Here's something I was thinking about, when a games company decides to fool a market early on, they do it with huge marketing campaigns or subtle marketing campaigns. Some cost more some don't but do they ever think that they're damaging themselves and their franchises? For example Driver, the fans loved 1 and 2....Driv3r though...that sold very well, but after that fiasco how did sales do on the sequel after that if there was one? Are even the most loyal of fans willing to part with cash on the marketing pressure of publishers?
Resistance was a launch PS3 game, owners of the machine wanted a shooter but the best on offer was Resistance. Let us not argue on whether it was a good game or a bad game, but the average joe who picked it up while I was in game often came back whining about how boring the game was. With the internet being such a powerful tool, it's made us all so much more cynical. Some of them had read some reviews online and thought they were full of gooseberry fool. Will Resistance 2 live up to it's promises and appeal to those who didn't like the first one? Have they lost sales on it? Admittedly Sony hadn't put out the blackest of lies on Resistance, but what about Lair? The game that cost so much. Killzone? A great big fiasco, especially with the prerendered footage. I'm sure they have lost sales from the finished product of Killzone and the CGI showing of E3 in 2005. Although it's looking great, their target audience isn't staying the same, will they fall for the same PR stunts or won't they? I can't really tell, but one bad review of the game or preview will mean more cynics.
What does this have to do with anything? I don't know, I was just thinking about it, because I've noticed that games companies are now being more careful with the bile they spew forth. We haven't heard the same from Molyneux, we haven't got the huge amount of lies from Sony after 1080p bullshit, Killzone 2 E3 2005, and Lair. We've got a Sony who is looking for creative talent, letting the devs do the talking ala Little Big Planet, although very controlled, less lies of late, however then they have Howard Stringer practically undoing it from one side. Microsoft aren't as quick to hype a game unless they're of the view that the game really is good, I like how they didn't bullshit us with Too Human or try to market it falsely to people it didn't appeal to.
The games industry, how you noticed how much it's changed and how it's still changing?
I have noticed that games get more attention if they are platform exclusive. If Resistance was a multiplatform game, no one would care about the sequel. Same goes for Killzone and Haze. And that gooseberry fool Gears of War.
It would be interesting to see just how well a true Triple A game could do sales wise without a huge marketing push. If they just relied on reviews and maybe some adds magazines/papers.
That happens and they bomb most of the time, look at Okami. Unless you are on about well established franchise sequels not getting much marketing push.
Marketing is a massive part of a game's success (or lack of). Assassin's creed is probably the best recent example of an ordinary game punching well above its weight sales-wise.
There are always games which disprove the rule however: sometimes all the marketing muscle in the world can't shift a dud game, and equally, a game can be a (minor) hit without E.A/Ubi style promotion behind it.
Marketing sells games. Publishers can market the gooseberry fool out of anything and sell it. Likewise lots of good games don't get marketed as well as they should do ad thus can't sell to many people beyond the hardcore followers. Then they are branded as failures.
Most developers are powerless now, we have to bow to whatever the publishers want.
"AAA" games piss me off. All AAA means is the publisher has hyped it up before release. You can brand any old gooseberry fool as AAA if you give it enough publicity.
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Fatal Exception wrote:Marketing sells games. Publishers can market the gooseberry fool out of anything and sell it. Likewise lots of good games don't get marketed as well as they should do ad thus can't sell to many people beyond the hardcore followers. Then they are branded as failures.
Most developers are powerless now, we have to bow to whatever the publishers want.
"AAA" games piss me off. All AAA means is the publisher has hyped it up before release. You can brand any old gooseberry fool as AAA if you give it enough publicity.
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Killzone 2.
