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Where would you like us to advertise?

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Where would you like us to advertise?

Sins of a Solar Empire advertising

from Sins Forums

So here's where we are at in terms of promoting Sins of a Solar Empire.

Magazines:

  • PC Gamer
  • Games for Windows
  • Maximum PC

In terms of web:

  • Penny Arcade (Stardock's huge fans of this site and we make our buying decisions based on this stie so we figure so do others :) )

So where else would you guys like to see us be promoting Sins of a Solar Empire that you think would have a good bang for the buck?

37,097 views 45 replies
Reply #26 from Sins Forums Top
The Scifi channel?
Reply #27 from Sins Forums Top
definitely gamespot and IGN.

Gameinformer is a great mag too, draw some consolers back to thier pcs. LIKE ME!
Star Control: Origins
Reply #28 from Sins Forums Top
You should advertise at Gamespy for sure. They're one of the few PC game sites my friends and I trust, especially when it comes to strategy games.   


I suppose you could consider Gamespot as well, but that's a little iffier. On the one hand they have a large audience. On the other hand, their credibility has obviously gone down the tubes lately, and so you might not want Sins to be associated with them.   
End of quote



good point....

Reply #29 from Sins Forums Top
I think you should take a different route and choose sci fi oriented mags too. I mean most sci fi junkies cant get enough empires and space battles. What better way then sins to craft their thoughts?
Reply #30 from Sins Forums Top
It would probably be a good idea to toss some ads in the Game Informer ("GI" henceforth) magazine as long as their pricing plans for space aren't too cost prohibitive. You may have heard of it, as GI is the magazine subscription that GameStop and EB employees are trained to sell to customers at their stores. As straight marketing exposure goes you can't really beat them. The GI subscription base is enormous and grows larger every day despite the general negative online opinions of the Chain. Since it's also not a predominately "PC" magazine (it focuses on all Consoles as well) it would probably reach a demographic that PC Gamer, Games for Windows, Maximum PC, and Penny Arcade don't. Many people that are primarily Console gamers also own PC's; PC's that could be playing Sins.

Exposure == Good

-Xaaz

EDIT - Megadeth beat me to it.
Reply #31 from Sins Forums Top
Other that the obvious G-S* & PlanetGames sites....

Try advertising @ Gamasutra and maybe GamesIndustry.biz ... their readership might be of the caliber that would appreciate SOASE. There's also a few strategy fanforums that might be worth advertising in.

There's also Kotaku ;P GamesWireInfo or even good old BluesNews.

Just some suggestions.
Reply #32 from Sins Forums Top
I would recommend PPC advertising. Someone searches for 4x game or PC RTS and boom there is your ad to a very interested party for a very low price. That's what I do for a living and I believe Sins could benefit greatly from this. At the very least even if volume is significantly lower the ROI will be higher from a well run campaign.

This is a much more hands on medium and may be a bit more to handle than you're interested in. But it is quite the powerful advertising tool.
Reply #33 from Sins Forums Top

The Scifi channel?
End of quote


Ohh...interesting...that might be a good way to get new fans, if you could get it on during Stargate Atlantis or something and make it catchy.


I think you should simply blast the sins logo into the surface of the moon.

Failing that, once you have a demo, get some space on the gaming sites. People who arent decided yet might be swayed by a demo, and you don't want to waste your advertising budget when you havent got the demo ready for them to try immediately when they come to your site. Also, once te 1.03 patch is out and mods are being made, people will be much happier since they can start fiddling with bits of the game they want changed and the forums will be a happier place.
End of quote


The moon wouldn't work, they'd inevitable miss a letter or something any end up spelling 'Sis' or something :P.

I personally think a demo up on Fileplanet, Filefront, and the other sites like that would be a lot better than 100 advertisements anywhere (well, except Penny Arcade, which was a great catch for you guys :P)
Reply #34 from Sins Forums Top
was anyone else disappointed by PA's write up today? He just talked about some old game and how its graphics was good.
Reply #35 from Sins Forums Top
Evilavatar.com has a large Sins following. You might find a lot of potential players on Star Wars and Star Trek type sci-fi fansites.
Reply #36 from Sins Forums Top

The Scifi channel?
End of quote


No doubt. The website action for the different space based shows like SGA and BSG would be monster to be sure. This is especially so now that the strike is over.

