Fires of Heaven Guild Message Board - View Single Post - [EQ2 and WoW]Is it important to be the first one to launch?

Sorran · 08-09-2004, 05:45 PM

Maybe I'm just spitballing, or maybe I'm just bored, but with the recent announcements this week from both SOE and Blizzard of a feature being post-poned until after launch (for SOE it was the removal of any PvP at all for launch, and from Blizzard confirmation that Hero classes won't be in until some time post-launch), I got to wondering if it was perhaps an indication that time to market may be more important to both companies than they have been letting on, publicly at least.

Now, I realise that it could be very likely nothing more than coincidence, but allow me to speculate. EQ2 has been firm on a release date of "2004" for some time now, and most people are certainly expecting/hoping WoW to launch by year's end. In fact, the current best guess launch dates for both games put them launching around mid-November. I'm not particularly interested if that is accurate or not, but for argument's sake, let's assume its true.

Although both SOE and Blizzard have said that the game won't be shipped if its not ready, I wonder if either, or perhaps even both, is more worried about being first to launch. Both games are largely targetting MMORPG newbies and more casual gamers - one particular aspect of that type of player is that they are very unlikely to purchase and subscribe to more than one MMORPG. Do you think SOE and Blizzard are worried about the other game launching first and their own sales being impacted as a result? Leaving aside pissing contests over which game you think is better, or whether you think one company or the other is the devil incarnate - I think I'm pretty safe is saying that both games have generated more than enough interest. If they aren't worried about it, should they be?

Do you think it possible (or even likely) that more features from either game may get cut - not necessarily in order to ship the game by some release date but rather to ensure that the game is launched *first*?

Or was this week's information simply a coincidence? Perhaps these cuts/changes were decided upon some time ago but just happened to be confirmed recently?

Cheers,

Sorran.

08-09-2004, 05:45 PM	#1 (permalink)
Sorran Registered User Join Date: Sep 2002 Posts: 319 -1 Internets	[EQ2 and WoW]Is it important to be the first one to launch? Maybe I'm just spitballing, or maybe I'm just bored, but with the recent announcements this week from both SOE and Blizzard of a feature being post-poned until after launch (for SOE it was the removal of any PvP at all for launch, and from Blizzard confirmation that Hero classes won't be in until some time post-launch), I got to wondering if it was perhaps an indication that time to market may be more important to both companies than they have been letting on, publicly at least. Now, I realise that it could be very likely nothing more than coincidence, but allow me to speculate. EQ2 has been firm on a release date of "2004" for some time now, and most people are certainly expecting/hoping WoW to launch by year's end. In fact, the current best guess launch dates for both games put them launching around mid-November. I'm not particularly interested if that is accurate or not, but for argument's sake, let's assume its true. Although both SOE and Blizzard have said that the game won't be shipped if its not ready, I wonder if either, or perhaps even both, is more worried about being first to launch. Both games are largely targetting MMORPG newbies and more casual gamers - one particular aspect of that type of player is that they are very unlikely to purchase and subscribe to more than one MMORPG. Do you think SOE and Blizzard are worried about the other game launching first and their own sales being impacted as a result? Leaving aside pissing contests over which game you think is better, or whether you think one company or the other is the devil incarnate - I think I'm pretty safe is saying that both games have generated more than enough interest. If they aren't worried about it, should they be? Do you think it possible (or even likely) that more features from either game may get cut - not necessarily in order to ship the game by some release date but rather to ensure that the game is launched first? Or was this week's information simply a coincidence? Perhaps these cuts/changes were decided upon some time ago but just happened to be confirmed recently? Cheers, Sorran.