Posted by MikeT23 on 1/10/2017 7:29:00 AM (view original):

Posted by poncho0091 on 1/10/2017 2:10:00 AM (view original):

Posted by MikeT23 on 1/9/2017 9:10:00 AM (view original):
I'm not sure WifS is very profitable for FOX. I'm almost positive it is not. That would explain the lack of dedication to advertising and/or game adjustments.

It's kind of a catch 22 though. How can you expect to be profitable, if you don't advertise and no one knows your product exists?

I would hope they've done their research and know there is a limited market for sim games.

I can advertise the hell out a tomato and ice cream sandwiches but, if people don't find that enticing, they're not going to sell.

That wouldn't be the main concern. They'd have to run low budget campaigns for HD that sync up with sign-ups for each world, and even then wouldn't want to overspend on the campaign as there are limited spots in each world. It would require them to have at at least two people micromanaging several campaigns in which, best case scenario, they net less than $1,500 for the first season of purchases (assuming each new user's first season costs $4.95). On top of campaign costs, the allocation cost of the two marketing employees leaves very little room for profit, even if a fair amount of the new users become return customers.

Had they started this process 2 years ago (hell, even one year ago), there would probably be more HD worlds and WIS would be slightly more profitable. I'm thinking FOX's interest is only in WIS's simmed "predictions" content though.

The TL;DR being "The issue isn't with the product, but the fact that you can't take a buckshot approach with marketing like you can with other products."

It kind of is the product. I've told several people about HBD. Zero joined. "Sounds complicated", "Sounds time-consuming" and "What do you win?" were the most popular responses.

Posted by MikeT23 on 1/10/2017 9:29:00 AM (view original):
It kind of is the product. I've told several people about HBD. Zero joined. "Sounds complicated", "Sounds time-consuming" and "What do you win?" were the most popular responses.

I couldn't get any of my friends to buy the most recent version of Madden, but from what I've heard it's been pretty successful.

No matter what whiney old whiners say, HD isn't a bad product, and it's unique. The internet is a big place and it's full of sports nerds. The targeting wouldn't even be that difficult. Using industry standards (which is probably too low a bar to set given the vast majority of the audience hasn't seen the game before), I think that I could fill D3 in a world for less than $1,000 using a social campaign.

I don't disagree about advertising. I'm just far more skeptical of the success it would have.

Posted by mbriese on 1/10/2017 9:34:00 AM (view original):

Posted by MikeT23 on 1/10/2017 9:29:00 AM (view original):
It kind of is the product. I've told several people about HBD. Zero joined. "Sounds complicated", "Sounds time-consuming" and "What do you win?" were the most popular responses.

I couldn't get any of my friends to buy the most recent version of Madden, but from what I've heard it's been pretty successful.

No matter what whiney old whiners say, HD isn't a bad product, and it's unique. The internet is a big place and it's full of sports nerds. The targeting wouldn't even be that difficult. Using industry standards (which is probably too low a bar to set given the vast majority of the audience hasn't seen the game before), I think that I could fill D3 in a world for less than $1,000 using a social campaign.

Totally agree. The demographic is large enough to get a few thousand users. Easy.

Ive gotten about 10 friends to play. Most only played a couple seasons but 3 of them are about 10 seasons deep.

not thrilled by departures in Naismith

4 of 10 on my nonconf schedule went SIM

3 more teams in the ACC now SIM

anecdotal, but not good to see such big outflows -

And with a sudden last- minute influx of 200 players from god-knows-where, wooden is at 298 "humans" in D3. The majority of which appeared after those who reserved teams had been added...

Yeah my conference filled back up again, one theory was posed on my conference chat was that these were bots made by WIS made to look like they are making progress. Nobody ever says anything, they don't recruit (in the first period while they are on the team) and they don't stay.

Posted by MonsterTurtl on 1/15/2017 2:41:00 PM (view original):
Yeah my conference filled back up again, one theory was posed on my conference chat was that these were bots made by WIS made to look like they are making progress. Nobody ever says anything, they don't recruit (in the first period while they are on the team) and they don't stay.

I went from 10 to being alone. To 3 after reservations. And just checked first exhibition and have 9. I've been on the road with my team for two days so haven't been able to check in as much but definitely thinking of calling shenanigans...

Posted by rednu on 1/15/2017 2:47:00 PM (view original):

Posted by MonsterTurtl on 1/15/2017 2:41:00 PM (view original):
Yeah my conference filled back up again, one theory was posed on my conference chat was that these were bots made by WIS made to look like they are making progress. Nobody ever says anything, they don't recruit (in the first period while they are on the team) and they don't stay.

I went from 10 to being alone. To 3 after reservations. And just checked first exhibition and have 9. I've been on the road with my team for two days so haven't been able to check in as much but definitely thinking of calling shenanigans...

https://www.whatifsports.com/forums/Posts.aspx?topicID=499002

More free seasons.

Look!! We agree on something.

Posted by poncho0091 on 1/8/2017 6:38:00 PM (view original):

Posted by zhawks on 1/8/2017 5:39:00 PM (view original):

Posted by fd343ny on 1/7/2017 10:29:00 AM (view original):

Posted by jaymc2007 on 1/7/2017 8:20:00 AM (view original):
That's a lot. Hopefully they stick good to their word that they are going to spend money on advertising... or this place is going to get rough very quickly.

they dont even need to spend actual "money" just publicize on Fox in creative ways - I cant remember seeing anything...I'm sure there has been some minimal bit - but if they were trying I would be seeing it given where I go on Fox

if not, will go the way of the blackberry

If it's going the way of the blackberry we still have a few more iterations of this before it self combusts... lol.

yeah they could use fox so much more it's unfortunate. I can't believe there isn't a single fox sports writer or tv person or something that wouldn't enjoy this game as well and want to champion it a bit.

I remember when FOX took it over, I thought it would be great as the game would get a bigger advertising platform. Alas, here we are and it just never happened. It feels more like FOX would rather cut their losses and dump it.

I feel like FOX has never embraced this site for WHAT IT IS...they've tried to relate it too much to today's real life sports and predictions/spreads/etc, but that market is already ridiculously flooded. They have something across all the 4 major sports that no one else is doing and they don't/have never advertised it for the games for which the site was originally created.

I said it back in 2003 and 2004 and still say it today...whatifsports.com is the best sports website that nobody knows about.

the colonel is right in my opinion