Why is this game not more popular?

[BasileyOne]

yeah, working with young, less-fat/lazy publishers could help too.
but in my opinion, Runic Games did right step moving all-around, including own system of distribution, along with selling thru Steam, Impulse and others.
less distribution/sales being locked-down by/on someone, the better. same about game development advance, thats why [lagging and encumbered]PhysX usage in Arma3 cause serious issues, likely to experienced by Epic games in past days. same about dependency on API's, development tools and etc. watch for EA workarounds on-topic, especially about Qt usage[considering EA Microsoft division, in fact and Nokia/Troll-tech acquiring].

its like a stupid brain virus to think, all products have to be for all people to be "good"

skilled salesman can sell anything to anyone, sure
point is that not about stupidity or rhetoric, nor advanced marketing science&psychology, but about their common sense and living experience[including related/similar].
so, to simplify, trick not to "sell as much as you can to anyone you can", but prioritize on "good customers" and remain "good supplier" for them, ie long-term/fail-safe buziness-plan/shedule/strategy[which is some studios/pubs lack :/]

[Ranubis]

Best game ever

[galzohar]

Best game ever

Maybe, but it doesn't answer the question at hand.

[BasileyOne]

Maybe, but it doesn't answer the question at hand.

sometimes question is best answer.
and the answer is "why? why, God???!"
but seriously, "not more popular" was obvious - big fat lazy consumers and/or publishers and otherwise BIS-hostile environment, which causes fluffy BIS personnel feel himself so lonely, so offended by marketing/sales #'s.
while in fact, numbers isn't bad, yet, many games wasn't hit 1/10 of such "success", honestly.
remaining constructive, PR and Logistic[not ads, sadly]was a problem.
just recently friends in PL and De - simply can't buy Arma2Co boxes for insta-lan-party of corporate weekend :/

[luizsilveira]

Interesting this thread has been going for years.

I didn't see it all, but mostly saw people blaming the "niche" target or lack of marketing (which are both true). The *huge* amount of bugs is a big no-no for many people as well, and it counts towards very bad marketing (via reviews etc.).

However, what I'm finding the largest problem is simply the clunkyness of the UI, especially with the modding. I'm trying to get some games going with some friends and it easily takes two evenings for an average computer user to set it up. He will get multiple errors and whatnot, will have a bit of time to understand the command line mechanic, etc. It's just horrible.

Now try to tell a guy who is used to console "plug and play" and he will need two evenings battling the game just to set it up to play, plus a chunk more of time every time the many updates come frequently... and you'll hear a laughter. And so far I'm talking about playing with friends, I won't even mention the nightmare it is for a below-average user to find a public server (along with running the required mods etc).

In the case everything goes to par, which I doubt, if the guy doesn't have an "Arma friend" he will find himself in a public server with absolutely no clue of what to do or where to go. Yes, playing more single player could have helped, or playing the tutorials. This could even be mentioned when launching the multiplayer lobby for the first time: "attention, it is HIGHLY recommended that you run the tutorials and at least one or two single player missions before joining multiplayer, even if you are a FPS veteran". Even in Arma Free this could be an issue and the lack of pointers for the beginners could easily be bad marketing again (the guy downloads the free, could like the game, but hates it and won't buy it because he is lost inside it).

It's a shame seeing so many people giving up playing just for the sheer difficulty of setting it up. And don't give me the excuse that "it's the mods". Of course it's the mods, the game is supposed to be highly moddable (it's one of its assets) so modding and playing with mods should be dead easy. But it's not.

[IceRain]

I have been playing fps games for many a year and have been an avid flight simmer for just as long but for some strange reason I never heard of Arma2 until some guys on a game forum began playing DayZ recently. I'm thinking that there is not enough marketing of this amazing product or the above would not be so. Yesterday I was talking to some flight simmers about Arma2 (they had never heard of it either) and when they looked at it they fell in love as it is more of a sim than a game.

Spread the word and they will come.

[luizsilveira]

[...]

Spread the word and they will come.

They will come. And then they will go away again pretty quickly - for example, when they get into playing coop campaigns and soon find out the save games don't work, even years after the problem was pointed out. Now try to play a mission like Manhattan without the save games

Funny to ask "when will Arma 3 be finished" when clearly Arma 2 is not finished yet (but certainly not for the lack of patches).

That seems to be one big reason this game is not more popular. Because it has amazing features that are mind bogging to a few people but fail miserably at the most basic levels - working savegames, for example.

[^Th0mas^]

I think ArmA 3 will be more popular than the previous games because it looks like it will be easier to controll players in the new engine. Also because of DayZ, ArmA is now more well known.

[Nikiller]

hi,

Could you point a couple of quotes out? I think there aren't that many pricks on these forums, or at least I don't see them that often. Might just be my selection of forums. And yeah, the community's vocal minority is a problem, I've seen some disdain towards it on other sites.

Same here, I think there is not too much morons on the forum. Check DayZ forum and you will see BIS forum isn't too bad.

On topic:

- Prejudices. A lot of people know the game is buged and clunky because of bad reviews and they will not try to enjoy the game, just focus on the bugs. That's why ArmA3 must be bug free as possible when it releases.
- Learning curve. Setting the game and learning how to play it properly is very long, most of people want instant fun.
- Bad advertising.
- Bugs.

cya.

Nikiller.

[BasileyOne]

I think ArmA 3 will be more popular than the previous games because it looks like it will be easier to controll players in the new engine. Also because of DayZ, ArmA is now more well known.

also players in OFP:R had further "easied" control, but thats not extended playerbase much, actually[while helped a bit, sure].
point is - when game is CHALLENGING players, HOW MANY players will STAND challenge ? or at least how much of them, try to pretend to be able?
most "players" to do quick rush 2-3-5 min games on smartphones, home chillers, car audios IC's or vacuum clearners built-in games.
so every single game developer must[and most actually do, according to amounts/scale of [related]interviews/explanations you can found on youtube],question himself "how far you can go ? and how you would ? what you shouldn't do whaever means ? what is basic values for both you and you company ?" its quite [and impressively different]unique statistic, quite represent diversity of both gamedev insutry and human society, presently, scoped in
basically i think - they all converge in.
social games, MMO's, MMOFPS, RPG's, VR, real-world institutions[including government-issued/controlled].
they all become PART of you life, physically connected by indestructible means.
if you brain didn't exploded upon/until reading this part, its clear solution - EVOLVE. do something DIFFERENT. and BETTER, probably.
from "mainstream" dev's studios, i liked CryTek emphasis/strategy much, but more interested/curious about some off-spings, focusd on purely net-centric, distributed, p2p[or b2c/c2c or anything2anywhint ;]model for both content creation, distribution and horse-powering back-end/universe 4 all this, ie crowd-sourcing the crowd-sourcing as whole new meaning for ling of crowds which IMRPOVE everyday meaning of crowds to levels, unprecedentedly before.