Anyway, I dont have time right now to really put a full measure of thought into this but off the top I would say any game site that is strategy focused and PC oriented.
Reply #37 from Sins Forums Top



Get "Zero Punctuation's review of crysis, NSFW)



If you had any respect for Yahtzee at all you would know how much he HATES recommendations and wouldn't bother him with this.
End of quote


Thus why i said he'll probably tell you to go bugger off. As for respect, he makes funny reviews with poor animations that somehow make it even more funny, thats all that i would respect of him. He could be a total douche bag or make reviews of what his boss tells him to, i don't know and don't really care. All i know is he writes funny reviews and a fair few people watch them.
Reply #38 from Sins Forums Top
I thought of another,the Diggnation podcast would be a good place to advertise

http://revision3.com/advertise/
Reply #39 from Sins Forums Top
Sooo, any updates on this topic?
Reply #40 from Sins Forums Top
I have thought about this a lot and I came to the conclusion that since you guy actively try to buck the normal trend in the industry and establish a unique transgenic brand that a focus on a new media would likely get you the most mileage.

With that idea in mind, I did some research and found an interesting advertising medium. I tried it out and liked it very much. The flavor of it is very dynamic and arguably cutting edge. I think if I had to pick just one venue for a trial project this one would be it.

Please consider GamerZines.com.

I believe it would be a perfect medium to convey Sins to a new audience if the advertisement is properly designed (you will see what I mean when you look at it).
Reply #41 from Sins Forums Top
for benelux i'd say pc gameplay
Reply #42 from Sins Forums Top
Damn someone posted while I was editing my post.

Anyway what I was going to add to my post...

For what it is worth I have ads for Sins on all my domains. Granted I dont bother to promote them due to time issues and honestly traffic generation is not a concern for me since the sites are hobby oriented not a business venture. Anyway I get about 350k hits on all of them so the traffic is tiny in terms of Internet volume but I figure every little bit helps. Plus it is free so it is all good to be sure.

On a side note, I would also consider looking into advertising on Paradox's sites if they are will to do such a thing with you guys. Getting somewhat off-topic here speaking as a hardcore gamer, if SD & Paradox got together on some projects would simply rock. I would love it if you developed a relationship with them like you have with IC or better yet pursue something akin to the Holy Grail to me and that is simply merged with them to make a single killer strategy game oriented company that truly focus on gamers and the gaming experience - no ifs ands or buts. I even suggested it to them as a quip in a thread on their site related to Sins I think and their marketing guy responded in the affirmative. Food for thought...
Reply #43 from Sins Forums Top
Word of Mouth. Really cant beat it.


But I will tell you this. Fork out the money for a sort TV ad in North America. You wont regret it. I know its like bling bling in this industry to be able to do that but It will boots your sales.
Reply #44 from Sins Forums Top
Some of the good & solid *FREE* download sites, like Fileshack and GamersHell.

I generally judge quality of such sites by the degree to which they toss extracurricular html at me and by the ease with which I can get a fast reliable download. I tend to frown on any sites that want registration before you download free demos, although I did follow through with that for the high-speed public server access at Fileshack.

KISS. (Keep It Simple Stupid)

Gamespot has a large audience, but given the departure of so many core people I would not want to associate with them and thereby help them maintain their audience. I don`t believe the owners/operators deserve it.

Distinguish between the promotion sites and the news sites. I prefer the news sites; I`d support them if you had a choice.

Somebody mentioned GPG Net... thats actually a good idea if you could swing it. Sup Com is my other favourite rts right now, and a game i consistently mention in the same gleeful sentences as Sins.
Reply #45 from Sins Forums Top
@Warlok - Please correct me if I'm wrong but those server sites will get the demo and promote it on their own. I dont see a real added value for the spent money going through such channels. I guess it would all boil down to how much they wanted in addition to the demo.

On your other points I have to agree. News sites and a very few culture ones are always where I go. I never bother with promo sites unless I want to see a specific review for comparison purposes.

Speaking about News sites, a really good one which is member driven in my opinion is: News 4 Gamers. I value such sites since the people doing the reviews are real gamers and not guns for hire. Frogboy should consider it as well.