This is bizzare to say ther least. You seem fixated only on Ashes 13 and haveI discounted all other factors completely.
1. The Cricket Hype with the actual Ashes happening down under and the Aussies being competetive makes the market ripe for cricket games.
2. The Christmas Sales that can be tapped into by releasing by Mid December.
3. Ensuring that the Savings and Christmas Gifts do not get spent on PS4 and Next Gen games thus reducing potentially large sales volumes for DBC 14.
4. Like Blocker has stated, the market will remain poisoned by the Ashes release and more so with the impending patch that you are hinting at. There is no perfect timing because you have missed the bus (See points 1, 2 and 3).
You could have had the best of both worlds by releasing early November but you missed that opportunity and it is now having a snowball effect and you are just shooting yourself in the foot and or playing into the hands of Trickstar (if the still exist).
Apart from all this, the marketing has again left a lot to be desired. You had the play sessions which was great and proves that you have a great game and the confidence to show it off to the masses. However, the fact that videos from the playsession are taken from a mobile (or external recording devices) means that people cannot truly appreciate the magnificience of the game.
And to add to that, there are videos from the old build that dampen the enthusiasm for the Non Planet Cricket masses who are likely to stumble upon videos on You Tube from the older build. I just cannot understand how you could let that happen. You and the BA Team have paid so much attention to detail and toiled for 4 years but could not display the focus and organization required to ensure that the playsession was not compromised.
I have also seen that the feature description which got rolled out along with the Don Bradman title announcement lacked class and polish. For instance it says 'Imagine running in with your 2 metre bowler to DELIVERY that perfect bouncer'. How could such a glaring mistake have gone unnoticed. It is Deliver that perfect bouncer and not Delivery that perfect bouncer. Proof Reading, Attention to Detail??? Its a great game but you also need to be good at marketing its greatness.
It would seem completely logical to release proper gameplay videos captured professionally (not from external devices) displaying various aspects of the game and the amazing features that it boasts of. I am thinking of a proper 10 - 15 minutes Official Trailer that can be promoted on You Tube Facebook and the Planet Cricket Homepage. We are passionate followers of the game and we can promote such a video endlessly.
I certainly do not mind waiting for the game for however long it takes because I want it to succeed as a Franchise with subsequent sequels but I am really disappointed that you are compromising the success and profitability of this game by not doing the simple marketing things and over thinking stuff.
I am hoping that this post serves as food for thought and am expecting a response (hopefully in terms of action) or atleast in terms of a post acknowledging that you have considered these points.
