Where is the buzz?

[Calidus]

There seems to be a surprising lack of hype around E, or even knowledge that it exists. I find this surprising, as it is arguably the best space sim to come out for decades, and offers pretty much everything that Star Citizen does, but sooner, and SC has a massive amount of hype around it.

In fact, I didn't even find out about E until last week.

Why aren't more people talking about E? Is it lack of marketing or something?

 

[Y2K]

Not sure. I hope FD are gonna do some advertising on tv/magazine's rather than just rely on reviews.

 

[ZenSpider]

"Speak softly and carry a big stick"
- Theodore Roosevelt

 

[Globusdiablo]

The more you spend on advertisement, the worse your product probably is...

Welcome aboard Commander!

 

[gazzareth]

There seems to be a surprising lack of hype around E, or even knowledge that it exists. I find this surprising, as it is arguably the best space sim to come out for decades, and offers pretty much everything that Star Citizen does, but sooner, and SC has a massive amount of hype around it.

To be honest, they may not want the sort of hype that surrounds SC, which is ridiculous and completely overblown, hopefully CIG can deliver but if not they are really setting themselves up for a fall.

Frontier are slightly under the radar, but about where you would expect for an Alpha but any coverage they get seems good.

G

 

[Steve_T]

If Elite Dangerous has a retail release in December (which is probably the earliest anticipated date), then IMO, a lot of publicity now would be premature.

 

[metatheurgist]

Who needs buzz? If Frontier deliver the goods and it looks like they will, word of mouth and good reviews will bring the masses.

 

[baskila]

If Elite Dangerous has a retail release in December (which is probably the earliest anticipated date), then IMO, a lot of publicity now would be premature.

It didn't hurt Star Citizen tho.

 

[MuthaF Jamal]

It didn't hurt Star Citizen tho.

or did it? [design hell(feature creep), overblown expectations, etc]

 

[Helios]

Yea, I'm not that concerned as well. It wouldn't be the first time, that a game went slightly under the radar only to backstab those who underestimated it with its sales numbers.

It gets noticed, but does not carry the weight of overly high expectations.

 

[Philip Coutts]

We are only in Alpha, for me it's too early for an official push. Let the youtube videos do the work for just now, there are loads of them and when ever something new is released the youtube crowd are on it quickly. That said Frontier are doing the rounds at the various games shows so the awareness of the game will be rising all the time. I would start the official marketing during the Gamma stage building up for the full launch but what do I know!?

 

[Crash_Happy]

I have to agree with OP, certain sites seem to be oblivious to Elite: Dangerous existing and frankly that's their fault rather than Frontiers. The information is out and there is a buzz, it shouldn't need advertising (at this stage) or shoving under their noses.
E3 is coming though and E: D will be there so I'm hoping that once it's seen in all it's genuine glory, things will improve.

 

[veep]

It's simple: Everybody is looking at Star Citizen. They have mentally committed to it being the space sim for the time being. Therefore only dedicated fans find Elite.

I for one think that's all good. It's much better to have a slow ramp based on word-of-mouth and good product than an overyly quick one based on advertising. Most people who react to your advertising will react as quickly to the next guy's.

Just build a great game, FD.

 

[Steve_T]

It didn't hurt Star Citizen tho.

Really? RSI will have to spend a large amount of money to maintain the interest levels in a game that won't be formally released for a long time yet.

 

[gazzareth]

Really? RSI will have to spend a large amount of money to maintain the interest levels in a game that won't be formally released for a long time yet.

They do seem to be spending a lot to keep the fans happy whilst they are waiting. Hopefully Frontier will benefit from the delays....

G

 

[Kipper]

I'm not sure whether anyone can declare a level of hype successful or not until a product is released and the reviews and customer feedback has started to come in.

I'd rather go with under hype and over deliver, myself

 

[Dr Wookie]

There is a fair amount of buzz in Europe, just not a lot here in the US. I hope this will change in a couple of weeks at E3...apparently booths cost a considerable amount of money, so it might signal the first real push into aggressive marketing.

 

[TheDoctor]

It's good that there isn't over hyping of Elite as TitanFall can show how insane it can get and how you can set yourself up for a fall with overdone expectations.

up to the launch of titanfall there were multiple stories being ran daily about it on every gaming site and you could see on message boards that people were buying into it and no matter how good the game was they were never going to please anybody.

Now less than 3 months on features are being REMOVED from the game due to lack of people playing in that type of arena.

Elite was a surpise sleeper hit back in the day and I hope it can be again 30 years later.

 

[Memnoch]

Like it or not, marketing has an art to it. If they start some big advertising campaign to early, say in the middle of an Alpha, then it brings a lot of attention and realistically not much to show off. Subsequent pushes will never be a as effective.

It would be better to wait closer to release date and then explode on to the scene with a big campaign, bringing it to the attention of a much wider audience, with a release date in the near future rather than, say, six months from now.

 

[CmdrAbaddon]

Very conveniently this Thursday 29 RSI will release the alpha module Commander Arena, a day before the launch of Premium Beta, I hope this isn't a low blow...