WarHammer > Ultima Online?

[Hunters' Moon]

Just curious about something here. I work at a walmart eletronics dept and today I see that warhammer came out and is getting shelf space here right along side WoW and Guild Wars. Great...I guess,but why isn't EA/Mythic getting UO on the shelves as well? Does EA/Mythic see UO as too old to bother with anymore? I spoke with a Mosiac Rep(a vendor that stocks many online games for WalMart) today,asking her if I could get some UO on the shelves too. She kinda thought for a moment and said that she could "request it,but don't hold your breath".

As a gamer,I see a lot of promise left in UO,but as a retailer I see the upper management of EA/Mythic driving a stake into the heart of any hope to revitalize the game many love and would surely want to come back to if the marketing would catch up with other companies.

So if any EA/Mythic managers just so happens to read this,please send me some UO disks. I have plenty of shelf space for you.

 

[Kiminality]

It's been said; there's not really anything for them to market.
I believe it was Jeremey that said that.

 

[Pickaxe Pete]

Maybe with SA, no sooner I'm sure... 9th box is almost rare irl at this point.

 

[Hunters' Moon]

Maybe with SA, no sooner I'm sure... 9th box is almost rare irl at this point.

Yes I would love to see UO:SA boxes on the shelves when the release is ready,instead of just releasing it as a download.

 

[Farsight]

Honestly, without an SA shelf presence, I may not play it.

 

[meridus]

Honestly, without an SA shelf presence, I may not play it.

???

 

[hawkeye_pike]

A game with graphics like UO will hardly attract new players, but keep us old-timer fans interested instead. Thus, advertising will be a waste of money.

If the Stygian Abyss client is going to kick ass, then advertising would make sense.

(Unfortunately, but understandably, the customers don't judge a game on its depth, but mostly on its graphics.)

 

[lucitus]

Yeah i will also buy one hardcopy of the game with printed book, map and SA Client handbook . I think with the right marketing strategy UO has enormous potential, we can see that in 11 years of UO. UO is not the MMORPG you play if you want high end graphic, not if you want no social life, UO is the game for ppl, who want have game deepness, community and a lot of fun, playing no sense which PC you have.

 

[Uvtha]

Is anyone really suprised by this? Expecting UO to gain customers on the shelf next to wow, warhammer, and guildwars? It's simply not going to happen. I mean we all love UO, but we need to accept that its not very nice looking by modern standards, and it simply will not compete well.

I do think they should put SA out in a box though.

 

[_zigzag_]

Just curious about something here. I work at a walmart eletronics dept and today I see that warhammer came out and is getting shelf space here right along side WoW and Guild Wars. Great...I guess,but why isn't EA/Mythic getting UO on the shelves as well? Does EA/Mythic see UO as too old to bother with anymore? I spoke with a Mosiac Rep(a vendor that stocks many online games for WalMart) today,asking her if I could get some UO on the shelves too. She kinda thought for a moment and said that she could "request it,but don't hold your breath".

As a gamer,I see a lot of promise left in UO,but as a retailer I see the upper management of EA/Mythic driving a stake into the heart of any hope to revitalize the game many love and would surely want to come back to if the marketing would catch up with other companies.

So if any EA/Mythic managers just so happens to read this,please send me some UO disks. I have plenty of shelf space for you.

It was mentioned at the TH in San Diego I believe...may have been Seattle...that some stores *do* have UO in a box...it's in the back room though, not on a shelf up front.
This is because, as it was explained, shelf space in stores is at a premium - it's limited - and new products get that space.

 

[Doomsday Dragon]

The SA release would be the best time to put UO on a shelf. With war being released putting UO on the shelf next to it would be bad business in a sense.

Even if SA were released at the same time as war you would not want both on a shelf next to one another. You would want to offset the release dates or release each to different retailers.

I do think we will see SA in stores or at least I would really hope we do because I am tired of paying for a game that does not come with an actual install disc.

Nothing like being forced to download and install new content for a game even if your not planning to use the new content so that you can continue playing a game you paid for several times over by now then being told you can just pay to unlock it instead of just selling us a damned install disc like every other game comes with...

 

[Silly Seadog]

Arrrrr, but they both be owned by the same company! EA/M could create some sort of package deal that would benefit both games!

 

[Littleblue]

That is an excellent idea, Silly Seadog... Of course, we all know pirates know best!

If they are worried about distribution costs on the UO boxes, it would be a great idea to include a UO trial + Install with the newcoming game. I bet quite a few players would give UO a shot, just because it was in the package too. It would be awesome to see more players come to UO!

 

[Mitzlplik_SP]

Thats a great idea and definately doable.As I bought Warhammer yesterday after opening the box I notice this lil paper with a code for red alert 3 (command and conquer)Enter code and get an exclusive map.That would be awsome to open it and see a trial for UO or something like that.

Than again they probably don`t want to take away from their shiny new game and attract peaple to an aging game even though they own both and alot of peaple would like both and very well play both.Either way they`d be getting money.

