'ex-Brit' I fly there on a regular basis. I picked up my copy og
MGPRS2 last night from near Heathrow Airport so I had some reading
material for the long flight home. Really glad I did because now I
learn that it wont be released in the USA til February!!
Now.. this is a really crazy marketing decision in my opinion.. Just
handing over the program to all the eager 'pirates' out there who know
there is a huge market for this program outside of Europe and so will
crack and release the game there way ahead of its actual arrival...
In fact I note that PDM released the game earlier today which supports
this idea.
When are some companies going to learn that spit release dates just
simply put.. are a dumb idea. Release the program worldwide and dont
make certain groups of your potential customers wait else you stand to
lose many a sale to the pirates and crackers of this world.
I know that many people would grab the cracked version anyway and not
but it whether it was released on the same day worldwide or not.. but
there are still groups of people who would buy it, would it be
available.. and not succumb to the pirates charms. Also, no matter how
good the program, eventually some people get bored with playing the
same game over and over again.. so if they have grabbed the cracked
copy, by the time the actual real thing is available, they might well
decide against buying it anyhow. (Admittedly.. if the program is good
enough then long term appeal would be there.. but those cases are far
and few between in my opinion.. GPL being one such case)
The above doesnt just apply to Ubisoft and MGPRS2 but also many other
programs (the ever wonderful GPL for example..)
Come on Software companies.. get a clue ... and get these programs out
at least within a week worldwide and stop making the customer wait
long times or have to use inferior (in the most part) pirate copies
please!
Ok.. Ill now stand down from my soapbox...
Zen..