In their newly released review of Warhammer: Mark of Chaos' expansion, Battle March, Gamesradar have trashed the pitiful advertising put into both the expansion and original. The review continues to rubbish the decision to make gamers buy the original to play the expansion. Has there ever been a more vicious attack on a companies marketing ability?

Here’s a scenario for you: you’re about to publish a well-designed, if somewhat glitched RTS set in one of the most successful fantasy universes of all time. You feel pleased with yourself. You’re happy. Maybe you even smile. Now, for some reason you decide not to bother marketing your game much. After all, who needs exposure? You release the game. It scores moderately well, sells a few copies, and then disappears. You’re no longer pleased with yourself. You’re unhappy. Maybe you cry.

Fifteen months later, the game’s first expansion pack arrives. To your surprise, it’s actually half-decent. You now have a choice. Make the expansion available only to the handful of people who bought the original (or the palm-full willing to buy the original), or bundle it together with the main game and release it as a standalone package for less than full price, market it properly and hope you sell more copies the second time around. What’s it gonna be? Well, if you’re Deep Silver and your expansion pack is Warhammer: Mark of Chaos - Battle March, you go for option one. Why? Beats us, but it’s probably something to do with squiggly lines on charts, profit yields and long sentences containing words like ‘fiscal’. Maybe.

Euphoric via gamesradar.com »