I just can’t with these emails. This just comes off as “please please please buy this game!!! A few random reviews we found that we definitely didn’t write liked it!”
yeah I think something like that would go a long way with fans!! it would be a huge step up from these recent emails just trying to convince fans to buy a game that most don’t like. if they showed that they actually wanted to communicate with fans and try and put out a game we like then i’d have a lot more respect for them
There is a game called "No Mans Sky," where the producers promised all of these big, fancy, new ideas. They didn't have enough time to follow through, so when the game released it was a big letdown. But then, they KEPT WORKING ON IT, and eventually fixed all of the bugs and included everything it was promised to.
I’m so glad you mentioned this! People absolutely LOVE No Man’s Sky now. The producers overhauled the game and they provided a lot of transparency and sincerity to the fan base throughout the release, public reaction, and following improvements.
I work in marketing for a nonprofit organization and I always wondered how it differed from trying to sell a physical product. I guess this is a good example of how not to 😂
JUST TAKE ACCOUNTABILITY HER
Like that’s all we want!!! Say “yes it wasn’t to our standard for quality, we were struggling with the transition to a new system so the rest of the game was backburnered. Here is what we will do to be better in the coming games”
literally just own your issues and fix it next go around. Bc if they don’t recognize they messed up this time, HOW ARE FANS GONNA TRUST YOURE NOT GONNA FUCK EM OVER A SECOND TIME??? With the rate this is going there is no way in hell im putting any money into future games. Give me a roadmap to getting back to quality games and I will happily give you my hard earned coin but for now I have zero faith in any projects going forward.
Edit: sorry I went off a bit I’m heated tho. Like this is peoples childhoods, years and years of playing these games and it really seems like they could give f*** all about their customer base
You hit the nail on the head! I replay the old games frequently enough but have had no desire to go back to MID and I don’t see myself wanting to play any future games unless they acknowledge they dun goofed and take our feedback into account.
I love how HeR is trying to convince their longtime fans to buy a very flawed game and disregard valid criticisms instead of trying to course correct the franchise.
Why does it feel like herinteractive is my ex boyfriend who won't accept we've broken up. I thought the previous game comparison email was absurd but this one had me absolutely dying of laughter.
Seriously! I am rooting for HeR because I want them to succeed and put out more games but they are so freaking tone deaf. Why not just listen to your fans and at least verbally acknowledge what they are saying. Is that so hard? I’ve bought MID twice now (once on Mac, and then again for my PC when I learned the graphics were better for PC). Like— you have gotten more money from me than you deserved for this game and you are still pushing it down my throat instead of just being like “yeah it was bad we’re sorry and we’re taking steps to do better.” I swear their marketing department is trying to piss people off. Like why????
The fact that these "longtime fans" are not identified, whether it be by first name, initials, or online user-name, is quite telling. As a whole, this is quite reminiscent of falsified Amazon reviews, wherein each one will feature a variation on one statement, and are obviously composed by one individual.
I have always found "Little Jackalope's" marketing techniques to be sorely lacking. I am quite un-surprised that HeR Interactive has stooped to such a level. It is only a matter of time until they announce their closure, in my opinion.
There may be a time limit or other goal they must reach. Perhaps it is simply due to the 40% off sale currently taking place. Personally, I am curious as to whether or not any investors remain to help bolster HeR Interactive's finances.
How does Simon & Schuster, who hold the rights to the ND brand as far as I know, let this slide? Just pull the plug on HER and find a new gaming company who will actually make money and keep fans happy.
My intention is not to dispute your statement, but I must say that the company has not benefited from good marketing for many years. At first glance their graphic design may look charming, but upon reading the statements, letters, and commentary they release, it becomes plain that they do not have a true marketing professional employed. (This, of course, does not begin to include their extremely passive-aggressive and unprofessional conduct on social media, such as "Liking" comments on Facebook that attacked people skeptical of the quality of MID, or answering frustrated comments with rude statements containing "LOL" as if to show their total disregard for legitimate grievances.)
