New content 1.5 preview

[Panda Tar]

It feels that way, although I also feel as if big blockbuster-like games will ever have a spot somewhere, specially because there are that many hardcore gamers, those who prefer playing solo and those who thrives for immersion in gaming experience which might not be granted by this trending. I'm not sure that this tendency is strong enough to simply break the boundaries and take over everything, but mainly to add to them.

[cjlee]

Definitely app games have huge markets, but I think Ubisoft's mistake is to try and fit Heroes VII into these 'more profitable' categories.

Profits are not just an isolated application of the ROI concept. You also need to consider things like competition and availability of close substitutes. Most app games are never going to retain loyalty for long.

I think Heroes is closest to chess in being TBS. This may mean that we're faced with one huge problem when it comes to meeting modern gamers' needs - short attention span. Most app games you can play on the bus or at work because it is not so cognitively demanding, but HOMM you have to both consider the tactical battle ahead of you, as well as the bigger strategic picture on the adventure map. This is cognitively expensive, and if you stop gaming to do something else when you come back in a few hours, you will be wondering "where was I".

On many HOMM maps, I have to take notes to remind myself of where I was going and what I was planning. On some complex maps, these notes can run to several pages. (EG Jeff's H4 campaigns, Draconic by Veldrynus) The market for games like this is small, probably not even 1% of the market for app games like angry birds. But because of this, whoever makes a good TBS game doesn't have much competition. You won't need to make 100 app games and have 99 of them barely make any money. With a good TBS where gamers are charged for subscription, they can be loyal and pay money for many years. If Heroes 3 was a subscription game where buyers were charged $2 per month, it would have taken 3D0 over a year to break even selling this game, but they would still be making money two decades later.

It's a different market with different gamers so income stream is also different. Trying to dumb H6 down to meet console gamer expectations was dumb.

As much as I hate Ubisoft, I DO want to give them my money. Even $2/month for 10 years is possible, even though I know I'd end up paying way more than for a one off game bought outright with minimal support. There isn't any close substitute in the gaming world for Heroes of Might and Magic. It's that Ubisoft makes it impossible for me to give them my money. I don't want to game for 10 hours and find a game breaking bug, or else have you guys pop out a new patch that destroys all my previous savegames and settings.

[mr.hackcrag]

I can't argue with your decisions. Resting is healthy.

These days I went 'testing' the game Dust: an Elysian Tale, which I bought from Steam for a couple of cents. After getting the feeling of the game, I was alarmed when birds started singing outside my window. Didn't even realized 5 hours had passed.

Of course, the game is a bit teen-like when it comes to story and narrative, but it's quite cheerful and fun game-play-wise.

Awesome game and tribute to Castlevania style gameplay. I read they ran out of development time and end of game was rushed and altered from intended ending. Sequel is supposed to be made, but lord knows when.

[Humakt]

I am sad, immensely sad, that the turn based strategy game is really going out of fashion.

They never were in fashion in the first place.

[Galaad]

Turn-based strategy games or any kind of creation for the matter should not be made in the prospect of "being fashionable" in the first place, success is a consequence, not a goal.
Of course Ubisoft is not doing anything good for the franchise to stay alive, quite on the contrary. To stay on topic, I've read many people complaining about patch 1.5 with heroes loosing their skills and spells, making the game unplayable. In H6 one had to roll back his drivers, in H7 he has to rollback to precedent patch.

[cjlee]

You don't need a lot of people to make 'fashion'.

There are always subsets and subcultures that espouse a certain fashion or trend. Most urban people don't drive pickups and don't have Confederate flags on the pickups, but it is indeed the fashion in some parts of the rural USA. ie some subset of the population. That's why it is not hard to get Confederate flags even now - factories are still producing somewhere.

TBS doesn't need 500 million players to be 'in fashion'. So long as there is a reasonably large population eg 5 million that likes them, it's good enough to sustain this market for games. I don't care about the 500 million market for MMORPGs. I just care about the 5 million market for TBS because it is my preferred game type.

Unfortunately with so few TBS in the market now, Heroes of Might and Magic franchise has become a pillar of this gaming style. And Ubisoft is doing everything it can to alienate existing fans and discourage new fans. They're practically hacking at the pillar, burning it, splashing acid, driving trucks into it, etc. I'm surprised this pillar is still standing after years of Ubisoft assaults on it.

At the rate Ubisoft is going it looks like in future everyone will have to go here http://www.playcatan.com/en/
or here http://www.chess.com/ for their TBS games.