Welcome to Wrestling Gamers United Newsletter #309
1) Fire Pro Disappoints 2) Link of the Week 3) Question of the Week
1) Fire Pro Disappoints *********************************
Tough blow for us this past week. We've been in fortunate enough to have a fan of PWX as a high ranking executive at one of the biggest publishing companies in Japan. He's been working hard to get the publisher behind the idea of creating a new wrestling franchise and giving us a chance at some early development opportunities. However, he told me yesterday that there remains a lot of resistance to competing with the WWE brand in North America and he pointed directly at what he called the disappointing sales of Fire Pro Returns to back up their fears. Granted, they didn't expect Fire Pro Returns to sell anywhere near what Smackdown sells but even with very low expectations Fire Pro still failed to perform. He said that if Fire Pro Returns sales reflect the demand for alternative wrestling games then "demand is clearly not there." I can understand what he's saying as I still see multiple copies of Fire Pro Returns at EB Games all over Vancouver and it's already been marked down to almost half price. Ouch. So this publisher is still interested in exploring PWX but he was very up front about telling me they would look to see how well the TNA game sells before making any solid commitments to a next gen project.
So there you go. While most everyone who bought Fire Pro loves it, apparently there weren't a lot of buyers in the first place even for a 2D last gen budget title. I believe we as wrestling gamers need to pull our collective heads out of our asses do something to breath life into the wrestling game genre. Supporting PWX is important but it's just one small piece of the puzzle (for now). We had our chance with Fire Pro being released here to really make some noise and get attention but we dropped the ball a bit on that one. And I just don't see the TNA game doing anything to revolutionize the genre either. I'm sure it will be a great looking marketing tool for TNA as a whole (those new screenshots look stellar) but I don't see it doing any more damage to the WWE monopoly than Rumble Roses or Backyard Wrestling did. Sure, there are other indy developers out there doing their best to crank out new wrestling games but for the most part those games are just imitating bigger and better games that already exist. Same can be said for PWX at this point. We're just at the point where we've got the basics working. Nothing revolutionary just yet. Hell, even THQ tried to be innovative (isn't that one of the signs of the Apocalypse?!) with the latest Smackdown on DS and it barely made a blip on anyone's radar.
What the hell is it going to take to make people get excited about wrestling games again? Or are we just witnessing the genre fading away against the rise of MMA?
Food for thought...
2) Link of the Week ********************
I like games. I like free stuff. I like free games that don't suck. Hence:
http://whdb.com/2008/top-25-linux-games-for-2008/
p.s. Thanks to Jeff for last week's link!
3) Question of the Week ************************
So Fire Pro Returns, despite the fanatic supporters and hype, failed to live up to even the most conservative sales expectations. What can we learn about this as we prepare to launch our first title? Did you see any mistakes in the way Fire Pro Returns was marketed that we could learn from?
It's too bad that the "lame-ass" wwe ruins everything as far as wrestling, so with there "evil" influence shadowing the industry it will be hard to get the majority of the masses on board to even want to play any other wrestling title on that level! We are the few real wrestling fans and video game players that love wrestling and want to play with real feel and depth the others just don't care as much as we do so our games will never hit that level... The market is just not there!!! But with that being said, we deserve to have great games and this will be great, so keep up the fight!!!
Just want to add that you might have to at least get ROH or some other league or a mix of leagues on board to really sell even close to the numbers that you may need to succeed? Because then all these leagues would advertize the game to their fans and it would give it further exposure! Take a serious look into this thought, it makes more sense then your brand of "new made up" wrestlers as far as marketing goes!
RoH would be a tricky license to work with though. I honestly don't think we're at a point where we could put out a large game that would satisfy hardcore RoH fans in terms of match pacing, reversal depth, etc. That time is coming and maybe there is a good fit somewhere down the road...
Sure i understand that there are many variables working here! My thought was that if you did it like fire pro with different leagues but got them all on board like roh,pwg,iwa etc,,. Then these leagues would be able to advertise on the web pages and this could be a huge benefit for them as with you! So it might be something to look into! As far as i'm concerned you took on a huge task and are fighting a good fight, but there are ways that you should take that the normal company would not? It's time to have some very creative thinking! God Bless and "keep on keeping on"!!!
To say that MMA is biting into the Pro Wrestling market is jumping the gun a bit.
For one thing, last I checked, Smackdown vs. Raw sells quite well... and I don't see much of an outcry for an MMA based franchise.
