To Marc Vaughan and Marc Duffy (or any other SI folks reading)

[Galaril]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

The Thread in Which Foz comes not to Praise SIGames but to bury them.

Ok, this thread doesn't really give me much pleasure to write (most folks here know I'm the ultimate FM/WWSM fanboy on these boards), but it needs to be said. We're lucky that folks from SI Games have made the effort to talk to us about their games. Sure, there's been conflicts and bad feelings between some posters and SI, but that's not what I have to say right now.

It's time to make a decision, folks at SI. To put it in the bluntest possible terms, it's time to shit or get off the pot.

The USA market, which is the dream market for SI, since even a very small slice of US population buying their games would provide a huge boost to their sales #, has been treated like a second class citizen, it seems.

It's probably a question of manpower and where you need to focus your effort, I agree, but let's take a look at the last year, just focusing on FM2007, which is the flagship title in SI Games's arsenal (OOTP/EHM is another whole article altogether).

FM2006 comes out in England/Europe. Folks in the US get asked for one year, instead of importing FM2006, to wait for WWSM2006 to come out here in the states. If I remember correctly, the delay between FM2006/WWSM2006 was something like 10 weeks. NOT acceptable. It's like you're punishing the early adopters for trying to help you.

The digital download version required seperate patches then the main game, and due to hold ups (agreed with the digital download company, and the reason why they're not used in FM2007), there is a difference of WEEKS between the patch coming out for the boxed set and the digital download patch. Even worse, the Hyperthreading option for digital download versions NEVER work properly. Not Acceptable.

We get told that things will change in FM2007.

We are getting close to three full weeks since the FM2007 release overseas. No one knows when and where WWSM will come out in the states (apparently being sold just through Amazon?). The date has been delayed once through amazon, and I'm not holding my breath that today's release date will hold firm.

Even worse, the major reason a lot of USA folks will buy the game, our own national league, MLS, is pretty much unplayable because of a crash/hang that happens with trades in MLS. With the US release supposedly today, you're going to get folks playing the game, craashing 5 minutes in, and thinking the game's broken, put it away, or worse, send it back. The game is otherwise great, but it's a huge fly in the soup right now.

We're not asking for special treatment. Right now, it's understood we're just a minority compared to the large, rabid fanbase in Europe and South America.

However, you have to decide if you want to try to grow the US market. Either you're in, or you're out. Half measures won't grow your US base.. the hardcores will just import the game as normal, and the casuals will just tune you out, and not come back.

Edit: (fixed Marc V's last name, sorry)

Hey Foz,

Did they ever fix the MLS especially in relation to the crash you refeerred to above? Unlike alot I am most interested in International play and the MLS.

[SirFozzie]

Originally Posted by Galaril

Hey Foz,

Did they ever fix the MLS especially in relation to the crash you refeerred to above? Unlike alot I am most interested in International play and the MLS.

Yes, they provided a fix in the patch for the MLS crashes.

[Galaril]

Thanks.