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**VUSO 2018 and Announcement**

• fatdan 3,379 Posts

  Mon, Mar 5 2018 11:18 AM

  kavvz:

  They already have told us something about what the future holds.  i.e.  Full Bandon in 2020 and a US Amateur virtual Championship.  

  Cost of producing a course most likely does play into this...

  I don't recall exactly what MRWGT said years ago, but it was implied that Brandon was changing some holes to play on other tracks, and building new holes or something along those lines, however most, or all of the holes they needed had already been photographed 4-5 years ago...

  So a Brandon course would already be a done deal if anything, 2020 is late as usual LOL

  But it would still be something new, and anything is better than CB and Erin!

   

• alanti 10,564 Posts

  Mon, Mar 5 2018 12:29 PM

  kavvz:

  2 players?  C'mon you must realize how silly that sounds.

  Actually, you were the one saying glitches as a reason for leaving was suspect to say the least. All I did was say I personally knew of 2 players who left for that exact reason. I have PM's from them stating exactly that.

  It seems you are simply argumentative and unless you see proof and you dispel every argument.

  WGT, as probably the least transparent company I know of, will never give us proof, yet they have been happy to promote suspect numbers in the past.. They will not offer info on the declining state of the game.

  Sure they are my opinions.....that is all any player can do, express their view. From there, others can make an informed (as much as possible based on different viewpoints) and come to a conclusion. I respect you have a different take.

  But some of us have been around for a lot longer than you, and have experienced the highs and lows.....and have experienced the good and the bad. Sure it is hard to quantify via statistics, and WGT sure will not validate a falling customer base.

  For a long time, they have refused to listen, or even acknowledge players - the clash is an example of this - players wanted it to be based on skill.....but that model financially does not work, so it is volume metric based.

  One thing I will agree with, is yes it is theoretically possible to play the game post flash.....for a time.

  But tying in with that, as in the past, the players have always needed to jump through hoops to play with a smooth meter, to avoid crashes, to bypass glitches.....and we wonder why players simply give up?

• kavvz 2,195 Posts

  Mon, Mar 5 2018 3:11 PM

  @Dan - agreed something new would definitely be welcome.  

  There are 6 full courses at Bandon and it definitely looks to me that the Par 3 Bandon course we can play on here is made up of par 3 holes from all of the courses there.   6 x 3 = 18.

  https://www.bandondunesgolf.com/golf/golf-courses

  If they are doing the entire Bandon Dunes that's 14 holes they'd have to do unless as you say they've already done them.  I really don't know either way just speculating there.  One would wonder if they have had the full course already what's taking them so long?  Could be they were waiting on info. about Shinnecock / Winged etc. before acting on it who knows.

  I was curious about something so off I went lookin'

  https://newzoo.com/insights/articles/the-global-games-market-will-reach-108-9-billion-in-2017-with-mobile-taking-42/

  Is there any wonder why they're focusing on mobile, what business wouldn't when you look at those numbers.

  It's a sad day for browser based PC games that's for sure, and honestly I don't blame them.  

  What they should look at doing is try to capture that 20% of boxed PC games and package up WGT onto Steam and have us download it / play it that way.  Keep the back end / tourney's the same and sell it as a standalone install.  I'd buy it for sure.

   

   

• SPINO1 5,394 Posts

  Mon, Mar 5 2018 3:28 PM

  May be me being optimistic, but maybe someone may buy the rights back from TG once they have properly Fooked it off the shelf completely ?

• AlaskanDame 18,973 Posts

  Mon, Mar 5 2018 3:29 PM

  fatdan:

  Cost of producing a course most likely does play into this...

  Well, they've already "produced" Cabo and Whistler.  I wish they'd pay the licensing fee  ---- it's got to be smaller than photographing somewhere else ---- and give us at least one of those for full use/free.

  Barring that, could they at least pay what it takes to let us play ALT on Cabo and/or Whistler?  Even with a per person fee, I'd do that.  Stroke is just such a lo-o-ng game, and the chat with 3 friends is much more interesting.

• Jimbog1964 8,378 Posts

  Mon, Mar 5 2018 6:03 PM

  kavvz:

  Is there any wonder why they're focusing on mobile, what business wouldn't when you look at those numbers.