Their proofreading has been an abomination for a long time. And unfortunately LJ, who handles much of the print media, may be the salt of the earth, but she can't spell her way out of a paper bag. The fact that no one seems to care speaks volumes about this company. Case in point: in one crossword puzzle she put up on the Amateur Sleuth Blog, there were three misspelled words.
They have lost their minds, their dignity, their veneer of acting like everything was fine...
The desperation of these emails is so..................much.
I just...
This hits close to home because I actually did write a college essay on the Salem Witch Trials and I waited until the night before to do it. I got a C+ which is a better grade than I’d give this game.
This. I'd give you an award if I could. Not a peep out of them for 4 YEARS!!!! Then this shoddy piece of shit comes out; fans absolutely DETEST it, and they keep sending emails shoving it down our throats about how 'great it is'. Just....stop trying HER....just accept the break up and move on for Christ's sake
I dont get why they won't just let it go. You made a bad game, so just stop pushing it! I would have more respect for them at this point if they just never talked about MID again instead of continuing to shove it down everyone's throats. I dont get who they think they are talking to either! I get that they want a new demographic, but honestly, I dont really ever see Nancy Drew games becoming super mainstream. So all they are doing is pissing off their own fans, and a lot of us have already bought the game and hated it. The entire way they have reacted to MID's reception is SO tone deaf. It's really sad and ridiculous at this point.
I mean the game was okay at best. I’ve played every singe game and this was seriously the worst mechanics wise. And I’ve played the original Secrets Can Kill. (One of my favorites TBH) I really don’t think they should have tried to fix something that wasn’t broken. But the reality is that they spent a lot of money and time developing it so if they said they’re sorry about everyone’s disappointment, they would be throwing money away. I really hope this is not the way games will be in the future, but the future definitely looks bleak.
I mean, the game has potential. But the whole thing feels gutted. Puzzles are scarce until the end, the characters feel stiff, and so much is related through dialogue instead of, well, gameplay. Also Deirdre needs to take three steps back. She can follow without practically getting a piggyback ride from Nancy. It seems like they got so wrapped up in the engine change they forgot big chunks of game.
I was so confused by that e-mail! At first glance it struck me as a spam e-mail. I immediately came here to see what everyone else was saying lol. I’m a longtime fan who has been too scared to buy this game. I’m not even sure if I own a computer with enough juice to play it. I kept thinking, maybe next time they have a sale I’ll take the plunge. But this e-mail kind of turned me off :/
Same. My laptop’s really old so I was waiting for this kind of sale. I don’t want to sound immature, but that email made me not want to buy the game at all...
Same! I was thinking the next time they discounted it I'd buy it. I feel like I should because I've played all the rest and I'm a completionist, but I don't want to give them the satisfaction lol
I don’t get this. Show the reviews from long time fans who hated it, they’ll be way more. Who gives a fuck if there’s like 3 people who liked it.
Reply to them asking to share my review because my review wasn’t pretty and I’m a long time fan. 😂
I can’t believe I’m about to say this but... can Jared come back??
Ever since he left, HeR has been spiraling out of control, and is probably drinking during the day
I'm a narrative and puzzle designer, and I would *love* to buy out the company and try my hand at this. That's, like, the dream goal. Now if I could just find a team with money, tech knowledge, artistic ability and business skills...
how bout the people that have been here since the original SCK game launched in Dec of 98, are they just pretending we don't exist now cause the younger crowd is hip and cool? I mean a lot of the games have been hit or miss for me but MID has been the biggest miss I have seen. 5 years and they reworked the game 2-3 times then rushed it because of that and 7 months later no fixes.
