Tomn
Posts: 148
Joined: 4/22/2013 Status: offline
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ORIGINAL: Nemo84When people can see every other distributor in the entire industry is doing the exact opposite and obviously benefiting from it I think if you could somehow prove that every other distributor was doing that and benefiting, that no other distributor was following Martix's model, and that these other distributors were addressing the same market segments as Matrix, then I would be disappointed if Matrix didn't take that on board. It seems a bit of a tall order to say "If you can find our identical clone who is doing the exact opposite of what we are doing, THEN we'll consider changing," don't you think? Part of the problem here is that Matrix has a near-monopoly on wargames at present, and that the only data specifically about wargames has to do with what Matrix has done, not what it hasn't tried. It would be a little like Standard Oil saying "Well, if you can find another oil company that sells oil at a lower price than we can, we will consider lowering our prices. Until then, we shall continue doing what we have always done and has always worked for us." Yet it doesn't seem necessary to find an exact, identical clone. There are, as I have pointed out earlier, a great number of similar markets and genres in terms of their nicheness and how they appeal only to a small minority. Though there are certainly some unique challenges involved with wargames, the essence of the thing remains the same - games which appeal to a small percentage of people can do much better than they could in the past by reducing their prices and hitting major distributors. quote:
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ORIGINAL: Nemo84 Iain just dismisses every single piece of data that does not prove his preconceptions. That's not "being willing to listen", that's just trying to smother the discussion. I think it depends on what you count as data and proof. I'm expecting they have tons of data, and a few data point presented here that may or may not be relevant to their market isn't going to sway them, or anybody in their position I expect. As mentioned just above, the problem here is that "tons of data" applies only to what they actually have done. You'll note earlier that JDM very politely asked for data on ARMA, DCS, ETS, KSP, rail sims. etc. because they lacked that data and would liked to have done an analysis. Yet all of the mentioned games are very much niche markets, just as wargaming is a niche. We can see then that they haven't really looked too far outside of their own niche - perhaps because they believe that wargaming is completely and perfectly unique to the point that they don't follow any of the rules any other game must follow, which seems a bit of a stretch. To use an analogy, then, this would be like a racer saying "I am walking very fast! I am going much faster than I did when I was crawling! I can't think of any way I can go faster!" while around him everyone is sprinting, who he ignores because they're not running down exactly the same lane he is and therefore he considers them irrelevant. Does it seem surprising, then, that others who have been looking at what others are doing should constantly bring up their data points, if it seems that Matrix really hasn't considered them? quote:
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ORIGINAL: Nemo84 Matrix doesn't present any actual data to support their point of view either, and yet somehow you consider them convincing. I'm convinced that they are a professional wargaming distribution outfit who have survived three major economic downturns and who are capable of looking out for their own economic interests. Certainly - I don't believe anyone is saying that they will absolutely go out of business any time soon, or that their business model cannot possibly function. What they are suggesting, rather, is that their business model is highly inefficient and stagnant. To use another analogy, we are suggesting that they are a medievally-managed agricultural estate during the peak of the Industrial Revolution. Yes, they could keep going on as ever they did if they really wanted, but they're missing out on quite a lot. They may grow, and this growth may astonish them, but it seems that such a growth would have less to do with their policies and more to do with the explosive growth of the market around them, of which they allow a small trickle to bleed into their wallets, which trickle still being incredibly good compared to how they did in the past. We suggest, then, that they open the spigot and see how it flows.
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