So we had another discussion in a different thread, and we came to the conclusion that uber is epic. That aside, the thread evolved and we came to talk about the livestreams they're doing. To quote neutrino: So the question in my mind is, since doing the lifestream seems very demanding on the developers who could use that time (and money, because time = money) to work on the game instead: do we really still need them to do the livestream for us? Wouldn't it be more effective and less expensive to just post that stuff on the forums instead? I don't want to talk for the developers here. Obviously it's up to them whether they want to continue doing it or not. But I'd like to hear your opinions on that matter. And please keep in mind that everybody has his/her own opinion. Greetings
It's complicated question that the poll doesn't really do justice. I don't think the game Needs the livestreams, but they certainly help in terms of marketing. The community doesn't really need them but it wants them because that's one of the main 'interaction' links Uber has outside of the Forums. I think that so long as they have something "significant/tangible" to showcase within the Livestream they should keep doing them. Mike
I think there's a happy medium between too-many and too-few. Too many, and lots of time will be wasted preparing, setting up, and doing the streams. Too few, and people will cry and complain about lack of communication. Uber posting on the forums is a good stop-gap, but it does require the community to do two things; come to the forums AND read thoroughly (and if you've looked about the forums lately, we've got lots of one, but not much of the other). The streams are good for showing off awesome stuff, and for building hype. What better way of showing planet smashing goodness than by smashing planets on live TV? It could be that community ignorance is the ultimate problem here - there's lots of questions being asked that Uber has already answered. Answering them multiple times is just a waste of backer funding.
I really think the main source for the game's popularity will be the youtube channels, the magazine reports and the oh so awesome trailers they do. I think if we'd get people like Husky, TotalBiscuit or Day9 more interested in this game, it would create a much greater boost to the game's popularity than any lifestream could ever achieve. Greetings
There's absolutely no way that each live stream should be taking away multiple man days per stream, if so then it sounds like things are really inefficient. Here are my thoughts after reading the quote by neutrino. 1. Appoint a stream producer, i.e. someone to make the show more efficient, better scheduled, more focused, and perhaps even shorter in duration. The show producer should plan out a day or two in advance what exactly is needed to deliver that week's update. This person could have other major roles in the company (i.e. game dev side producer, CM, etc.) 2. Optimize, and try to minimize the number of people involved in order to minimize the impact it has on the actual dev team. Try to make the stream as much of a one man show as possible, most likely with the CM Brad as the front man. 3. Consider brief pre-recorded updates from team leads of each major category (art, dev, sfx), splice in a quick mash-up of what's new this week instead of having them come on with a back drop created by the producer / CM of anything new that deserves a spotlight instead of interrupting mission critical devs for hours via their required attendance. 4. Keep the show focused on what's important - what's new with the build this week, and what's planned for next week. Pretend you're addressing a publisher. If you want to answer questions, consider vetting them from the forums in order to save time. 5. Minimize livestreamed playsessions outside of major milestones (i.e. galactic warfare launch, gold, etc.) Leave that stuff to press, youtubers, streamers, fans, otherwise it's just burning away man hours. 6. Allocate time, much like you would with a presentation, and make it clear that you'll have to wrap within that window. This will give viewers an idea of what to expect, and it will take some of the pressure off the developers if they know they've got to allocate no more than say 45 minutes to fill a guest spot (if needed). Believe it or not there are a lot of people out there (especially in small businesses) attempting to assist in marketing roles that actually have never studied marketing. I had to take many marketing courses as part of my degree in business administration, and since the PA launch I've often felt that there have been genuine flaws in Uber's marketing strategy. I won't get into everything here, but my gut tells me that it comes down to limited resources, and/or perhaps misguided priorities, despite the successful Kickstarter. Youtube channels can have a huge impact on both consumer awareness, and sales. On many occasions now smaller developers have visibly shown via sales graphs the huge differences in sales following Youtube coverage versus traditional media (web/print) coverage. Yet it has been my experience that Uber has been minimally involved with the Youtube and Twitch.tv scene, outside of trying to actively work with a handful of higher tier content creators like TotalBiscuit, and Nerdcubed. Uber seems to have a greater interest in traditional media. The Youtube and Twitch.tv side is full of creators of all sizes that are used to indie developers going out of their way to do whatever they can to get some level of exposure, especially any that would be long running (i.e. series). Considering this, one of the most consistently frequent complaints that I hear from other Youtubers is when a developer does not respond positively to the content creator's attempts to reach out, especially when it's typically the developer chasing down the Youtuber. When it comes down to marketing, it is a huge mistake to potentially lose out on generating a loyal advocate, or even just generally burning out interest, no matter how small the reach. Assuming that a good product actually exists and is appealing / accessible to the masses, it's the companies that maintain and strengthen relationships that tend to get ongoing support. For example, I was on the ground floor with Riot Games' League of Legends, and without even realizing it I was converted quite easily into an advocate because of the relationship that grew out of interacting with the team, some of whom even today I consider personal friends. Because of the relationships made with the company I stayed engaged in the game, continued to create content around it, and ultimately referred thousands of tracked referrals / consumers (and who knows how many untracked) to League of Legends, earning an item in-game that was named after my summoner (Ohmwrecker). Multiply that by hundreds, even thousands of gamers / journalists turned advocates. I honestly think that it's not Uber's intent to capitalize on these sorts of relationships at the moment, not to say that things won't change closer to launch, but up until this point Uber's marketing strategy has been relatively narrow in scope.
Well that's just it, they don't have the budget to pay for "proper" marketing and rely a lot on word of mouth, and Live Streams are good for that. Also Total Biscuit has done multiple videos on PA already, including a 40 minute interview back during the Kickstarter. Mike
Put simply, they should keep making the live streams as a way to pull more people off the fence and into buying the game. The resourses from new sales will find its way into adding better and more awsome features to the game. Mavor has already said that the money that comes in before launch will be put into the games devolopment (dont quote me on his exact words).
But is the money from additional sales brought in through lifestream worth the money and time invested into it? I think that's the fundamental question here.
I'd hazard a guess about the cost of a stream. It's going to cost between $1,000 and $2,000 to produce in terms of pay alone. In the latest stream, we had nine at least nine people involved; six players, two hosts, camera guy. I'm assuming that at an average of three hours per person is required. More for some, less for others. It makes sense to do a dry-run of things beforehand, so I don't think it's an unreasonable number. No idea what the pay rate is like at Uber. I'm not American, so what sounds like a good pay for me might be a terrible pay for them. I just assumed an average of $35/hour. It adds up. Quickly. To balance that out, a Livestream would need to bring in between 25 and 50 release-price sales. That's a number that's certainly in the realms of possibility. Uber's master-of-the-Excel-spreadsheet would know if sales spike after each stream.
As KNight said, Livestreams are important for marketing as well as reassuring backers. Think of it as a progress meeting with investors. A bunch of people dumped a lot of money into this game with no guarantee of results. As a Kickstarter backer, it's very reassuring to see that Uber is actively developing the game and is actively listening to the community. They reassure investors through Livestreams, participating on the forums, and regular updates. Sure, it's less time developing. But it gains new sales and provides reassurance to investors that their investments weren't in vain.
I would like to see livesteams from issues where they have reached out to us for our ideas like unit ideas where they consider what we've suggested and what they loved and didn't because it reflects what they've asked but it should be used sparingly