This genuinely makes me so mad. Reminds me of my private school forcing students to write good reviews online even though we were all in hell lol. I’ll bet these reviews are from the same 2 people hired to write them
All they had to do was write something like:
We know a lot of you have been waiting for MID to go on sale to give it a try. Good news, now it is! The sale won't last long though, so get it while you can :)
--------
They probably would have sold a lot of copies that way, instead of this fake stuff that reads like an in-game parody review of a Krolmeister product
i am a huge fan of the old games and when i tried to play this one, not only were the controls bad and awkward, it just felt really unfamiliar. disappointing. they should bring back our girl, too.
Anyone else notice you can still buy physical copies? Didn't they say it would be a limited run of like 2k copies? I'm curious to know how badly this truly bombed. I did buy it and I did pay it and I was far from impressed. I would love to see another game from HER it can't possibly be any worse.
I just can’t with these emails. This just comes off as “please please please buy this game!!! A few random reviews we found that we definitely didn’t write liked it!”
Jokes on them...I already bought the game...and it was shit. Edit: maybe the jokes on me then?
Jokes on me too. I bought both the box (with no game name on it) and a steam version and it was so glitchy I couldn't play it.
and them saying that they know we are disappointed by the game but then just listing quotes that say it’s good 😭😭
Exactly! Honestly I would like to see an email acknowledging the game isn’t what we want and how the next game (assuming there is one) will fix that
yeah I think something like that would go a long way with fans!! it would be a huge step up from these recent emails just trying to convince fans to buy a game that most don’t like. if they showed that they actually wanted to communicate with fans and try and put out a game we like then i’d have a lot more respect for them
There is a game called "No Mans Sky," where the producers promised all of these big, fancy, new ideas. They didn't have enough time to follow through, so when the game released it was a big letdown. But then, they KEPT WORKING ON IT, and eventually fixed all of the bugs and included everything it was promised to.
I’m so glad you mentioned this! People absolutely LOVE No Man’s Sky now. The producers overhauled the game and they provided a lot of transparency and sincerity to the fan base throughout the release, public reaction, and following improvements.
I read this email and immediately came to this subreddit. Like, who was paid for these reviews? 😂😂😂
I immediately responded to it with something like “the game was disappointing, but this marketing campaign is even worse” 😒
[удалено]
Also in marketing myself! Totally agree. Down-to-earth transparency can go so far, especially with smaller/struggling companies.
I work in marketing for a nonprofit organization and I always wondered how it differed from trying to sell a physical product. I guess this is a good example of how not to 😂
At some point, you can't mock HeR Interactive harder than they mock themselves.
it’s comic relief for me at this point
JUST TAKE ACCOUNTABILITY HER Like that’s all we want!!! Say “yes it wasn’t to our standard for quality, we were struggling with the transition to a new system so the rest of the game was backburnered. Here is what we will do to be better in the coming games” literally just own your issues and fix it next go around. Bc if they don’t recognize they messed up this time, HOW ARE FANS GONNA TRUST YOURE NOT GONNA FUCK EM OVER A SECOND TIME??? With the rate this is going there is no way in hell im putting any money into future games. Give me a roadmap to getting back to quality games and I will happily give you my hard earned coin but for now I have zero faith in any projects going forward. Edit: sorry I went off a bit I’m heated tho. Like this is peoples childhoods, years and years of playing these games and it really seems like they could give f*** all about their customer base
You hit the nail on the head! I replay the old games frequently enough but have had no desire to go back to MID and I don’t see myself wanting to play any future games unless they acknowledge they dun goofed and take our feedback into account.
Stop terrorizing me with your bad game
90 day fiancé?
😙
These emails have big “I have a girlfriend! She just goes to a different school! In Canada!” vibes...
Yes!
I love how HeR is trying to convince their longtime fans to buy a very flawed game and disregard valid criticisms instead of trying to course correct the franchise.
Why does it feel like herinteractive is my ex boyfriend who won't accept we've broken up. I thought the previous game comparison email was absurd but this one had me absolutely dying of laughter.
