If HL2 goes gold do they have to tell us?

[dart321]

If Half-Life 2 goes gold, would Valve be required to tell us? I mean lets say, they wanted to surprise us and ship it to stores... could they do that?

 

[The Mullinator]

Probably not, and even if Valve could and wanted too I suspect Vivendi would announce it any way no matter what.

 

[thehunter1320]

they could try, but a VU employee would definately spoil it

 

[MadGuy]

I guess they don't have to, but I'm pretty sure they will

 

[Some_God]

Leaks... speaking of which I have to take one.

 

[Maxi]

Yeah, since it wouldn't make sense to release a game and not have any commercials anywhere for it. I mean we would know that it was released but the majority of the potential customers wouldn't.

 

[Varsity]

It would appear for preloading for a start. Doesn't make sense for it not to.

 

[dart321]

So much for my "Half-Life 2 might have already gone gold and is being shipped" theory. Not to mention the CS:S beta hasn't even started.

 

[dart321]

Yeah, since it wouldn't make sense to release a game and not have any commercials anywhere for it. I mean we would know that it was released but the majority of the potential customers wouldn't.

They could just release the commercials/ads once the game was in stores. I doubt those "potential customers" would care that the game was already out, and people who want to buy it would buy it regardless.

 

[Beanhacker]

Of course they don't have to tell anyone, but why wouldn't they?

Stupid and pointless thread/question.

 

[The Mullinator]

Of course they don't have to tell anyone, but why wouldn't they?

Stupid and pointless thread/question.

Well aren't you friendly today. :upstare:

 

[dart321]

Of course they don't have to tell anyone, but why wouldn't they?

Stupid and pointless thread/question.

Woah! Settle down there Bessy! I just wanted to know if there was like a law are something where developers (or publisher really) had to release information on their product once it went into gold status. You never know.

 

[Javert]

Of course they don't have to tell anyone, but why wouldn't they?

Stupid and pointless thread/question.

I've seen worse, and you are not one to judge.


No, they theoretically don't even have to tell us the ship date. But knowing that die-hard fans would be willing to kill to know any solid date, they'd do well tell us as soon as possible. If not, then yes, there are "other sources" of information (leaks, publishers etc.)

 

[ACLeroK212]

No it's not a law or anything, but it doesn't make any business sense not to let the customer's know. They want to generate as much hype as they can. Granted, those of us that visit sites like this every day don't see the need for more hype, but believe it or not, we're in the strong minority of potential customers. This is probably one of the largest sites with HL2 fans and there's around 15,000 registered members. Considering games sell well into the millions these days, "Surprising" customers with a release that only the regular forum goers would know about would be a pretty dumb buisiness strategy.

 

[dart321]

I don't understand. Whats the difference between telling the costumers before it goes to the stores and creating hype or telling people when its in the stores and creating hype. Would it affect sales that much just because the game is already in stores? I mean I understand now that the chances of Valve (or really VU) actually doing this/pulling this off is slim to none. But if it somehow did happen, your saying people who don't know about HL2 would be turned off because the game was already in stores?

 

[Chris D]

As stated it certainly isn't necessary, but it's much better marketing for them if they do announce it as it reinstates all the hype.

 

[dart321]

As stated it certainly isn't necessary, but it's much better marketing for them if they do announce it as it reinstates all the hype.

Then my next question is why is that? People actually buy more of the product if they're told about it before it arrives in stores?

 

[ACLeroK212]

I don't understand. Whats the difference between telling the costumers before it goes to the stores and creating hype or telling people when its in the stores and creating hype. Would it affect sales that much just because the game is already in stores? I mean I understand now that the chances of Valve (or really VU) actually doing this/pulling this off is slim to none. But if it somehow did happen, your saying people who don't know about HL2 would be turned off because the game was already in stores?

You must really not understand marketing. The best time to start advertising and hyping your game is the weeks before release when everyone is talking about the game and the anticipation is at it's highest. Also, it looks much better, business wise, to sell a lot of copies early at the release. You also get your game out and sell more copies before the people that are on the fence start reading negative opinions from the nay-sayers. And let's not forget the importance of selling as many copies as you can before too many hacks and pirated copies start popping up on the internet that provide people with alternate ways to get the game which ends up taking money away from the developer and publisher.

 

[dart321]

Ah, I see. Your right, I don't get marketing.

 

[Beanhacker]

I don't understand. Whats the difference between telling the costumers before it goes to the stores and creating hype or telling people when its in the stores and creating hype. Would it affect sales that much just because the game is already in stores?

Jesus. How come nobody told me I have to get a special outfit before I can purchase the game???

omfgbrb. This sucks.

I mean I understand now that the chances of Valve (or really VU) actually doing this/pulling this off is slim to none.

yay.

But if it somehow did happen, your saying people who don't know about HL2 would be turned off because the game was already in stores

Of course they wouldn't. The first thing those kind of people would know about it would be the magazine reviews proclaiming it as the the most amazing thing ever, reports from major news sources like the BBC and CNN and word of frothing mouth.

 

[Calhoun]

I think we'll be seeing an announcement that's It's gone gold and possibly a more solid release date within the coming weeks.

 

[Feath]

This was already discussed last year. Gabe told Spitcodfry (on the first visit to Valve) that they wouldn't just ship to stores without saying it had gone gold.