Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Age Of Conan - Amazon top 10 for 2008?

Well, this proved to be quite interesting.

I received a mailer from Amazon which has the top 10 best PC games (I assume based on sales) for 2008.

The list goes something like this...

Best PC Games for 2008
1
"World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King Expansion Pack"
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2
"Fallout 3"
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3
"Spore"
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4
"Far Cry 2"
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5
"World of Goo"
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6
"Sins of a Solar Empire"
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7
"Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures"
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8
"Crysis"
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9
"Grand Theft Auto IV"
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10
"Nancy Drew: The Haunting of Castle Malloy"

Age of Conan comes in at #7!

This is really quite interesting to note...I did not see WAR here or Mines of Moria, etc. I thought maybe it was based on the amount of time it has been sold, but then Far Cry 2 is on that list, which was released in October.

I think a lot of people under estimate the sales of this game, and this could prove to be a boon for Funcom if they sort out the server merge issues (which are finally starting this week) and of course, release patch 1.4 with new content for level 80's and DX10.
If they do a free "comeback" campaign, the retention could be sky high. The reason for this is due to the current discussion of the games capability to please people that have returned recently.
Several discussions are going on in various forums. People have noted major stability and performance enhancements since returning. The new mid level content looks quite good. Overall I think the game does have the right motives...now they need to pick up the pace and get a move on.

I am thinking that they are waiting for word on their latest plans.

The discussion is underway to buy back the shares in their stock, and own the company and go private. A recent PDF of a meeting shows this discussion in detail (lots of "Meeting" minutes lawyer talk there...but if you WANT to read it...lol)

If this happens, then they can make adjustments to pricing, subscribership, and probably how they run their games.
We can be assured that the premature release was due to pressure from investors. If they own the company, then Funcom could be like Turbine, and probably turn a profit within a year or two..

As long as AoC becomes their main source of income...and to do that, they need to get the fixes rolled out, and ready for player returns.

I wish Funcom luck in 2009. BTW, I had a $10 certificate for Amazon, and I have ordered a 60 day card to hold onto for when merges take place.

Here is to more decapitating By CROM!
_________________________________

EDIT: Of Note....

This is an interesting conundrum, as it seems Amazon has created this list to send in the mailer I received, yet a specific link in the mailer goes to the site with all of these games in different positions.
As has been pointed out to me on several forums, it seems odd that Age of Conan is listed in my mailer, yet does not even get on the list for the site.

What is even odder is the site states their list is "In no particular order".
So, this begs the question...is the email a lie? Is the mailer a false sales statement?

One line in the email says...

"As someone who ordered PC games or accessories, you might be interested in the 10 games that top the list for 2008."

Top what list? I started to wonder if the mailer is tailored for each individual, yet, would that not require a ton of work? How did Amazon decide what games to put here?
As one individual stated "Maybe this is their stock of games with the most inventory..."
Ok...this could be true. But, the wording becomes suspect, and again, the work put into creating a false sense of a Top 10 list makes me wonder the motives.

Is Amazon sending out false mailers or using wording to sell products in a particular way?
Why send an email with a link to a game that is on their supposed "Top 10", yet not have the same game on the main site list?

Weird.

I would like to know if anyone else go this mailer?

1 comment:

Danshir said...

Random bit. Sins of a Solar empire is fun. But when I saw World of Goo on the list I knew it had to be some type of "enchancement of the truth"

No one bought that game..they stole it..