So we all finally got War Room, the highly anticipated app for mobile devices that promised us to dive even deeper into our fandom of steam powered robots and fury fueled fantastic creatures. I was really glad when I got it Monday night; from the smile on my face my wife immediately knew she could write me off for the next couple hours.
As soon as I started the app, I liked what I saw, although I also noticed a couple issues - not the troubling kind of issues, but nagging issues. It is very unlikely you read my blog post, but you surely noticed the fans venting their frustration in the War Room release thread leading ultimately to various statements by Privateer Press (1, 2). My friends fancying Android devices are utterly disappointed.
I guess we can savely say that this release didn't go as you envisioned it regardless of all the speculation on how this could happen. However, deep in this mess there are three factors that are the seeds to success:
- You listened to your fans (I don't say "customers" on purpose),
- You replied to your fans,
- With the internet, you have the perfect delivery system for quick improvements and you are using it.
Seriously, I was most notably impressed when I noticed Lane Daughtry of Tinkerhouse Games started to respond in the War Room release thread, too. You are doing all things right that crisis management handbooks tell you to do and I am very confident that these things plus your company's success are rooted in your company's culture. Ever since I noticed the nagging issues in War Room I knew that on one point, they will be a thing of the past because you take responsibility and fix it. I still think that the 60$ on the Ultimate Bundle are one of my best investments in wargaming ever.
Both you and I know that a company's marketing department not only promotes products, but also collects customer feedback. I deeply believe that Privateer Press' success is deeply rooted in the the way it interacts with the community with the Press Ganger program just being one example. However, considering your track record of interaction with the community, I have a very simple question:
Why didn't you let fans beta-test the app?
One way to learn from this mess is to do the tech talk and look at the things gone wrong in the software development process. However, let's leave this to the techies because you have a weapon that is minimally as powerful, i.e. your fanbase.
Yes, I know there are reasons why a company doesn't want to release information too early. However, look at it this way:
You were trying to replicate an excellent app that already existed, so it's not like you were to reveal something new and groundbreaking there. We took this stuff for granted. We expected your app to be even better because (a) it comes directly from you and (b) we expected you to copy all the things that made iBodger great. Furthermore, postponing the release several times with you stating that you "don't want to pass on any opportunity to make improvements to the app" made us expect a perfect and finished product.
However, if you had released a beta, you would have immediately found fans to test the product. You are close to your fans, you know how to talk to them. You could have collected feedback on how this app is doing on Android devices, an ecosystem that is hard to betatest. And even if the feedback from fans may have been harsh during the design process, they would have closely observed the improvements and built up excitement just the way they did passively waiting for the product. However, in that scenario nobody would have had to burn their midnight oil and frustrated feedback would have come in quantities easier to manage.
I didn't read the entire War Room release thread with its 1000+ posts, but I noticed that people are generally complaining about the product, but not about the company. Heck, people even opened a Thanks for War Room threat in your forum despite the flaws it has - and I wholeheartedly agree with them! You know, this is quite the opposite in comparison to a competitor of yours where people love their products, but don't miss any occasion to wish them to hell. Your fanbase and the way you communicate with it is your biggest strength as you carefully nurtured it over the years. If I am in the position to make any suggestion, I only have this one: whenever you embark on an exciting new journey (one could also say "risky journey"), allow your fans to participate even more closely. They will love it, you will love it, and your competitors will be left wishing they could release innovative products just like you do.
Cheers,
Philipp
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