Champions is going to go the way of CoH, and I don't think it will be very far in the future (And it's NOT because I hate the game, I have no particular beef with it, once the rumor they had nothing to do with CoH's demise was thoroughly debunked, which I was glad to hear.)
DC Univers Online and Marvel Super Heroes Online have something that CoH and Champions don't.
Movies.
Movies about *their* archetypical characters, and multimillion dollar advertising campaigns, and multimillion person audiences.
We just *can't* compete on that level, and it's getting the "Lesser" SHMMO's run over.
And then when you add to that, *No* advertising (CoH), *No* new content for long periods of time (CO), and no apparent support from the parent company (Both). What do we expect? GameFacePlant.
And we're getting it. It absolutely *amazes* me that NCSoftCore and PWE *aren't* capitalizing on the year of the biggest Super Hero movie of all time, both heere *and* overseas (The Avengers.)
This is DEEPLY STUPID. They BOTH have *previously-established* superhero MMO's *WITH an established playerbase*, and they both *Have* a western market (or did, anyway), and neither did *anything* to capitalize on these facts.
If I was either a PWE or NCSoftCore investor, I'd have yanked my investment and gone to Disney/Marvel or *at least* DC. If I remember correctly, didn't The Avengers hit the Billion-dollar mark? I *know* Batman did OFF THE FRST MOVIE. let alone whatever sales have been for part two and three of the trilogy.
Superman. Spiderman. The X-men. (kinda makes ya sad that your studio pissed off Whedon to the point he quit on Wonder Woman now, after seeing what he did with the Avengers, donnit DC? ;] )
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I'd love to see a movie (Even a youtube movie), showing off Plan Z's World/Content/Signature Heroes *and* Villains, and done *before* the game releases to get us attention.
Obviously, not anytime soon, but we *could* do promo videos for it as we get closer to launch.
Or just flat do a *live* video with a couple of action scenes to get attention, both to the game, and the the SaveCoHCause, with a Plan Z: coming soon, attached to it.
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Want a scary thought? Look at World of Warcraft. Now think of what would happen to their already-huge playerbase if they did a *Good* WoW movie, that the mainstream (Not a player) public could just go watch in a theatre, and all of a sudden actually have a grasp of what WoW is?
I have played WoW in the past, but don't anymore, mostly because of obnoxious players. I'd *still* go see the movie, and if they did it right, might get back on the game anyway. And I *wouldn't* be alone, I know a lot of people that quit for the same reasons, and might return if their interest was punted in the right place.
A movie would be a good start. Have you seen the trailers for WoW: Mists of Pandaria? Ignore the Kung-fu Panda rip off, and just take a *good* look at the story and cinematics. I watched that and *almost* set up an acount again, because I wanted to play a Panda, because they did them in a very cool style.
Now if they'd done a full blown *Movie* for, say Cataclysm? I'd *be* playing.
Now how long I *stayed* would be *their* problem (Gameplay/Content/Getting rid of griefing players, etc.
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So having said all this, when is the Plan Z youtube video coming out? We have several very talented people to help on this.
"PLAN Z: Coming Summer 2015."
Hmm. youtube video a year early, movie and game timed to release together, backed by a internet ad campaign?
It's a thought, and something to consider seriously.
2cp. ;]
