Gamasutra has an interesting story about Volition the makers of Red Faction Guerilla. The story is great, it basically says that the developers are counting on good word of mouth for their game to REALLY sell it. This isn't exactly the case as I've seen quite a few commercials on select networks for the game including Spike, G4, ESPN, and the CW. A similar campaign is being worked for the PS3 exclusive Infamous. While the developers of Infamous, Sucker Punch; Most famous for the Sly Cooper series have said that they will have a FULL ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN behind the game. The commercials for Infamous are airing sporadically mostly on Spike and G4. There certainly have been a few internet campaigns for the game on IGN, for instance. But this certainly doesn't seem to be a BIG PUSH as the developer was promised or is promising. The game has gotten excellent review scores across the board and currently they have a Metacritic score of 85 from 100 reviews. This tepid approach to marketing is fine when your trying to move some third tier titles like the latest movie tie in game or perhaps the latest Petz title. But introducing a new major franchise or revamping an old franchise is a little more challenging proposition.
Red Faction Guerilla certainly is a well known title in the press as they have had multiple demos and both on the multiplayer and single player fronts the game certainly has changed a great deal since they first showed it. But the game has only gotten better and it is probably going to be one my must plays of this year. Infamous has not been shown too much and the demo is wonderful. The game itself is a contender for Game of the Year. But we haven't heard much about it at all. The lackluster campaigns for both will certainly result in lower sales. And franchises that start luke warm rarely explode over time unless they are so stunningly amazing that they surprise everyone that plays it. Neither game is Bioshock, so I'm not entirely sure this is going to happen.
Neither of these games really seem to have gotten the star treatment by their publishers. Games like Halo 3, Grand Theft Auto, Call of Duty 2, the Wii (video games and system), and Gears of War have all had STELLAR ad campaigns where the power of Public Relations has been brought to the fore. Rarely have games sold as much as these titles. This isn't because these games are better than all others. It's because these games were marketed better than practically any others. \Multi-tier advertising is needed to create such buzz and in effect sales. The major difference here is creativity. The Halo 3 ad campaign was one of the most unique in history. They began marketing the game as much as a year before the game was shipped and courted brand familiarity with everything from toys to specialty drinks. Certainly a publisher like THQ doesn't have the money to do such a complete campaign but Sony probably does. The lesser form of this campaign is similar to the one that Gears of War had. Beginning with a incredible catchy song in their stylized artsy trailer to their launch events that certainly got not only media attention but were taped on a Spike TV special.
All of these innovative strategies were certainly contributory to the positive buzz that these games received and introducing a new franchise like Infamous or a returning redesigned and updated franchise like Red Faction Guerilla could have used either the complete campaign or the lesser but still impacting campaign. When a developer or publisher says that they are relying on Positive Critical Acclaim to sell games. It's really hard to believe that they think that will work. After all, how many games come out with demos and good review scores and are largely ignored. If you want your game to break 800,000; you need to start marketing it as much as a year before the game comes out. Many times it can begin with an E3 announcement. There are certainly a lot of moving pieces here. But selling a lot of games these days often starts with investing in a good marketing plan.
The economy is certainly a factor in the scaled down advertising of 2009. The problem there is that the public is even harder to reach these days and requires a even more aggressive marketing initiative. Publishers are constantly complaining about launching new IPs and that it's much safer and more of a sure thing to stick with sequels or known brands. If your going to handle the marketing the way Sony has for Infamous then perhaps they are correct. This has been their horrible track record all along. From Uncharted Drake's Fortune to Resistance Fall of Man to Infamous. Sony as a publisher just doesn't seem interested in marketing anything aggressively except maybe their console. Even then, the cost of the console seems to demand a little more consistent campaign than we have seen from Sony.
Hopefully Red Faction Guerilla will indeed beat the odds and sell over a million copies in its first week. With two demos and the wide commercial coverage the game has more visibility than most. But to rely on these factors, as I've already stated is dangerous.
Infamous continues to sell based on the excellent reviews; however Sony isn't helping matters by hardly ever discussing the game. Infamous made a short showcase mention in the E3 2009 Sony Press Conference but outside of this venue Sony has largely ignored what is probably the second of the publishers games of the year(Uncharted Among Thieves is the other). Marketing is the most important of any games' sales strategy and this year for the reasons I've already stated or others unknown to the general public it seems that companies would rather rest on their laurels than sell as many copies as they possibly can.
No comments:
Post a Comment