Hmm... The real rational conclusion probably includes timing and visibility though.
When those preorders were placed, it was in the midst of the game getting a large grass-roots publicity push. Being in the public eye and actively discussed in many online gaming forums makes a game more desirable for many people. But publicity (and public interest) have largely dried up in the months it took for NoA to confirm that the game was coming.
You're saying the very demand that was the source of all the publicity declined because that publicity subsided? How exactly is that rational?
The movement gained the Public's eye only after it got the game to the #1 spot on Amazon. Meaning the initial pre-orders that got it to the top were made prior to the publicity. The movement drying up, explains lack of interest of pre-orders made from the publicity. Not, the initial pre-orders that created the publicity. Therefore there are two possibilities:
A.) There was a grassroots effort that culminated from legitimate demand that was being unheard.
B.) There was a small, yet very organized minority group whose numbers weren't big enough to warrant a release but who worked together create the false appearance of being in larger in numbers to to warrant the release.
If the demand was legitimate in the first place, a lack of publicity wouldn't make it decline.
First, you should read the whole post. There are several things I think combine to account for a decline in interest. Fake preorders do matter, but are clearly not the only thing that matters.
Second, if you don't easily see why momentum and timing are important when releasing software in the gaming industry then it's unlikely anything I say will change your mind. Feel free to pick apart what I'm about to say, and I'll feel free to ignore you from here on out.
When there is a crowd of people talking about and passionate about a game, then other people become more interested and more likely to talk about/play/buy that game. A sense of momentum builds that increases the appeal of that game and artificially increases demand. In this case, the most fervent supporters have already imported while most of the other interested parties have changed their focus to the next hot release (and there is always a hot new release just around the corner in the gaming industry). Any momentum and demand generated by the European release of this game is dead, and everyone is sick of hearing about Operation Rainfall in North America.
Building hype and securing preorders a second time is usually more difficult than the first, because at least some of your core supporters have been lost. Asking people to actually put money down instead of just stating they have interest is a huge difference as well. I suspect that Nintendo will be lucky to get 25% of the preorders that were gathered previously simply because of how this release was handled - granted, 50% of the previous preorders might've been cancelled anyway so maybe it's not a big difference.
Topic: GameStop Approached Nintendo to Publish Xenoblade Chronicles (Read 10036 times)
