Making Games Relevant
October 8th, 2008
Before I arrived in China I decided to watch over Nintendo’s E3 2006 Press Conference. My reason for doing so is because I’ve slowly become more attuned to Nintendo’s greater vision for play to be universal and wanted to familiarize myself a little more with their message.
Watching the conference jolted my mind as to how difficult it is to initially become motivated in and then actively maintain an interest in video games. I came up with the following list of comparisons between the different entertainment mediums to highlight my point. These are all just rough ideas which I have tried to constrict to a median range:
Literature
Teaser – 30 seconds – 2 minutes (blurb)
Sample – 10-25 minutes (first chapter/few pages)
Completion – 3 – 10hrs
Music
Teaser – 20 seconds (chorus of one song)
Sample – 8-12 minutes (handful of songs)
Completion – 30 minutes – 1hr (album)
Film
Teaser – 30 seconds – 2 minutes ((teaser) trailer)
Sample – 5-15 minutes (one scene/extended trailer)
Completion – 1-3 hrs
Video Games
Teaser – 1-3 minutes (trailer)
Sample – 10 minutes – 1hr plus (demo)
Completion – 5–25hrs
This logic is highly flawed though, as each medium has it’s individual constructs which set them apart. If we talk dispensability then you can start up a Flash game on Kongregate and be done in 5 minutes, the same length as it’d take you to listen to a few music tracks. Then again it’d only take you less then 5 minutes to read this article (literature), right? So where do we draw the line? Who cares anyways? These are just loose approximations.
As you can see by the notes, “generally speaking” video games demand the highest threshold of the four, in each of the three categories. This means that for busy everyday people with mouths to feed playing a game can easily be seen as selfish fun (horrah for the manchild!). So how do you capture their attention?
You get their attention by making the game itself relevant to these people, relevant but also accessible because even if your product is relevant, it means nothing if it is out of reach. Now, we should define both ‘relevant’ and ”accessible ‘ to further understand how they operate within the notion of this “mouths to feed” market.
Relevancy
To be relevant means being set in a field (of interest/necessity) related to the consumer’s but also having merit and/or significance in that field. For example, my Mum is an unbelievably good cook so a game like Cooking Guide for the DS is relevant. Unfortunately for Nintendo, she is already a good cook hence there is little merit in her buying Cooking Guide (as it teaches her how to cook). So in the end she is disinterested.
Accessibility
Much like relevancy, accessibility is multi-faceted and can be summed up under the following:
-communication – through clear advertising, let them hear about it
-ease of access – is it a straight up purchase or does it require extras? Will it be there? I want it now!
-ease of use – is it easy to use and understand
I think that as games continue to develop and expand, these layers will then begin to disappear. That is through way of instant purchases, a widening market etc.
I’ll leave the marketing101 here and next time (or sometime thereafter) will look at some case studies of successful games to apply these concepts to.
Decoding the Metal Gear Solid 4 Marketing Machine
May 31st, 2008
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots is a very important game or the Sony and their stable of Playstation 3 games. Not only will MGS4 showcase the capabilities of two of Sony’s finest assets (Blue-Ray and the Cell Processor) but it should also be the killer app that this console needs. Because of the imminent release date and importance of this title Konami have stepped up their MGS4 marketing into overdrive.
Despite my enthusiasm for this game there are numerous cracks starting to show in Sony’s grand plan. Cracks that are giving plenty of eager fans, like myself a sore headache. I’m talking about the in game advertising, limited shipments and awful pre-order communication (within Australia). I did a lot of on field research into what is under the “A Little Bit of Communication Please” heading so please take a read.
In-game Product Placement
A few weeks ago Konami didn’t just announce they showcased some of the new in game product placement to be featured in MGS4. To summarize; Snake can use an iPod while on the mission, in game characters sport new Japanese mobile phones and Snake has his eye of some sort of energy drink.
Read the rest of this entry »
Super Smash Bros Brawl – Another Example of Genius Nintendo Marketing
January 15th, 2008
Theres no denying that Nintendo’s marketing campaign over the past 2 years has been nothing short of genius. Hell, they even have the awards to prove it. The main reason for their success has come from the marketing of titles like Brain Training, Nintendogs and Wii Sports towards the casual and non gaming audience. But Nintendo have also been clever with advertising towards the more hardened gamer as well; the upcoming Super Smash Bros Brawl is probably the best example of this.
The genius all comes down to the Smash Bros Dojo website. If you are unfamiliar with the site basically its the official site for the new Smash Bros game. Every couple of days or so Nintendo release a new tidbit of information on the game which itself is the pure genius of it all.
The Dojo is genius for many reasons all stemming from the week day updates. The updates ensures that there is always something new for fans to look forward to. Whether it be a new move, character, level, whatever. This solves a lot of problems for Nintendo as it:
Generates Hype
The announcement of Solid Snake and Sonic as hidden characters was huge and instantly made a name for the website but in particular the updates. Since then there has been a lot of speculation of other video game cameos (such as MegaMan) so this keeps gamers coming back to the site to see whether or not the rumors are true.
Puts the Wii in the Headlines
Although the updates are usually very carefully portioned Nintendo release enough information and media with each update to warrant a solid news article. Hence there is always a possible news story for the gaming media to report on. This gives the game a generous amount of coverage for such a small amount news.
Makes the Delays Much More Tolerable
The Smash Bros series has an immense army of fanboy followers gripped by the balls and delays are something that they simply won’t tolerate. So the updates do a great job at making the fans feel as though they are not left out in the cold.
Infact Nintendo managed to cover up the game’s most punishing delay (into 2008) extremely well by announcing Snake and Sonic as cameo characters. If they’d just announced that the game was delayed then there would have been an uproar within the community and thats the last thing Nintendo want.
Conclusion
So as you can see by putting out a consistent stream of small pieces of information Nintendo are getting the most out of the little that they provide. And that itself is genius.
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