BABW report

Read some of report BABW has out this month. Not telling much, but has minions (from new movie) and a newer store design.

Not likely to make the trip, but still want information.
from 2015 ICR XChange Conference pdf on event website
 





the instore experience was not enough for us, not even close, twas only because of bearville.com even for those that did not play. They still wanted to share animals online and such.

not happy:

I'm not excited at all instead I'm real sad and angry... With those money they earn from over priced, not good material animals they sell, they can work on making BEARVILLE a better place with updates and more events. I wish they could work on getting BEARVILLE to be more active again by advertising it and doing something like a event. I believe that BEARVILLE can be revived back if they do their best by getting some staff and stuff!!!! They can def get more money by BEARVILLE, if that's what they're looking for.

Maybe I'm over my head, but honestly, I believe they are not doing a good job keeping the business. They should hire developers for the game and get back to advertising like Foodie suggested. I don't care about all these extra solutions they have.

Bearville Alive is cute and all, but it really shows where this company is going to go in the next few years.

The new store design is cute but I don't see it myself as a very wise business decision, this will cost a lot of money to renovate every single store in every country: which might be a reason why they can't afford staff to monitor BV anymore. It would be much more beneficial if it was spent on something else xD

ikr

The malls around here are not seeming to do well.
One of the former biggest in the world is being torn down.
found an online example I liked better than the bv one I had been using for years, and it is from their site!!




Online is the long term - brick and mortar stores? really?
and to insult their online user base as children, not the method I would choose...

I don't like this new change at all. It takes a lot of money to renovate a building and it takes out a lot of time to actually do something that could be more beneficial. Instead of doing this, they should have gotten more staff so they could help to update bv some more.

terrible :/ the bears are already way overpriced, especially in Canada where everything is like 2 dollars more + tax, your $30 zecora bear in US is almost $40 in Canada (with the tax) and now this!? I loved the part where we could kiss the heart and they put it in our bear, it officially made it a part of you, it made the bears yours. now everything is all digital and virtual smh.. I'm officially depressed :/

WHAT ARE THEY THINKING??????? What are they thinking putting up a new BABW store design?!!!???!!! Pony and me already like the old one better. The new one looks weird and boyish a little!!!!! I am really mad now!!!! Thanks goCards for the news and update.


I don't get why they are doing this? To get money by the new look??

*cracks knuckles* Alright guys let's get real.

Don't get me wrong, I hate Bearville is closing as much as anyone. I've been a citizen since 2008 and am reluctant to see it go. But let's look at this from a business standpoint.

BABW isn't doing so well. That much is obvious. Sales are down. It's been about 18 years since the first stores opened, and since then not much has changed. What do businesses do when they aren't being profitable?

They adapt. 

Their main demographic, for the most part, is children under 12. Now I see where they're going to try to market more toward the older age category, but 80% of their customers are younger children (well, parents of younger children). Kids get bored easily. They like bright colors and stimulation. If they see the new design, they're going to want to check out the whole store. Cost-wise, if the company's financial team concludes that the design changes will be worth the cost to renovate, they're going to do it. Also, there's nothing in the report to suggest anything about the bear building process, including the heart ceremony, is going to change.

Bearville, even before it became ill-maintained, wasn't a good source of profit. We may be the exception, but most kids don't buy a bear just to get a new PSI and condo room online. Lots of the game's features could be accessed without a virtual furry friend, so motivation to buy a bear just for the game isn't high. I hardly recall seeing much advertising for the site outside of the stores (tv commercials, etc). VIB memberships and credit codes weren't bringing in enough to offset the massive costs involved with creating such a site. It's impressively complex, and of course that needs money; money they've been losing since 2008. Basically, they need to redirect attention away from the pixelated bears and emphasize the physical, profitable, fur-and-stitches bears.

tl;dr: It stinks. Really. But businesses are profit-centered, and if Bearville isn't making enough money to maintain it, it makes sense that they would close it.

:/ Wow can't believe it's closing. I guess it got a little boring so I'm happy to see them working on the workshop now, but I played since December 23, 2007 and I have to say I'm going to miss it!
Hope I'll see you guys on some other games

interesting theories...
I had put link to report in first post. On it says profits are up, way up.
with bearville.com, as is, today.
Can they be profitable and keep bearville.com? definitely.
Do they have to? BV is the only reason we did parties there, checked for updates, bought for others from BABW.


sales are up, not down. the economy had way more to do with sales than marketing or product.
My theory is chloeRocks was the former marketing person's avatar, who worked closely with IT department head (also left company).
Can company profit and have bearville-they have and are.

Does company want your gaming business? look at each app game they have developed. drop support after first month, no probably not. for both bear valley and Santa's Merry mission.
I wasn't around apple for their app.

profits - yes, gamers, no. from a business standpoint profit and bearville are being done.


Kid friendly virtual world is what our family was sold on. Others were pushing webkins.
Now that there is no online game benefit, our business will go elsewhere. May wait for dr. whooves.
will miss much about bv, buildabear.com/play has been online the entire time and is not improved  by bv alive. pushing young ones to u-tube is not kid friendly.
BABW may profit, but we experience great loss.

I think they're moving too fast, but then again, what major changes have they've made ever since the franchise started?