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A Sad State of Affairs--Publishers Do Not Believe
We Exist!
By Mr. Bill
June 29, 1999
This article originally appeared on Mr. Bill's web page and is used with permission.
We have just learned that Hasbro Interactive has decided not to release
Simon the Sorcerer 3D in the United States because they do not
believe there are enough of us adventure gamers in this country
to make it worth their while. We hate to bring more bad news your way,
but Discworld Noir from Perfect Entertainment and published by
GT Interactive will probably not get released in the United States either
(probably for the same reason). The decision has not been finalized yet,
but it does not sound promising. As I was told by a GT Interactive executive
a few days ago, this country only has 17- to 28-year-old action/arcade
gamers that spend money on games. Hasbro apparently believes this also.
Who is going to be interested in this country in buying an adventure game
with British humor? If this is as upsetting to you as it is to us, then
write to the following three to five individuals, using the email addresses
given below, about how you feel. Don't tell them we told you to write
them. Only write to them if this is also a disappointment to you and tell
them, in your own words, how you feel.
Hasbro Interactive
Steve Arthur, Product Marketing
Manager
John Sutyak, Product Purchasing
Manager
GT Interactive Entertainment
United States
Dan Harnett, Director of
Communications
United Kingdom
Matt Broughton, PR Manager - UK & Export Division
* Care of: Simon Maflin
* Care of: Lee Kirton
* If you write to Matt Broughton's email address you will receive an
automated email back saying that he is off-line and that he can be reached
at the other two gentlemen's email addresses. Thus, I'm saving you the
hassle of getting the same automated message.
Our letters to Matt Broughton, PR Manager - UK & Export Division,
and his reply to our first letter are found below.
Letter we sent to Matt Broughton on June 24, 1999
Dear Matt,
We have for a couple of months been trying to get information from
GT Interactive about "Noir" from Perfect Entertainment and
another game called "Jack Orlando" from Topware. We finally
reached a Mr. Dan Harnett, Communications Dept. at GT Interactive here
in the United States by phone . He gave us your email address as the
person to contact about "Noir", but hopefully you know something
about "Jack Orlando" as well.
Dan Harnett told me that he believes that "Noir" is not to
be released here in the United States at the present time. If true,
this is very sad news for so many of us here. Since we could never get
any information on this game from GT Interactive we have had to write
our Preview of "Noir" based mostly on Chris McMullen's Discworld
Website. Our present preview can be found at http://userdata.acd.net/mrbill/newgames.htm. We have a large
following of readers that have loved the two previous Discworld games
and enjoy private eye mysteries and they want to know when it will be
released here in the United States. I hope I don't have to give them
bad news.
Letter received back from Matt Broughton June 28, 1999
Bill,
Thanks very much for your email. As it stands, GT still doesn't appear
to have made a decision about the release of DISCWORLD NOIR in the US.
Regards,
Matt Broughton
PR Manager - UK & Export Division
GT Interactive Software
Letter we sent to Matt Broughton June 28, 1999
Thank you Matt for you reply.
Be aware that there is a VERY large Discworld following here in the
United States and a very large number of folks searching for mysteries,
private eye type stories. "Noir" would be perfect for this
U.S. audience. These are not the so called blood-thirsty young people
between the ages of 17 and 28, but the older folks--40s, 50s, 60s (I'm
62) and yes even 70s. This is the fastest growing segment of our population
that is buying computers, getting on-line, and playing adventure games
like "Noir". And they have both the money and the leisure
to buy and play games like "Noir". So please try to influence
GT to release "Noir" here in the United States. We will do
all we can to help. Just tell us what you would like us to do!
We have had a preview placed on our site for several months and have
greatly anticipated its release here in the United States. Many people
keep asking us when it will be available. You can read our preview at
http://userdata.acd.net/mrbill/newgames.htm.
Thank you for your time. We are anxiously awaiting hearing from you
about what we can do to help. We want "Noir" to be a huge
success as much as you do.
Respectfully
Bill and Lela Horton
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