EQ2 Forum Archive @ EQ2Wire - View Single Post

Kendricke · 01-29-2007, 12:23 PM

Lairdragna wrote:
This is a crazy thought... get it right before you release the content... and when Beta testers tell you more time is needed, LISTEN!

I was told by Dymus in Beta that EoF would be released on schedule because shelf space had been purchased (read it was all about the $$$$$$) and what was unspoken was that WoW was due to release its expansion and they wanted to beat them to the market. It wasn't about releasing the best product, it was about getting it out the fastest. Then we have THIS to deal with.

I look forward to playing your perfect MMO product, which will not only release profitably, but also will remain bug free for all time. Let us know how that project is shaping up for you, ok?

Seriously. Of course it was about "$$$$$$". You think BestBuy is ok with you just deciding a couple of weeks before you release that it's ok to change release dates on them? Do you have the slightest of an inkling about what's involved in a project of this scope? You think factories are just sitting around with trained workers just waiting around for your company to come in with an order for 400,000 units? You think SOE is the only customer of said factories? You think the DVD and CD versions just print themselves and then box themselves? No, this happens on an assembly line at a third party factory...where other customers are also wanting line space. If you don't get your run done in time, you don't get your run rescheduled for weeks or even months sometimes.

Ok...whew...you finally got those 400,000 copies of your product created and packaged. That wasn't exactly cheap to begin with, but that's ok. Now you've got 400,000 boxes of product...and the factory doesn't have space for it. Oh, that means shipping and warehousing now...which is also paid for. You gotta get that product out the door to the distributor, right? Great...but the distributor ALSO has other clients. What? You think SOE has a distribution office sitting in the bottom of the San Diego studio? Of course they don't. Anyway, the distributor isn't going to sit on 400,000 units forever (which cost a lot in the first place, mind you). You can bet your butt there are contracts which include dates.

Ok, fine...you've got a distributor. So, what's the big deal, right? Well, those distributors need/want/have to move that product to the retailers. Retailers don't just want you shipping 400,000 units on them whenever you feel like it though. They want their cut of the units, and they want their cut at specific dates. Why? Because they don't want a shipment of 200 EQ2 units hitting their Cleveland branches the same day they receive 400 Pirates of the Caribbean 2 DVD's and the same day they have to shelve up the new Oblivion expansion, either. Modern retailors have ever box/pallet scanned and planned every minute of its life...and you can't just decide to change your dates...because the shelf space you've got reserved on the 11th turns into a pumpkin on the 15th when the new "Beer Hunter X: Macro vs. Micro" game gets the end cap.

So, you either release when you contracted to release, or you eat a contracted fee and give up whatever "new release" end cap deal you'd worked out, and just deal with the fact that the 400,000 boxes you paid for are now sitting buried on the general shelving stuck between a couple of games no one's heard of, and old dusty copies of EQ2: Desert of Flames.

Yeah...what greedy, selfish jerks those SOE guys must be for DARING not to listen to the all knowing beta testers, right?

01-29-2007, 12:23 PM	#105
Kendricke Loremaster Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 4,032	Lairdragna wrote: This is a crazy thought... get it right before you release the content... and when Beta testers tell you more time is needed, LISTEN! I was told by Dymus in Beta that EoF would be released on schedule because shelf space had been purchased (read it was all about the $$$$$$) and what was unspoken was that WoW was due to release its expansion and they wanted to beat them to the market. It wasn't about releasing the best product, it was about getting it out the fastest. Then we have THIS to deal with. I look forward to playing your perfect MMO product, which will not only release profitably, but also will remain bug free for all time. Let us know how that project is shaping up for you, ok? Seriously. Of course it was about "$$$$$$". You think BestBuy is ok with you just deciding a couple of weeks before you release that it's ok to change release dates on them? Do you have the slightest of an inkling about what's involved in a project of this scope? You think factories are just sitting around with trained workers just waiting around for your company to come in with an order for 400,000 units? You think SOE is the only customer of said factories? You think the DVD and CD versions just print themselves and then box themselves? No, this happens on an assembly line at a third party factory...where other customers are also wanting line space. If you don't get your run done in time, you don't get your run rescheduled for weeks or even months sometimes. Ok...whew...you finally got those 400,000 copies of your product created and packaged. That wasn't exactly cheap to begin with, but that's ok. Now you've got 400,000 boxes of product...and the factory doesn't have space for it. Oh, that means shipping and warehousing now...which is also paid for. You gotta get that product out the door to the distributor, right? Great...but the distributor ALSO has other clients. What? You think SOE has a distribution office sitting in the bottom of the San Diego studio? Of course they don't. Anyway, the distributor isn't going to sit on 400,000 units forever (which cost a lot in the first place, mind you). You can bet your butt there are contracts which include dates. Ok, fine...you've got a distributor. So, what's the big deal, right? Well, those distributors need/want/have to move that product to the retailers. Retailers don't just want you shipping 400,000 units on them whenever you feel like it though. They want their cut of the units, and they want their cut at specific dates. Why? Because they don't want a shipment of 200 EQ2 units hitting their Cleveland branches the same day they receive 400 Pirates of the Caribbean 2 DVD's and the same day they have to shelve up the new Oblivion expansion, either. Modern retailors have ever box/pallet scanned and planned every minute of its life...and you can't just decide to change your dates...because the shelf space you've got reserved on the 11th turns into a pumpkin on the 15th when the new "Beer Hunter X: Macro vs. Micro" game gets the end cap. So, you either release when you contracted to release, or you eat a contracted fee and give up whatever "new release" end cap deal you'd worked out, and just deal with the fact that the 400,000 boxes you paid for are now sitting buried on the general shelving stuck between a couple of games no one's heard of, and old dusty copies of EQ2: Desert of Flames. Yeah...what greedy, selfish jerks those SOE guys must be for DARING not to listen to the all knowing beta testers, right? __________________ * -Opinions expressed in this post do not represent any current or past employers.