Poll: Why Valve Could Release Half-Life 2: Episode 3 Tomorrow
- Thread starter Couch Radish
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Something else I thought of that would make this work is how the information would snowball.
Let's say I'm the first person to discover that Half-Life 3 was released.
I'd tell my friends and post on the forums.
Then people who saw that would tell their friends.
And so on.
And so on.
Social networks today would help spread the information like wild fire.
Let's say I'm the first person to discover that Half-Life 3 was released.
I'd tell my friends and post on the forums.
Then people who saw that would tell their friends.
And so on.
And so on.
Social networks today would help spread the information like wild fire.
Actually, I believe the best type of advertisements are the ones where the community does the advertising for you. See how it served the likes of Minecraft and The Witcher.Couch Radish said:
Only flaw with that idea is that your game actually has to be good in the first place..
You must feel very special while you slander people for liking something popular, eh?Radeonx said:
I doubt any major company would release a title without a shitload of publicity, fans wouldn't hesitate to pick it up, but i`m sure that theres a lot of people who don`t know what the hell half life is and they don`t visit such websites like 'the escapist'. I myself only found out the name because of counter-strike.
That's what this situation would create.
Everyone would find out about HL3 from other people. Valve wouldn't need to spend money on TV ads or magazine advertisements.
They just need people to spread the word.
And people will spread it.
They own the game and the mean to quickly send it to people. They don't have to go through any licensing or anything like that.
They could just plop it onto Steam.
Everyone would find out about HL3 from other people. Valve wouldn't need to spend money on TV ads or magazine advertisements.
They just need people to spread the word.
And people will spread it.
Once again, Valve wouldn't need to advertise it. The playerbase will do that for them.kasperbbs said:
They own the game and the mean to quickly send it to people. They don't have to go through any licensing or anything like that.
They could just plop it onto Steam.
Or they could just say hey, episode 3 coming out in three months. Much better way to approach it. A "tomorrow release" would just eliminate pre-purchasing, and not all people would follow these things; the word would not go around like wildfire. At least not even nearly as close as a couple months of waiting and marketing to let the hype build. But it is true that they could pull off something like that, with the fanbase, and Steam instantly reaching most of the potential buyers.
Also, while I really liked Half-Life and it's expansions when they came out, and years after bought Half-Life 2 quite soon after it hit the shelves: I haven't been that interested in the episodes, for a long time I thought they were just some minor DLC's funnily enough. Rather make Half-Life 3.
Also, while I really liked Half-Life and it's expansions when they came out, and years after bought Half-Life 2 quite soon after it hit the shelves: I haven't been that interested in the episodes, for a long time I thought they were just some minor DLC's funnily enough. Rather make Half-Life 3.
I have though about that very same thing. "what if; they just skip all the advertising and just pop it on steam, from one day to an other?"
Will it work, sure as hell it would! For all the reasons you just mention. And by the mentality those rather insane people at Valve have, I would not be totally surprised if they did some kind of crazy stun with the release, since they are... as Gabe has said himself, floating in cash and don't bother about production cost or anything, they do what they want, when they watn, since they got the money to do it, the tech to do it, and know they have the customers do make it work, what ever they decide to do.
Will it work, sure as hell it would! For all the reasons you just mention. And by the mentality those rather insane people at Valve have, I would not be totally surprised if they did some kind of crazy stun with the release, since they are... as Gabe has said himself, floating in cash and don't bother about production cost or anything, they do what they want, when they watn, since they got the money to do it, the tech to do it, and know they have the customers do make it work, what ever they decide to do.
Hell, I could release Episode 3 tomorrow. Give me a few hours in MSpaint and Ill print out some box art, scotch tape it to an old box for Max Payne, and Ill burn a bunch of JPegs of Gordon Freemen fanart to a disc, and scribble something to make up an instruction manuel in pink highlighter on the back of a napkin. Bam, episode 3.
Id rather wait until Valve are done. I want Episode 3, but I also enjoy other games.
Id rather wait until Valve are done. I want Episode 3, but I also enjoy other games.
I think it could be more likely to happen sometime after Portal 2 is released, although there's no doubt that Valve could pull something like this off.
Forgot to add something: Valve THRIVES on consumer satisfaction. People trust them because they don't steer its consumers wrong. Sure, release Episode 3 tomorrow, and people will buy it. But it would be low quality, and people would trust them much less. And that would hurt all future sales. Waiting may be an annoyance, but an unfinished game would hurt far too deeply.
but what about the customer that doesn't download off steam? Not everyone is a fan of the service and some prefer to have the actual disk. Then you would have to have stores have the game in stock (or else risk losing some sales). These stores would want to advertise that they are selling it, or at the very least they would have to get stock ahead of time and I am sure some employee will blab about it. I just don't think it is in their best interest to launch it like that. Also by making people wait some people will want to catch up with the series and so half life 1 and 2 will also get a boost in sales.
Well, most likely no, since they have gotten to the point where they just has said; "screw it" with release times and anything and do what ever they want to do with it, just so it feel complete end right.godofallu said:
I personal think that they will one day come with an announcement saying "yep, now we are done. Release next Friday!" or something among those lines.
They will add and add and fine tune that game until they all stand and say; "yes, that are about right". And by that time, it are a finish product that have, and some weird or funny marketing stun will be pulled of.
Actually, I think Radeonx is right. Let me put this in perspective. It's been four years, FOUR, since the release of Half Life 2, Episode 2. Four years, and we haven't heard a peep about when Half Life Episode 3 will be out, or if it's even being worked on. I mean, there are more people who are praying for Half Life 3 than they are for the second coming of Christ, and yet, no word from Valve. It's not like they don't have the money to make the game. They made Left 4 Dead 1 and 2, after all. They could at least tell us whether or not they are making the game. So, either they're idiots who can't understand how to make money, or they're assholes who are using the promise of Episode 3 to market their products. In my opinion, it's probably the latter. In reality, Valve should be the most hated company on the internet, but whatever.Raiyan 1.0 said:
The fact is, I'm kind of glad Valve doesn't endlessly churn out sequels. Instead we got interesting new gameplay features from L4D, TF2 and Portal. But that's just me.Fidelias said:
What you did, unlike Radeonx, is provide criticism - and I've no gripes with that. But what the dude you're defending said was 'the PC gaming community bent over ready to take whatever it shoves out', which comes off as 'the PC gaming community lets Valve abuse it regardless of Valve's quality of games'. If Valve didn't make quality games, I can safely assume that we wouldn't be having this conversation about people hating a company for not making a sequel.
Though I kind of have to contend with this bit...
So, either they're idiots who can't understand how to make money, or they're assholes who are using the promise of Episode 3 to market their products. In my opinion, it's probably the latter. In reality, Valve should be the most hated company on the internet, but whatever.
First off, Valve can't be the most hated company on the internet purely because they own Steam - the digital distribution platform that kept the PC gaming market afloat when the XBox was released and retailers refused to stock PC games. Also, weekend deals.
And they certainly aren't idiots since they bagged a billion dollars last year.
Secondly, it's kind of unfair saying that HL3 is used to market their products, since each and every one of their games are good on their individual merits. And how exactly is HL3 being used to market anything, since the company barely ever talks about it? Valve never spent a single cent (to my knowledge) to hype HL3 - it's the community that does it.
HL3 is kind of like Homeworld 3 to me. Relic still hasn't released Homeworld 3 yet - but I don't hate them for it. My life doesn't revolve around it, and I've a lot of other games to try out. I'll be extremely happy when it is released, though.