  It's a sad day for browser based PC games that's for sure, and honestly I don't blame them

  Market trends certainly play a part.  I don't blame them either. 

   

  IMO they missed a few tricks PC wise in dumbing down tiers to badge chasing, marketing as an old style western corp and even then very US-centric free credit potential wise and so on, but maybe the tide was too strong anyway?  No one else has really made the impact this game did either.

  We can speculate all day but we know TG will have investors with a plan.  We also know 18 holes of real golf simulation is not their plan.

  Mobile wise the issue for the WGT arm is how well they can compete in the app store.  They presumably have kids with these ideas for what might compete with emjois and snapchat .........................My demographic has zero interest in either.  My daughter OTOH is constantly on her phone and very much uses snapchat.  WGTs issue is that she has no more interest in golf even if she can win coins or apparel.

  The PC version (if you go by spend) has been in decline for a good while.  The mobile arm is a lesser beast to maintain once up and running, but is trailing Snapchat with 0.6 of Snapchats downloads.  Versus other app games it's blazing no trails that I see.......There will be a space for it as an app but I can't see a large one as I can't think of a clear direction for it.  Maybe in a few years when "dex" is usual (if that ever happens) and they lose the gimmicks / bring back some of what was best about this side????

  A few holes from a par 3 course, in two years, whether already photographed (likely) or the GPS drone buzzing it now, lol, is not investing much.

• pearljammmmer 4,268 Posts

  Wed, Mar 7 2018 5:10 AM

  WGTChampion:

  Hey everyone! This year is our 10th year hosting the Virtual US Open on WGT. We're celebrating this milestone with a special course for this year's VUSO. 

  Starting in March (aka later this week) you can enter to play on a special course made up of our favorite holes from previous VUSO courses including Bethpage Black, Pebble Beach, and Oakmont. 

  _CHAMPION

  
  
  Bad enough to call this a "special course" once, much less twice. What a joke..

   

• Mcduff61 1,753 Posts

  Fri, Mar 9 2018 6:50 AM

   They (WGT) used to say that flying a helicopter all over the course and taking so many photographs was too expensive and that is why there are so few new courses. I got to think with drones and some of the new technology available for those type of efforts,WGt could at least use those advancements to cheapen their ability to upgrade the courses, adding a few courses that arent Shineckock or Augusta or some course that wants a ton of money to be included in the WGT game. There are hundreds of courses all over the world that would probably appreciate WGT coming along and doing what they do and then having the course available to play on WGT. Take the top 500 courses worldwide and any of those might be fun to play on WGT with a few exceptions.//// The reason I came to this thread in the first place was to try and find out if there was a back door to the new WGT created course for the 2018 VUSO..?? Did they have to pay themselves 400 credits to put together this course??

• Williams01210021 1,231 Posts

  Fri, Mar 9 2018 11:04 AM

  Drones would surely be cheaper, The main thing i think is the courses they want to get are silly priced members only courses which will charge top money. They could go to plenty of normal courses that would not charge and probabley even help  as it would promote their club.

  Yes they have to be a certain length and have so many tee boxes but cant be to hard to find. For me they need to venture out and go to some other countries. Places in Asia would be alot cheaper. Yes you have travel cost's but they would make that back just by tapping into the asian market. For a global game to not have any courses from there and other places like Australia or south africa. 

  As for marketing.... well it sucks. Even the top golf venues in the uk dont promote this game. Also i have seen adverts for the other silly golf clash game on here while watching the videos! madness. 

  Have they not thought about having a company sponsor a new course??? surely they could get someone like Hsbc to sponsor a course and have it as a feature tournament on their wgt tour. They pay for the course or at least part fund it. They get free advertising within the game and we get a new course. Everyone is happy. 

• YankeeJim 25,827 Posts

  Fri, Mar 9 2018 11:37 AM

  Mcduff61:

  I got to think with drones and some of the new technology available for those type of efforts,WGt could at least use those advancements to cheapen their ability to upgrade the courses

  They wouldn't even have to leave SF. Google Earth and a squadron of drones.  :-)