There’s that word again…
March 26, 2008 – 6:35 pm
As I’m sure you’ve heard by now, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning just announced another delay, until Q3, 2008.
Right about now is when I feel most restricted by the closed beta NDA. It would be wonderful if I could explain the reasons for this delay in my own words, but I can’t, so you’ll just have to take Mark Jacobs’ word for it over at Warhammer Alliance. In fact, Mr. Jacobs has been a busy man online today, including the Ten Ton Hammer Forums and Eurogamer. I’m sure he’s diffusing the situation on several other sites I’m not aware of too… Feel free to link them in a comment!
Since I can’t actually talk about the game, let me examine this delay from several other angles…
Timing
I don’t have any inside information on this, so allow me to speculate. If you’re going to announce something that will be generally perceived as negative, you’re going to want to soften the blow with some good news as well. In contrast to Syp over at Waaagh!, I believe that announcing the delay at the same time as releasing details about the collector’s edition (CE) was a good tactical move from the point of softening the blow. Did they build up expectations with their big countdown timer on WAR-Europe? Yep. Did it attract them the widest possible audience? Yep.
You really have to wonder about last week’s CE leak though… Had the information not been leaked, EA Mythic wouldn’t have had to explain only part of what their press release would include. They couldn’t very well pre-announce their announcement of another release delay but they had to cover their asses about the CE leak, which unfortunately, falsely built up player expectations.
Repercussions and turning that frown upside down?
While the CE information may have softened the blow of the delay announcement, unfortunately, it works the other way around too. From a marketing perspective I don’t think it’s ideal to announce a 3-month delay in the same press conference that pitches your pre-order collector’s edition box. I think this announcement may hurt CE sales, unless, in some twisted way, people latch onto the “open beta access” feature included in the CE box.
Some fans may think to themselves, “Damnit! Not being lucky enough to get into closed beta was bad, but at least there were only a couple months left until release. Heeeeeeeeeey, this collector’s edition lets me buy my way into beta! I’ll take one for me and one for eBay!”
That’s probably not a bad train of thought for people to have to be honest. Knowing that there are over 600k people signed up for closed beta and knowing that they’ll only invite SOME of them into the open beta, you have a better chance of getting in by purchasing the CE box (guaranteed entry vs. not guaranteed). I’m sure that’s what EA Mythic is banking on, anyway. 
Other fans will obviously be miffed by “yet another Warhammer delay” and may move on (or back) to something else.
Competition and predictions
With the new Q3 release forecast, EA Mythic is facing competition in three stages:
Age of Conan (AoC) will most likely launch before them, barring another delay and this has the potential to work for or against them. With 3+ months between them, many potential WAR subscribers will probably give AoC a try because there’s not any alternative “new blood” in the MMORPG genre. The game holds zero appeal to me personally, and I think anyone who wanted to try out WAR will leave AoC when it comes out anyway (if only briefly). Three months is enough time to become completely engrossed or completely bored with an MMORPG, and I think with AoC, it will be the latter for most WAR fans.
Lord of the Rings Online (LotRO) is expecting to release their Mines of Moria expansion some time this fall, which will make it slightly more competitive against WAR, in my opinion. Granted, the target audiences for the two games isn’t very similar (PvPers favour WAR), but the new LotRO content may keep players around, keeping them away from trying out WAR. For a while at least.
Wrath of the Lich King (WotLK) will probably launch after WAR, as many predict a late Q4, 2008 to early Q1, 2009 release for WoW’s second expansion. I believe it’s essential that WAR launch at least a quarter before WotLK or the WoW devotees that are interested, but not quite sold on the WAR concept, won’t make the move without first trying out the WoW expansion. If WAR can launch sooner, it’s in their best interested because even if they don’t retain the subscriptions of the ex-WoW players, they’ll at least get the initial box sales and a couple months of subscriptions out of players before they go back to WoW. Of course, in the ideal situation, WAR would be so superior to WoW that the players would choose to stay rather than jump ship. Launching after WotLK will still take some players away from WoW but not nearly as many.
Final thoughts…
Q3 is probably the ideal launch time anyway if you strip away the competition factor… In the summer time, gaming in general slows down as students actually go outside to enjoy the nice weather or find summer jobs. Students are still the largest gaming demographic for an MMORPG like WAR and the above mentioned competition, so launching during prime gaming season is preferable. Also, launching a bit before November will allow them to capitalize on the Christmas shopping rush rather than the beginning of a summer gaming lull.
That’s me looking at the cup half full, anyway…
What about you guys? Sad? Disappointed? Happy? Understanding? I think most sane gamers would rather play a “polished” product than something rough around the edges, even though this is the same excuse they used several months ago when announcing the Q2, 2008 delay.
All I can say is that with my internal beta feedback, I’m hoping to help launch the best WAR MMORPG possible.
6 Responses to “There’s that word again…”
Fall lasts all the way until Q4. I’d bet good money that they’ll sneak as close to the holiday season as possible.
By Keen on Mar 26, 2008
Yeah, I notice how Mark really went out of his way not to say Q-anything today, but to stick to the vaguer “autumn”.
Nice perspective, and I appreciate the positive tone — if concerned — that you take. It is so very easy to buy into hype and personal expectations, and to be impatient. At least my 6-month-in-the-future big CE box of joy will be of some comfort.
By Syp on Mar 26, 2008
I could really see it being October, even a late November release (WoW released, for example, in late November) and that could still be called autumn. Technically so could the first week or two of december but I don’t think that would be as wise.
Overall, i’m pissed off to hear this news, but this is mostly because I know i’ll be extremely busy come October-November, compared to the more lax summer I plan to enjoy (apparently without much gaming). I too went out and bought two Collector Editions today, one for me, and one for Ebay. Who knows, maybe they’ll both end up being for Ebay.
By Knash on Mar 26, 2008
No matter how badly a delay might annoy me it wouldn’t compare to the let down of them releasing an unfinished product. Too many MMOs are being released without being even near complete. Games like Tabula Rasa released, in my opinion, without even having a game period. They released a beautifully designed game engine/art with a placeholder in it. It would have worked better as a marketing demo for the game engine then as a live MMO.
No one wants to hear the word delay but its a cold hard fact if they release an unfinished game its going to cripple their chances of success.
Also, please keep in mind that EA Mythic doesn’t want delays either. The longer this game stays in the development stage the more money its sucking up without giving anything back. Many games have been forced into going live because the company just couldn’t keep eating all the cost. They basically get forced into a firing squad and have to hop they last long enough to finish the game.
By Bo on Mar 28, 2008