Why doesn't this game have more exposure?

[engrishbwudd1]

Man, game is incredible. I was looking for a change from the monster EA product this year as I've been unfulfilled from a statistical standpoint and this game has blown me away. I was hoping to find some playthroughs but it seems like this game has been more or less under the radar. Maybe the upcoming season will kickstart the game a bit, but probably not as Madden looks pretty this year. Anywho, I'm new and am totally excited to frequent these boards as my career progresses. Maybe this post has lacked any modicum of substance, but I just wanted to applaud Jim on his amazing efforts.

[aston217]

It's a 1-man operation. Jim's a pretty savvy game designer, but I think he's admittedly less at home in the modern world of putting it out there.

There could be some franchise reports, but most of them I think have always existed in the multiplayer sphere. Which is quite active.

FOF7 could definitely use some grassroots, word-of-mouth advertising, though! Welcome to the game and the FOFC community, and glad you like it.

[lastcat3]

Man, game is incredible. I was looking for a change from the monster EA product this year as I've been unfulfilled from a statistical standpoint and this game has blown me away. I was hoping to find some playthroughs but it seems like this game has been more or less under the radar. Maybe the upcoming season will kickstart the game a bit, but probably not as Madden looks pretty this year. Anywho, I'm new and am totally excited to frequent these boards as my career progresses. Maybe this post has lacked any modicum of substance, but I just wanted to applaud Jim on his amazing efforts.

This is easy to answer. Most people who enjoy playing sports video games want to actually play the game. Many of them (no matter how realistic the stats are) would think only putting together a roster and possibly calling plays and making a gameplan would be an utter bore. They want to be a part of the action.

Many of the people who play sports simulations such as FOF or stratomatic are stats geeks.

[Dutch]

FOF is ugly old-school gaming. It's so great for that, but let's be honest, not everybody agrees with the FOF crowd that this is a good thing. I still love it's style, but not everybody plays the type of games that ole Dutch likes to play. I rarely even mention it amongst gamers because most of them are XBOX or PS gamers...or PC Gamers but not PC Sports gamers or PC Sports gamers but not PC Sports text-based sim gamers...

If somebody were to ask me how to get more exposure for FOF, Iwould have to guess it would require the next step in the progression of the game.

FOF single-player --> FOF multi-player --> FOF on-line

No easy task though, that's for sure.

[aston217]

We're hand models, mama. We think differently than the face and body boys.

[biedrins]

This is easy to answer. Most people who enjoy playing sports video games want to actually play the game. Many of them (no matter how realistic the stats are) would think only putting together a roster and possibly calling plays and making a gameplan would be an utter bore. They want to be a part of the action.

Many of the people who play sports simulations such as FOF or stratomatic are stats geeks.
On the other hand, Football Manager sells millions of copies every year and has as much mainstream popularity as FIFA in countries where (non-American) football is a dominant sport.

The market is most likely there for a game in FOF's mould to sell well, it's just that it needs to be funded, polished, licensed, and well-marketed to a level that's not really possible when you've got one guy without a major backer behind him. For sake of comparison, while Sports Interactive (creators of the Football Manager games) did start out way, way back as a two-man show, when it was possible to actually create market-leading games with that sort of team, they now have over 70 full-time staff.

Even if suddenly it did have those things behind it, that's still no guarantee of success, as ventures like Eastside Hockey Manager (Sports Interactive's abortive venture into an ice hockey sim) and Out of the Park Baseball (modestly successful but not as much as you'd think for a game with its level of polish) reveal. If an American football equivalent of Football Manager sprung into being tomorrow with the same level of technical and promotional expertise and clout behind it, it'd sell, but getting to that point in the first place is an impossible leap basically.

[MrBismarck]

Getting through Green Light in time for the start of the season would have helped.

Maybe even a discount to combine with the kick off.