the first three pages (didnt check beyond that but chances are would not find it there also) while AC13 is mentioned atleast 10 times in those 3 pages! This is a big big issue as people have no idea about BigAnt's game as even if they google cricket game 2013, which would be expected to show all cricket games in 2013, they would only see AC13 and thus would think that is the only game available. It is an even bigger issue as AC13 very well might release their game next week (atleast pc version) and people will buy it thinking that is the only cricket game available!

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And just to further validate my point, I typed "ps3 cricket game 2013" in google.....and 'every single' link was for AC13. Then I thought, hang on...big ant's game is named cricket 14, so I typed "ps3 cricket game 2014" in google....you can see the result yourself!!! :p

I sincerely do think that you (and your team) are a tactical genius Ross.....but you may be missing this one trick in the book :D!! And in this industry, even a single trick missed can cause a lot of damage.....Ask XboxOne (microsoft) :p!!
 
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We have to remember, we are not the general public, just members of it who were given the privilege of knowing about it's existence way in advance. As far as the general public are concerned the game doesn't exist. We are like a focus group, constantly giving feedback which will help Big Ant come out with the best possible cricket game. We should be honored that we are being asked to help shape this cricket game and (hopefully) the ones in the near future. I understand that people are very eager to get their hands on this game as am I, but I think that if we can wait 3 years or so for a cricket game, 4 months shouldn't be a problem. Remember, we (and the Facebook crowd) are the only people that knows this game exists, it's not like the wider public are being "cheated" in anyway.
 
I think you posted in the wrong forum :p

Hahaha, I see what you did there.

cricket_stumps_burning.jpg
 
Agreed but building online presence especially when it comes to SEO takes longer than 2 months.
If after both games release someone is searching on google for a cricket game there is a greater chance to my mind that most the results will be for AC13.
 
As far as the general public are concerned the game doesn't exist.
That's the point though - Ashes Cricket is about to release, and the general public who last bought AC09 might think that it will be four years of improvement over an okay game, so time to buy another cricket game.

By Big Ant's game not being officially announced in the press, they miss out on being a comparison point in all the articles written on AC13's launch and they are potentially missing a large portion of the non die-hard cricket fans, who would only justify buying a game every few years.
 
The people who count, the retailers, know we are coming. Things are going to plan and I am happy with progress.

As far as I know Ashes on console is not close to release. The battle has not begun and that is why there is little marketing for ashes other than that which was booked waaayyy in advance. People are asking why they would use buggy screenshots in their marketing/media - simple answer - it's the best they have. If they had better then you would be seeing it.

The PC version of Ashes is being released so as to make a date that is a contractual obligation with the licensors, not because it is "ready" or great.

If the game was to be released next week then no one has been working on it for a month and it would be in the retailers warehouses NOW.

If I am wrong then I have been played, if not then you all have - there are no excuses - it will have a prolonged deception that has gone for months all the way up to this week.
 
I totally agree with you...Ross do we have any surprises this weekend.:yes:yes
 
Sorry, in New York post E3, won't be anything this weekend.
 

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