What she is basically saying is that they screwed up their distributor/retailer relationship by making the original game available for download and that it is going to take one or two times of "Playing by the Rules" (distributor/retailer rules) for them to restore that relationship.Originally posted by April
We are doing everything we can to encourage our distributors to make TNW a priority, but we have had a rough relationship with retailers and we're trying to repair that. It is tough to get in though.
You see, stores don't like to order a product only to have it stuck on their shelves due to the publisher offering it via a download, after all who would want to buy a game and be stuck with it when you have to option to try it out free beforehand?. This created a situation where the only way the stores can get rid of the product (in this case AO) is by discounting it, sometimes at a loss. Needless to say, major US (and other) retailers aren't in the habit of stocking their shelves with products that do not make them a handsome profit. As far as the distribution chain goes, they rely on orders from said stores, if there is no demand from the big players (Best Buy, Circuit City, etc.) they aren’t too concerned about make it one of their top priorities.
So since the retailer/distributor chain has been burnt once by Funcom with AO, they are going to make them “pay the price” so to speak in order to get back in their good graces.
This coupled with the fact that AO is a relatively minor player in the game world anyway, is what is causing the current delays.
While I agree that they should limit the placement of towers until a greater percentage of players have registered, I do not think they should offer the download option. By doing so, they will forever bar themselves from the traditional retail chain and give up any hope of attracting any significant new player base. Hopefully, if Funcom follows the rules of the retail world this time around, we will all have a much easier time finding Shadowlands when/if it is released.