Why doesn't DE advertise Warframe?

[LumfaoDiDiMau]

They do - at least they did anyways.

I found Warframe a few years ago through armor games. Banner ads. 

[Dreadwire]

Yeah warframe need more looser

30 million is not enough 

[Soulden]

I cant believe everyone missed the main reason why DE doesnt advertise Warframe on big media.

Ninjas Tenno lurk in the shadows, so they advertise accordingly. 

[(PSN)lhbuch]

On 22/07/2017 at 0:19 PM, Tricky5hift said:

Also consider that there is a stigma surrounding Free-to-Play games being cheap cash grabs and since Warframe's own motto is "Ninja's play free" it can cause people to easily dismiss the game.

Not saying that Warframe should be a premium game, I'm saying a lot of people see the advertisements but just overlook the game.

You have a good point. A lot of players who never heard of the game, kind of dismiss it because some F2P games are just cheap bad games.

Also it is really unfair to compare DEs capabilities with a huge studio capable of spending millions in advertising. Guess DE already advertises the game, maybe it is just a matter on how to do it.

When you enter in the game and has to obtain and upgrade everything, you will spend tons of hours doing that. By the time you are a vet and have everything, most of players will come and go according to updates. And thats were Warframe is one of the best games around, you can play other games and come back when you feel like, there is alwaays new content to chew.

[1tsyB1tsyN1nj4]

On 7/22/2017 at 2:14 PM, A-p-o-l-l-y-o-n said:

I'm sorry. I don't want you to misunderstand what I'm saying. I am glad that it's shifted in this direction. I think it should've shifted in this direction 2 years ago. I very much think that open world is the direction they need to go in. I'm just bothered by their reasons for shifting now. And I'm not in any way a fan of their previous efforts to go against the industry just for the sake of going against the industry.

I think that mentality, that focus, has greatly limited Warframe's potential. Warframe has so much more potential now that they are embracing open world, and many in the community realized that years ago. It bothers me that DE not once acknowledged that players in their community asked for open world. DE acted like they came up with that idea on their own, and that the community wasn't expecting it. Players have made direct appeals to DE to implement more open world elements into their game, and DE rejected those ideas repeatedly by complaining of how it wouldn't fit Warframe. I don't know what it was, but something about Warframe wasn't satisfactory and they decided to stop resisting and to embrace open world. I'm glad they did, but I wish they did it years ago, when they didn't feel like they had to. Regardless, I hope they become even more open to adopting certain things from the industry that would actually enhance their game. And hopefully they will no longer try to be different/counter-industry just for the sake of it.

That's where you and I differ. I actually liked DE going against the industry of regular F2P games, and while I understand the need for platinum so they can live their own lives and pay salaries & stuff, I hate this push to make spending money the easier better way, and open world content is definitely not going to pan out at all like people think it will. Just look at Destiny, it had a pretty open map/ world, but people only spend time where the action is, leaving 6/10ths of the map un-occupied. Look at the star chart now even, people spend their time on nodes they like, leaving people like me who had to start over/ new players to complete every node on their own. Recruiting chat is no help there, and I don't feel like running any non-endless mission with Ember of any variety. That trash ruins my experience

[1tsyB1tsyN1nj4]

On 7/22/2017 at 2:29 PM, A-p-o-l-l-y-o-n said:

Hmmm, kinda like the Warframe community chasing after the latest Mastery fodder and complaining when DE actually chooses to implement fresh new features that could expand the gameplay and scope...

What new features though? Warframe will always be a 3rd person horde shooter with powers thrown in to augment game play.

[Sziklamester]

Games like warframe have some minor advertisements ofc not as much as much can be with a AAA budget but they can do some effort. First time in 2012 heard about warframe in a hungarian pc-gaming magazine where they announced the game some different like game and told some minor infos about the game but nothing specific due the lack of information and the game was not released yet only there were some option to join to the closed beta test and I remember I created 3 account in the first place to get into the closed beta and I was excited about that small infos about the game. I waited then and watched if I could join to the beta when finally I joined to the open beta early days (not with this account). The timing was however bad because I came after they removed the vandal weapons from the market so did not got a chance to get these items. And we write 2017 now and I am still playing the game without major / huge breaks. I "donated" a lot of money into this game becuse it has a great potential and still have potential to become more what we have now. I see it's flaws I see the business part flaws and what the devs could do but hopefully they will realize these things with a little pressure of the community. Everyone here mostly bash the game because like the game and want the best for all. They could be more successful if they change their business policy a bit and the newcomers won't feel the game is paytowinish. The tutorials and introducing new content is helpful and the wiki site is helpful aswell but we need more conten to help newcomers and needs replayable random contents with the right level of gamplay to keep here veterans and other peoples whom reached higher levels.

[Unus]

In all honesty, I think WE are the advertising currently. A self-fulfilling assembling network of individuals. Tennocon may also play a role for the curious.

My current question right now though is less "why doesn't Digital do much more advertising" and far more "Have we finally reached our peak population/ when will we/what was our peak, our "golden age of growth" if you will.

[MagPrime]

DE managed to get 30 million people to register without mainstream advertising, I think they're doing just fine.

That being said, they're already swamped in the support department. If they started advertising, they would have to double their staff just to handle the influx of new players and the associated support issues.

[Rhekemi]

I'm not sure it's been mentioned, but one of Warframe's biggest advertising methods (besides Steam, which was mentioned) is word of mouth.

That's how I heard about it. Someone in another gaming community mentioned it, but I didn't start playing it until a year later, or so. 

Friends tell friends. Friends see friends playing it in real life. People looking for free-to-play and cooperative games see it on Steam (under the aforementioned tags when they're searching for games to play, which is, incidentally, how I found it again after I forgot about it a year before). Friends see it in their Steam buddies game libraries.

Then there are YouTube partners who work with DE to spread the word of mouth (although they tend to preach to the choir for those who only really play Warframe). AngryJoe is an example of a YouTuber with a wider reach than most Warframe YouTubers (ie: those who watch him don't only watch him for WF videos, therefore, he can reach more non-WF members).

Then there are the gaming industry and gaming news websites that have regular articles about Warframe when they release new content. (This is not an accident. Someone at DE is in charge of making sure these sites have fresh content to review. Whoever's job it is, they're doing just fine.)

Let's not forget interviews about the game's past, present, and future that DE gives any time they're at a convention. 

As mentioned above, conventions are also a huge way to keep spreading the word of mouth.

And come to think of it, I remember seeing some google ads on sites I visited for Warframe, but once I reinstalled adblocker those were no more. It was also redundant since it was targeting the ads at me because I was already playing Warframe by that time.

Digital Extremes and Warframe should not spend money on advertisements until it's actually necessary that they do so. It doesn't seem to be necessary at this time. Mostly it seems like you're saying it would be nice/you'd like it. 

I would just point out that traditional big bucks advertising (whether across mainstream platforms or just YouTube) is more important for traditional titles (like Destiny). Warframe is anything but a traditional game title, made by a traditional triple-A studio. New methods of advertising, grassroots advertising, suits Warframe just fine, in my opinion.

Until it's necessary, I think the kinds of ads you're asking for are a waste of money.

 

Edited July 24, 2017 by Rhekemi