Makes sense on both fronts its to bad they can`t even stock a few UO boxes here and there even if their in the back.When I returned to UO I drove 130 miles to the nearest mall.After digging thru hundreds of titles on every rack and having the guy tell me they don`t have any Ultima games in stock...... I found ONE 9th anniversary box.I damned near freaked right out,lol.

 

[Kellgory]

I believe that if you go back and ready the last town hall notes where they talked about SA you will also see notes about plans for a box being on store shelves. For those that were wondering the last box was for the 9th anniversery, and it was a a dark box with a ank on the cover. Not very flashy and it was hard to locate on store shelves.

 

[Sarphus]

Hang in there. I think the big marketing push is planned to happen after the SA release.

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

Hang in there. I think the big marketing push is planned to happen after the SA release.

Or at least a moderate one.

Or at least a marketing push.

And frankly as long as the game remains fun and interesting and viable (and as long as the event finally starts again and the team finally starts f_____g posting here again), and as long as they are making money from it and have no reason to strangle or kill it, I wouldn't care if there wasn't a single ad anywhere.

-Galen's player

 

[canary]

(Unfortunately, but understandably, the customers don't judge a game on its depth, but mostly on its graphics.)

It's usually like dating. You typically don't see an ugly person and go 'OMG I want to date them!'.

Looks come first. Content second... but its the first part that _usually_ draws you in.

 

[Gwendar-SP]

One problem I think is EA's push of internet sales. ML was only sold through EA. AoS had the land rush encouraging folks to pre order from the net. I think all the copies I've bought since I stated had a limited time release promotion which often had to redeemed before christmas but was later extended. Some of the promotions one needed to get a number from the store to turn in. These things make the game hard for wal-mart to stock. Why stock a game when most of the copies that folks are buying have already been bought on line.

Seems like one online store actually tries to sell old versions. ie, youi buy the latest and ads pop up to try to sell older versions.

 

[Harb]

Arrrrr, but they both be owned by the same company! EA/M could create some sort of package deal that would benefit both games!

Very good idea. I'm not so sure it's sound logic to discount either subscription based on the other. However, it would be a superb idea to put a UO disc coupled with a brief summary into the next printing of Warhammer. While folks buying Warhammer would be buying it to try that product, if curious or unsatisfied with Warhammer, some may try UO if it came along as part of that package. Pending release and marketing of SA, it couldn't hurt. It would also give old UO players a means to acquire the current game, and may even cause a few of them to try Warhammer. The long/ short of it is that it really couldn't hurt!

 

[Dakkon Blackblade]

UO has not and probably will not be a contender for shelf space anytime soon, maybe with a SA release there will be a box but I would also not hold my breath, the thing about UO is it caters to a very small niche in the MMO community.

The only reason it's still running at all is because there are just enough subscribers to pay the server costs and likely a small profit is being turned, the minute this game starts dipping below profit then it will have it's life support turned off and will finally be allowed to die with a smidgen of dignity.

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

UO has not and probably will not be a contender for shelf space anytime soon, maybe with a SA release there will be a box but I would also not hold my breath, the thing about UO is it caters to a very small niche in the MMO community.

The only reason it's still running at all is because there are just enough subscribers to pay the server costs and likely a small profit is being turned, the minute this game starts dipping below profit then it will have it's life support turned off and will finally be allowed to die with a smidgen of dignity.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/warhammer-time

100k and "wildly profitable."

Sure he might have been lying. But in the context it was a spontaneous utterance, and was not a discussion about UO (he was just using it as an example), so he could have easily found another example.

*shrugs*

-Galen's player

 

[GalenKnighthawke]

Arrrrr, but they both be owned by the same company! EA/M could create some sort of package deal that would benefit both games!

I am nearly positive their marketing people have thought of that. Whether they have rejected it or are doing a study, however, I can't guess.

-Galen's player

 

[Tek]

The EB Games stores where I live all have a copy of UO on the shelf, one even has a copy of Samurai Empire still....

 

[azmodanb]

A game with graphics like UO will hardly attract new players, but keep us old-timer fans interested instead. Thus, advertising will be a waste of money.

If the Stygian Abyss client is going to kick ass, then advertising would make sense.

(Unfortunately, but understandably, the customers don't judge a game on its depth, but mostly on its graphics.)

Hell just put out a CD/ with out any flair... most of us UO players would buy it just to have a hardcopy so we dont have to download that crap all the time... Would not cost them much... I dont need a book, etc... I am sick of all the same old crap in them anyways...

 

[Dol'Gorath]

Last time UO had a box [9th anniversary] every electronics store in my city [Gamestop, Best Buy etc] only got about 2-3 boxes each and they were at the *bottom* of the shelves and pretty much hidden away while the other MMO's like WoW and EQ2 were top and front.
A UO box isn't gonna miraculously mean anything, it's a niche game and it'll have a small niche on the shelves.