They should've created an open alpha, disregarding the problems, that's the biggest hype creator possible within this niche game.
Trying to make Relic understand decent marketing is very, very, very hard and it's bloody frustrating to see how they "handle" it.
NDA must be enforced, but keeping it right untill the day your product launches is quite absurd. 'Course they will say that the salesnumbers are "highly satisfying", keep in mind that COH2.ORG represents a relative small part of the player base. The loyal players who keep supporting their product,not the dudes who buy it, play 3 skirmishes and hop over to another game, only to play COH2 once every few weeks.
Still, its sucks, it's sad, I know they think to know what they are doing, but I'm appaled by the business/marketing strategy Relic is following.
You guys, stay on topic please or this thread gets locked.
Hands on the WFA, assumptions, speculations and a healthy rant about the NDA, don't get sidetracked over war crimes and what not.
Relic has a brand manager, who works closely with their "community manager". Greg Wilson and Relic's brand manager seem to got their heads in the right direction. I think Sega has a bigger influence on the duration of the NDA then we all suspect.