I think the license is huge, for one thing. Casual gamers who don't bother with huge rosters of created wrestlers want to sit back, create their own guy, and see how he performs against Superstars they're familiar with.
This is why I've said before (I've only been lurking for a few months so I feel justified repeating) that PWX's success is going to be greatly defined by it's PC Community Support. Go to any wrestling site on the internet and bring up the topic of video games, virtually nobody is happy... mention No Mercy, and people leap from their seats to sing it's praises.
Yes, we as a community dropped the ball on Fire Pro. I am part of the problem... I didn't buy it. To be quite honest, I have little to no interest in it. It _IS_ difficult after years of Smackdown's lifelike entrances to go back to something so basic, even if the gameplay is engaging. It's hard to give up the depth of General Manager mode, even if it's buggy and poorly put together. Fire Pro doesn't offer that. Lots of custom content, sure, but if all you can really do with it is book a few cards and play exhibitions, at some point, the novelty wears off.
A sports game... even sports-entertainment... without some level of career/franchise mode is dead in the water in the modern market.
You can be the Skate of Wrestling games. All you need to do is over haul your advertisement. Don't be scared to call out WWE games. Bring in a couple of real wrestlers. Jack up the moveset, add killer realism, make a simular career mode to Skate. Trust me or not your going get stacks of money.
hey i thought there was a filter for words like that. and tna is stupid to make their goal in life to confront WWE and try to berate it. PWX should just stand up to WWE but not make it their sole purpose to bring WWE down.
[quote][cite] undertaker666:[/cite]hey i thought there was a filter for words like that. and tna is stupid to make their goal in life to confront WWE and try to berate it. PWX should just stand up to WWE but not make it their sole purpose to bring WWE down.[/quote] I think that you missed the point ! This has nothing to do with bringing others down it has to do with getting this game out and how to market it in the best way possible! "I just hate the WWE these days it's way too much soap opera for me"!!!
[quote][cite] undertaker666:[/cite]hey i thought there was a filter for words like that. and tna is stupid to make their goal in life to confront WWE and try to berate it. PWX should just stand up to WWE but not make it their sole purpose to bring WWE down.[/quote] If PWX tries to directly compete with WWE in any way I think it won't be long before WGU closes down for some reason.
why exactly? you don't make any sense. it's not like WWE has hit mans that assassinate every indy gaming company that tries to compete with them.
if PWX won't try to compete with WWE at least in the terms of gameplay and variety of moves, what would make it special? what does it have to offer that WWE doesn't have?
yeah you can't beat the graphics, though the ones right now are pretty sweet. you can't beat the license then again no one can. the only thing that PWX is there to do is present an alternative to WWE, and if you want to do that you must try to at least get on the same level.
there's a big difference between making your goal Facing WWE (AKA TNA) and making a game that will eventually have to compete against WWE.
[there's a big difference between making your goal Facing WWE (AKA TNA) and making a game that will eventually have to compete against WWE.[/quote] Here is the reality of it: I will play any wrestling game on the planet and have, but i am a true wrestling gamer!!! Even though i don't care for the WWE i still watch it and play the games! I am willing to bet that a few here share the same outlook on that. This game that dave is making is for wrestling game fans period! But for this to really get high sales and take off it will take serious word of mouth and online play or a indy or multi indy liscence, otherwise it will be a very long road and who knows how much money it will take for the journey!
I just wanted to add that i know that dave did this whole mega-monster project for the love of wrestling gaming period! Along this road he is dealing with the very hard core business end of things and that always kills the feel for anything from the heart! So now it comes to, do what you love and the money will come!!!
well you guys make it sound like PWX is like Mdickie, Dave isn't the only one on the project.
also if wrestling gamers were a big part of gamers globally i would say go for everything WG want. but sadly they aren't and in order to have PWX you must make some effort to appeal to a larger crowd.
and like i said before that larger crowd will see in his gaming store 2 options (maybe 3 if TNA comes out) PWX and WWE, now WWE he must know or heard of, TNA some people might not like it just because it's TNA. and PWX, now what's that? he hasn't heard of that s he looks on the box and later checks out the gamespot page to see screen shots and in game vids.
now if he sees something that isn't even close to the WWE level he'll think this is just another cheap wrestling game must be boring as well. but if you advertise your box wisely and bring PWX to a certain level, he might give it a shot.