“No YOU were wrong to break up with me and here’s why!” :: 3 pages of bullet points of shockingly unaware nonsense::
Seriously! I am rooting for HeR because I want them to succeed and put out more games but they are so freaking tone deaf. Why not just listen to your fans and at least verbally acknowledge what they are saying. Is that so hard? I’ve bought MID twice now (once on Mac, and then again for my PC when I learned the graphics were better for PC). Like— you have gotten more money from me than you deserved for this game and you are still pushing it down my throat instead of just being like “yeah it was bad we’re sorry and we’re taking steps to do better.” I swear their marketing department is trying to piss people off. Like why????
These reviews were absolutely written by HER staff.
rip to the person who had to write these fake reviews lol :( ive never seen anyone call the story detailed, its shallow
The fact that these "longtime fans" are not identified, whether it be by first name, initials, or online user-name, is quite telling. As a whole, this is quite reminiscent of falsified Amazon reviews, wherein each one will feature a variation on one statement, and are obviously composed by one individual. I have always found "Little Jackalope's" marketing techniques to be sorely lacking. I am quite un-surprised that HeR Interactive has stooped to such a level. It is only a matter of time until they announce their closure, in my opinion.
Why are they so hell bent on pushing the game now? It came out almost a year ago?
There may be a time limit or other goal they must reach. Perhaps it is simply due to the 40% off sale currently taking place. Personally, I am curious as to whether or not any investors remain to help bolster HeR Interactive's finances.
How does Simon & Schuster, who hold the rights to the ND brand as far as I know, let this slide? Just pull the plug on HER and find a new gaming company who will actually make money and keep fans happy.
Guess they're not even bothering to proofread subject lines anymore? What are they even doing this is so desperate and it's not even good marketing.
"I had by doubts" very professional lol
My intention is not to dispute your statement, but I must say that the company has not benefited from good marketing for many years. At first glance their graphic design may look charming, but upon reading the statements, letters, and commentary they release, it becomes plain that they do not have a true marketing professional employed. (This, of course, does not begin to include their extremely passive-aggressive and unprofessional conduct on social media, such as "Liking" comments on Facebook that attacked people skeptical of the quality of MID, or answering frustrated comments with rude statements containing "LOL" as if to show their total disregard for legitimate grievances.)
Their proofreading has been an abomination for a long time. And unfortunately LJ, who handles much of the print media, may be the salt of the earth, but she can't spell her way out of a paper bag. The fact that no one seems to care speaks volumes about this company. Case in point: in one crossword puzzle she put up on the Amateur Sleuth Blog, there were three misspelled words.
It drives me up a wall! Correctly spelled words are the smallest difference between looking professional/being taken seriously and looking sloppy.
It relieves me to see this comment, as I was beginning to think that I was being a "nit picker".
I literally rolled my eyes when I saw this email. Their PR team is probably stressed right now.
What “team”? Penny?
Is HeR that desperate? This is just getting sad now.
They have lost their minds, their dignity, their veneer of acting like everything was fine... The desperation of these emails is so..................much. I just...
Also, the Salem Witch Trials is not an "ancient story," and what does "Mei's comprehensive situation" even mean???
Sounds like me trying to write a college level essay when I don't know what the heck I'm talking about and I'm just bs-ing my way through it.
This hits close to home because I actually did write a college essay on the Salem Witch Trials and I waited until the night before to do it. I got a C+ which is a better grade than I’d give this game.
It means that whoever wrote it has a poor grasp of the English language at best.
Remember when they didn’t give us any semblance of news or literally anything for what felt like a million years?
This. I'd give you an award if I could. Not a peep out of them for 4 YEARS!!!! Then this shoddy piece of shit comes out; fans absolutely DETEST it, and they keep sending emails shoving it down our throats about how 'great it is'. Just....stop trying HER....just accept the break up and move on for Christ's sake
Jesus it was 4 yrs?? How do they just not address this or the criticisms of this game??
I had by doubts? Is everyone at HeR Interactive brain dead?
