Is time of year important to a sports sim release?

[Airhog]

Do you think it is better to release a sports sim to go along with the start of the sim's respective sport? Like releasing baseball sims in early spring, and football sims in august? I know that sports sims are a niche market, but how many people wait to buy a new sports sim, just because its released after the season is over.

[33sherman]

Even though it would be nice to have a sim out right before a particualr season starts, I would buy it no matter what.

For instance, if TCY2 were to come out on January 10th, I'd still buy it the second I heard about it.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Just in general, I don't neccessarily think I'd be as likely to "wait to buy" as I would to simply not buy at all & catch a new/different game the following season. There's been several cases where I bought something out of season mostly on a whim but out of season definitely keeps me off the early adopter list.

[JeffR]

Personally, it doesn't matter to me. But is it better for sales in general? Absolutely.

[TargetPractice6]

I doubt it would matter for sales too much. Since most text sims aren't rereleased every year like clockwork the same sim is likely to be around for several seasons regardless of when it was released. So even if it isn't released at the beginning of the season it will still be available at the beginning of the next season when people are craving a game for that sport.

[Solecismic]

I doubt it would matter for sales too much. Since most text sims aren't rereleased every year like clockwork the same sim is likely to be around for several seasons regardless of when it was released. So even if it isn't released at the beginning of the season it will still be available at the beginning of the next season when people are craving a game for that sport.

My sales records strongly support your comments.

[Vince]

Well, I voted for no, but on second thought I think the answer is yes. I don't particularly care, but the average consumer will probably be more apt to look for/purchase a game that is released around the time of the season in question.

[maximus]

I voted "No, I would buy a good sports sim any time of the year, even if its after the season"

personally I could care less what time of year it is since I play my sports sims all year around.

[dawgfan]

I think these games probably get an early sales bump if they're released at the beginning of that sport's season, but given that most sports sims aren't yearly releases I'm not sure that it ultimately makes a huge difference as the game will still be around in time for the start of the next season.

I'm chomping at the bit right now for a new college football text sim, but the reality is I'd buy a good one at any point during the year. Same thing with baseball - I'm more excited just before and early on in the season, but the time of year it's released probably isn't going to prevent me from buying it if it's good.

[Icy]

I buy and play text sims any time in the year, but of course the starting of a new sport season makes me play it more actively, specially if i can find current rosters for it.

[Neon_Chaos]

Are we talking about Sports TEXT Sims? Or Sports Games in general?

If it's the latter, then I would say time of release matters greatly.

[Raiders Army]

Trout

[Airhog]

My sales records strongly support your comments.

So I take that to mean that you do your best business before a season starts?

Do sports sims really feel a christmas rush like other genres?

[QuikSand]

For me, my strongest passion is for football... and I have been a fairly faithful player of the FOF games (including TCY) both inside and outside football season. I have been fairly clear that I think a professional football sim provides the perfect setting for a text simulation -- just about the perfect number of decisions to make, and a great potential degree of strategic decision-making inherent in the sport to complement the roster-building. So, for me, football is #1, any time of year.

However, I do get lured off the one true path from time to time, and most frequently it does correspond with the actual sports seasons. I'm most likely to get a bit revved up about college basketball in February and March (I'll spare you my views on the pointless regular season of college basketball), about baseball in April or May (or perhaps September and October), and so forth. So, most of my investment of time in other sports sims comes when they are "in season" -- which I'd guess makes me a bit more like the more casual sports sim fan out there.

So, for me - it's a little from column A, a little from column B. I voted for the trout, of course.

[Johnny93g]

I think it matters......if a new fof game comes out in february, im not buying, cuz im not into football at that point....theres some people who will buy no matter when its released, but im sure theres alot of people who dont post here who would care less if it released to late

if there is a TCY 2, i wont be buying it either, cuz i'm looking forward to BB.....theres no news or anything about TCY 2....if it came out tommorow, i wouldnt buy it, cuz i really like what ive seen and heard about BB

edit: infact, now that i think about it, the only reason i would buy BB at this point, is cuz of the fof league that is planned, it looks really fun....because no college football game came out before the season started, ive gotten my college football fix playing NCAA 2005, so i think both companies have dropped the ball on this

[TargetPractice6]

I think it matters......if a new fof game comes out in february, im not buying, cuz im not into football at that point....theres some people who will buy no matter when its released, but im sure theres alot of people who dont post here who would care less if it released to late

if there is a TCY 2, i wont be buying it either, cuz i'm looking forward to BB.....theres no news or anything about TCY 2....if it came out tommorow, i wouldnt buy it, cuz i really like what ive seen and heard about BB

edit: infact, now that i think about it, the only reason i would buy BB at this point, is cuz of the fof league that is planned, it looks really fun....because no college football game came out before the season started, ive gotten my college football fix playing NCAA 2005, so i think both companies have dropped the ball on thisBut what about your college football fix next year? The year after?

[Johnny93g]

But what about your college football fix next year? The year after?

A little too far away to predict

[cody8200]

I think its better to release a game within the season its actually played but I would buy it regardless if it was good. I would probably play it a lot initially and then wait until that sports season starts again to start playing more heavily. No matter what time of year I'm always willing to get another good sport sim.

[dervack]

edit: infact, now that i think about it, the only reason i would buy BB at this point, is cuz of the fof league that is planned, it looks really fun....because no college football game came out before the season started, ive gotten my college football fix playing NCAA 2005, so i think both companies have dropped the ball on this
Yeah, it's starting to feel that way for me too. I was looking forward to BB, but now who knows if it'll be out before the end of October or not. If I do get it, sadly, right now it would be only to be in the fof league, and even then, I might not. NCAA has been fine for me, and if I ever buy the cable to hook up my Xbox to my PC monitor, that would seal BB's fate. IMO, Arlie dropped the ball big on this one. Releasing it now would be like releasing a Pro Football game in December...

Hey wait a minute...

[Cringer]

I can't get enough of football, so for me that is an anytime thing. With FOF, obviously I am not stop with it year round because of running the Imperial League. As far as solo play with FOF/TCY, I would say it just comes in waves no matter the time of year. Play a bunch for a month, then it's 2 or 3 months off, then hard into itagain for a month.

When I was playing CM, that had nothing to do with the season. Hell, it seems like it is always soccer/football season somewhere in the world and I don't follow it in real life that much anyways.

Where it does effect my playing is baseball and basketball. March Madness gets me wanting to play FBCB a bunch, as the MLB playoffs get me into trying OOTP once again every year.

So with that said, I guess as far as buying a game, baseball and basketball around playoff time would probably be my most likely "spur of the moment" purchase because of the time of year it is. Other then that, I think TargetPractice pretty much sums up my feelings/thoughts.