Sunday, September 26, 2010

Great reviews, No sales...

As someone involved in  publishing, this is the one that always kind of irks me.  You keep hearing about these great games, everyone loves them, they win all these awards and then a few months later, the company closes down or they never release a follow up product to this "new line" of RPG products.  This seems to happen a LOT of places.  The Oscars. The Emmys. The Harvey Awards. The Ennies. Things get great reviews, but not that many people have actually seen it.  Hell even my personal favorite, The Wire, falls under this.  When the quality is high and the people should want to purchase or pay to see or do, they don't.  Are the reviews wrong? Or even better, do reviews actually matter?  Talk to you later...

4 comments:

  1. I think it's a combination of factors, some under the control of the company, some not. Factors that be controlled: Planning - going too big, too soon. Not following up with related products. Marketing - you don't follow up on reviews or even point to them while you advertise. Furthermore, you don't try to establish a relationship with reviewers or even solict reviews.

    Can't control: People who review, the prestige of the reward if you get one, what gets reviewed, etc.

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  2. It can also be a who the hell knows, I got two ENnie nominations for Jade Oath and To Kill or Not to kill for best electornic book.

    I saw an uptick in sales on Jade Oath but not on To Kill or Not to Kill.

    You tell me why, hell Jade Oath is a hell of alot more expensive.

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  3. No idea, maybe Jade Oath stratched some sort of market itch? I have received good reviews but no ENnies...*shrug*

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  4. Food...it all comes down to food.

    Pan fried pigeon breast on a bed of rocket and black pudding.......That was the best starter I ever had. Hands down, and i can remember every bite of it. The dish was well presented, bursting with real and subtly interplaying flavours, and excilently balanced, with the slight fatty after taste of the black pudding was cleared by the dressing on the rocket.

    I've eaten my share of good food over the years, and while no micialin judge, i think it is fair to say my palette is no slob.

    Yet, if you where to offer this singular dish to the closest 500 people to where i sit at this moment, i fear that only 25 would even try the dish, and of them only 15 might like it.

    But a staggering portion of that same 500 people will almost without doubt eat on a regular basis at either Burger king or mcdonalds. Food which is, on multiple levels, worse.


    The underling problem is that things which are good, are very often challanging.

    And it very often doesn't matter what those with eloquance, perception and refined study of the subject might think, because saddly a sort of reverse snobbery blocks most of what is best from ever making it as popular amongst the masses.

    Does that mean that there is no point in bothering with reviews? No, it doesn't. A good review will almost always i think generate some interest, as will awards, as there are some who routinely follow the advice of good reviewers. Who is going to turn down 100 or so extra sales, no one i hope. But sometimes, positive reviews can cause a sea change in the fortunes of a product, and for the chance of that, i think anyone should atleast humour the reviewers out there.

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