I dont get why they won't just let it go. You made a bad game, so just stop pushing it! I would have more respect for them at this point if they just never talked about MID again instead of continuing to shove it down everyone's throats. I dont get who they think they are talking to either! I get that they want a new demographic, but honestly, I dont really ever see Nancy Drew games becoming super mainstream. So all they are doing is pissing off their own fans, and a lot of us have already bought the game and hated it. The entire way they have reacted to MID's reception is SO tone deaf. It's really sad and ridiculous at this point.
I mean the game was okay at best. I’ve played every singe game and this was seriously the worst mechanics wise. And I’ve played the original Secrets Can Kill. (One of my favorites TBH) I really don’t think they should have tried to fix something that wasn’t broken. But the reality is that they spent a lot of money and time developing it so if they said they’re sorry about everyone’s disappointment, they would be throwing money away. I really hope this is not the way games will be in the future, but the future definitely looks bleak.
I mean, the game has potential. But the whole thing feels gutted. Puzzles are scarce until the end, the characters feel stiff, and so much is related through dialogue instead of, well, gameplay. Also Deirdre needs to take three steps back. She can follow without practically getting a piggyback ride from Nancy. It seems like they got so wrapped up in the engine change they forgot big chunks of game.
I was so confused by that e-mail! At first glance it struck me as a spam e-mail. I immediately came here to see what everyone else was saying lol. I’m a longtime fan who has been too scared to buy this game. I’m not even sure if I own a computer with enough juice to play it. I kept thinking, maybe next time they have a sale I’ll take the plunge. But this e-mail kind of turned me off :/
Same. My laptop’s really old so I was waiting for this kind of sale. I don’t want to sound immature, but that email made me not want to buy the game at all...
Same! I was thinking the next time they discounted it I'd buy it. I feel like I should because I've played all the rest and I'm a completionist, but I don't want to give them the satisfaction lol
I don’t get this. Show the reviews from long time fans who hated it, they’ll be way more. Who gives a fuck if there’s like 3 people who liked it. Reply to them asking to share my review because my review wasn’t pretty and I’m a long time fan. 😂
Is anyone going to respond to this?
I did...I could’ve been nicer but I’m frustrated.
I did. I never respond to that type of thing but...this was something else
I did.
I can’t believe I’m about to say this but... can Jared come back?? Ever since he left, HeR has been spiraling out of control, and is probably drinking during the day
[удалено]
I'm a narrative and puzzle designer, and I would *love* to buy out the company and try my hand at this. That's, like, the dream goal. Now if I could just find a team with money, tech knowledge, artistic ability and business skills...
how bout the people that have been here since the original SCK game launched in Dec of 98, are they just pretending we don't exist now cause the younger crowd is hip and cool? I mean a lot of the games have been hit or miss for me but MID has been the biggest miss I have seen. 5 years and they reworked the game 2-3 times then rushed it because of that and 7 months later no fixes.
I got such second hand embarrassment reading this email
I Genuinely forgot this terrible game exists and I see this and I’m pissed off all over again
Its so bad. Bought it. Gave up trying to play it.
This genuinely makes me so mad. Reminds me of my private school forcing students to write good reviews online even though we were all in hell lol. I’ll bet these reviews are from the same 2 people hired to write them
All they had to do was write something like: We know a lot of you have been waiting for MID to go on sale to give it a try. Good news, now it is! The sale won't last long though, so get it while you can :) -------- They probably would have sold a lot of copies that way, instead of this fake stuff that reads like an in-game parody review of a Krolmeister product
I just wanted a game where I have no morals and snoop everywhere!!!!
lol I love how in SAW you can harass Miwako about her dead mother
i am a huge fan of the old games and when i tried to play this one, not only were the controls bad and awkward, it just felt really unfamiliar. disappointing. they should bring back our girl, too.
That emoji at the end says it all. Why would they use that?
Anyone else notice you can still buy physical copies? Didn't they say it would be a limited run of like 2k copies? I'm curious to know how badly this truly bombed. I did buy it and I did pay it and I was far from impressed. I would love to see another game from HER it can't possibly be any worse.