Quote - DAZ has a deserving reputation of releasing good figures (as it is generally true concerning the history of the Victoria line) and supporting them, with merchants on board on site that are willing to do the same.  They are willing to do buyouts put those products under the originals banner, which even if its made by someone esle, shows direct support by the company.  They have a mix of low and high price items to support the figure.  The base figure, itself, is free, so there's no risk to check it out.

Merchants at other sites know DAZ reputation and make items also, knowing that they are going to have a better than average shot at doing well.

It all builds speed from there.  Galleries, Freebies, products from all over.

I don't really think it has to do with piles of freebies over an extended period, but I respect your opinion.  I think it more has to do with offering a free or low-cost version of the base figure, which makes the figure accessible and risk-light to check out - I think that's a primary step.  Then it has to do with offering features, from the start, that are competitive to other figures on the market.  Have the morph packs ready to go, the catsuit, a basic wardrobe and so on (they don't have to be free).  You don't have to have every single miniscule thing in there but enough that it shows what direction you are going in.  Then you have to support your own figure with addons and packs, even if they are buyouts or sourced to developers to take care of.  Water the seed, nuture it, take care of the plant that sprouts forth.

Hope this thread doesn't spiral out and stays calm. :)

Actually, vilters may have a point about the freebies. I recall that when DAZ first started, a lot of sites were giving away freestuff, mainly for the P4 woman. Poser world was one of them, as well as Fairyworld.

That was about the time that DAZ came out with Victoria 1, or Millie the millenium Woman. I think she cast somewhere in the neightborhood of $30 at the time and was outrageously priced. I also remember DAZ was giving away freebies of things like trash cans and stuff on a weekly basis. It was one of the things that finally lured me into joining the DAZ forum. Even then it took almost two years. I didn't actually buy Vickie until they came out with V2. I bought V1 which was around $20 by then then got the upgrade for free. Of course, the morphs were included in the base figure at the time.