That’s exactly the same idea behind the Apple Ad, just a 2 seconds clip of a person playing Vg, not even mentioning the word Vainglory, not even a small Download Vainglory banner. Total waste of money in my opinion, what kind of exposure is that Ad gonna give to Vg ? Close to none i would say. Semc’s marketing strategy is laughable you can even imagine the thought process behind, “Look those big brands featured our product we must be really important now !”.
I think they just happened to see their product in an ad and tweeted about it. It would be really out of place and wildly expensive (relative to what SEMC can afford) to get a mention in that ad, while also taking away screen time from the focus of the ad as well as the promotional offer.
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The fact that they even used joystick controls (just like in the Apple ad) to showcase the game. Phew. Do they even believe in their product anymore? 
Really trying hard to be AOV or ML, but this is the wrong approach, they should keep their different took on MOBAs from the past years…
I think that makes market sense though. If you’re looking to expand your playerbase, particularly when people are familiar with your competitors (other mobile MOBAs), you have to build a bridge to encourage sampling. Something familiar, like a control scheme, is the best bet to get people to try a different product in the same competitive space. Then hopefully they’ll stay due to better gameplay, more innovative visuals/characterization, or a better control scheme that’s introduced to them later.
All that said, SEMC probably didn’t have much creative input in how their game would be used here, or how the ad would run, since this is more a Samsung/Verizon thing than anything else.
Yeah and the fact that the default controls when you create a new account is joystick is pretty sad too. Semc has been having identity crisis for quite a while now, their decision to give lane minions a bounty even when you don’t last hit them and then reverting back the change a couple weeks later shows that they don’t know what direction to go with their product. Should we lower the skill cap and make the game more appealing for a casual audience or should we higher the skill cap and make the game more appealing for more serious moba fans. Having an optional joytsick controls is totally fine, but making it the default controls and promoting your game as a joystick game is just pathetic when you know the vast majority of mobile players use touch controls and the moto when the game was launched was the moba perfected for touch. Its like Semc is so desperate at this point that they’re willing to deny their true identity.
I’m not sure this is true. The majority of VG mobile players use touch, I’d say (although it’s just a guess), but the majority of mobile MOBA players overall use joystick, because that’s what other games offer. From what I’ve heard (reddit comments, comments on streams, dev chats) a lot of players from other MOBAs, who were used to joystick, would pick up VG out of initial interest, but not stick with it because the control scheme wasn’t familiar, and they already had a game they felt comfortable with. For instance, I tried AoV when it first launched but put it down after a week because I’m used to touch controls. VG’s my first moba, and I learned with touch controls, so anything else feels off and not worth the effort of learning. I imagine it’s the same, in the other direction, for a lot of players new to VG, so it makes sense to give those players the easiest introduction possible.
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This is emphatically NOT true unless you are specifically talking about Vainglory players. And even then, I’d like to see what evidence you have to back up that statement.
Exactly this. I’m sure the situation was much like with the Apple ad.
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How do you know this? Or is this just your assumption?
By interracting with players in the community (even newer ones). At this point the number of joystick players is inflated by the fact that the default control schema is joystick, even a player who’s playing his first mobile moba is probably gonna stick to joystick cause when you’re new to a game the most logical thing to do is to stick to default controls. That aside my point is that having optional joystick controls is totally fine, flexibility has never done any harm. Completly throwing your product’s identity out the window on the other hand does you much more harm than good and is just a sign of a failed marketing strategy. It basically shows that semc has given up on making Vg great trough its uniqueness which could have worked they just didn’t know how to.
I’d argue a bit that uniqueness shouldn’t be as narrow as a control scheme (or a small set of other things). A game can be uniquely great for it’s specific mixture of art and controls and gameplay and whatever else as a total package. I’d also say that’s a much more sustainable approach, since tying uniqueness to a single differentiator (“touch = unique”) is kind of gimmick-y, easier to copy, and less stable in the long run.
I don’t disagree with your main point that SEMC has changed how they describe, promote, and position their game to players though. Personally, I don’t think that’s necessarily good or bad. It’s just adaptation, and should be seen as possibility for future improvement. Which, I think you agree with. I don’t think we’re disagreeing, really, I’m just adding a bit of difference in how I see the terms we’re using, and where that might lead to slightly different conclusions.
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Vainglory hasn’t lost all of its uniqueness its still got some, but we lost lore, the cards system, touch control is basically being neglected, changes have been made balance wise to lower the skill cap, the game mode that made the game great is being neglected as well. Everything adds up, Vainglory is still more unique than its other mobile competitors but it doesn’t feel special anymore at least not in my eyes.
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I’ve seen the ad you shared before and it’s just like the iOS ad but the iOS way going deep on vainglory but still not mentioning it , but this ad you need to be familiar with vainglory to know what is the game they playing , like if I don’t know vainglory I would assume some random game and then look closer to see if it’s the same game but I’ll probably realize it’s not and not interested on knowing what it is actually .
In the other hand check this chrome book playing vainglory , the player in the ad played with the touchpad , joystick mobile and touchpad PC .
Dude after this ad vainglory is perfected for touch again kappa .
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