Friday 6 June 2014

GTA V MM47



  1. How long before release did the GTA V campaign begin?
  2. How did the institution want existing GTA fans to react to the early trailers?
  3. How did the steady release of trailers build excitement and hype about the game?
  4. How was the launch used to generate news coverage?
  5. What effect did the strict embargo have on the audience?
  6. In your opinion, why was the campaign for GTA V so successful?

Wednesday 21 May 2014

Independent Case study

Name of game: Dark Souls 2

Release date: March 11th 2014

Institutions behind the game (game studio/publisher): FromSoftware in Japan and Namco Bandai in the rest of the world.

Print:

Print adverts;


On the print adverts, the viewers can easily identify the game name situated at the top alongside what edition the game is (collectors, black armour, standard etc). The typical font used in the souls game series is used once again on the print adverts which can somewhat be a feeling of nostalgia to the fans. The slogan 'Prepare to die' is surprisingly not shown on these print adverts because these are used to show what editions the game has instead of a print advert of the game itself. The image of the knight wearing the certain armour is used in different things such as the collectors art book, the game cover itself and even the CD. The colour scheme resembles a dull atmosphere of purely grey (the colour known to be colourless) and black (possibly smoke) with fire as the background.

Reviews;

'Despite this schism, it’s definitely a nice world to look at.' Positive.
'The game looks gorgeous when you're roaming around outside in a naturally lit area, or carrying around a torch.'  Positive.
'Iconic bosses also provide a ton of memorable moments of pain and regret that eventually become triumph.' Positive.

Dark souls 2 was also shown in the EDGE gaming magazine. This is extremely effective in promoting the game because gamers and fans can learn more about the game or even find out about it through this magazine as some fans who are interested in gaming might read these magazines but are not notified through social media when a new game is released. This allows a wider range of audience to be targeted.
This front cover was especially successful because it shows the same knight as the background (which became as somewhat a logo to the game) and shows other reviews of related things such as PS4 or XBOX ONE. 




This trailer is effective because not only does it show you sections of the game and game play, it also gives the audience a brief of the story of the game too. This is really good for the gamer fans because they will be interested in the plot behind the game.

Another huge way the game is promoted is through YouTube. Dark Souls 2 is played by many YouTubers but the most YouTuber promoting this game is Pewdiepie. Pewdiepie is a video game commentator and player and most games he plays his fan base sooner or later buys the game. He has the most subscribed YouTube channel therefore since he does a Let's Play series on Dark Souls 1 and 2, the game is promoted to millions of people worldwide simply through Pewdiepie.


E-Media:

The main website for the game is www.darksoulsii.com/uk/.  This website is essential for core fans and gamers because it tells you all the latest news relating to the game, the website has links to the games Facebook and Twitter pages with recent tweets and comments shown. You can pre-order the game from that website as well as the date of release of the PC version (25th of April 2014). Furthermore, there is a designated Media section where all the screenshots of the game can be found as well as videos (past trailers etc). On addition, the large community can be found on the website and can be accessed via different ways such as the forums where fans and gamers can share there experience playing Dark Souls 2 and ask for tips and advice.

YouTube examples;



As said above, this helps promote the games as the subscribes (especially on Pewdiepie's) might like the game and buy them themselves.

The Facebook page of Dark Souls 2 is literally called  Dark Souls 2 and has 46,009 likes currently.

Friday 9 May 2014

Star Trek Video Game Marketing

I think that Star Trek had a good marketing campaign and one of the most significant aspects was releasing a teaser trailer in June 2011. This was because this was the first in-play that was publicly shown which would have created a buzz especially within the group of 'Trekies'- an awful name for the Star Trek die hard fans.

There was also a press release in order to maintain the interest this was an important aspect to maintain as lots of Star Trek fans (and general gamers) would've been speculating the activity of video games

FIFA 14 CASE STUDY

Name of game: FIFA 14

Release date: Late September 2013

Institutions behind the game: EA Canada and Electronic Arts

Print:
In this print advert, the audience can see logo of the developers (EA Sports). The title of the product (FIFA 14) is clearly shown and the background is a scene from a section of the game. There is no slogan shown but the audience can infer the slogan of EA games from the logo (EA sports it's in the game).

The massive success of the FIFA franchise gave many reviews from video gaming magazines to FIFA 14. Some of these reviews  are proven to be slightly negative as seen by,' FIFA 14's slower pace may not have won over the entire footballing fan base, but it certainly made us rethink some of our long-held and highly effective sprinting strategies,' written by DigitalSpy. However, other reviews give a positive review to FIFA 14 such as,'FIFA 14's next-gen tweaks and improvements are largely aesthetic.On the other hand, the audience should not forget that there are more negative reviews such as,'The commentary seems slightly less impressive.'

These reviews are important to the target audience because they can infer whether they should buy the game or not. A gamers opinion might influence the audience whether FIFA 14 is so much better than FIFA 13 that its worth it to buy or that its not a good choice to invest money on. This is effective in promoting the game as good reviews will influence the target audience to buy this game.

I think that e-media and print is very effective and efficient for FIFA 14 because a lot of there fan base uses social media such as Twitter or Instagram e.g and follow FIFA 14 pages such as @EASPORTSFIFA on Twitter. 

Broadcast:

The advert on YouTube attracts the audience because it shows a variety of different players from different regions of the world to make it relatable to the audience. This means that football fans worldwide will see there favourite player(s) from there region shown on that advert. This is effective because it allows a wider range of target audience (global).

I think that Lionel Messi is driving the van because since he is the most famous player in the world, he will most likely have the biggest number of fans globally football and non-football fans.
The TV advert continuously shows the number 14 throughout the video. Sections of the game play is shown being played by different football players such as Bale. Also, although the main star was Lionel Messi, Drake and some other famous individuals were shown on the video to attract non-football fans to buy the game. Furthermore, near the end of the advert, the slogan of the game was shown as well as the logo (EA) and the name of the game.
Famous football players were shown to attract to football fans globally. Celebrities such as Drake where shown to attract non-football fans gamers to the game. Regular people where shown to show that different races and ethnicities play the game.
The FIFA 14 YouTube trailer differs greatly from the TV advert because it doesn't show any real people but instead sections of the game and an overview of how it looks like in-game. The different voice overs and colour of players shows that the game is targeted to audience worldwide.
The trailer was effective in promoting the game because it shows gamers what new features are installed in the game. "Real ball physics" and "Pure shots" are examples of things that gamers can see from this trailer of new instalments inserted into the game.
E-media:The FIFA 14 website tell the audience the new features in the game as well as guides the audience on release dates and latest trailers of the game. It also leads the audience to news and media relating to the game as well information about the game (such as what platforms FIFA 14 is played on) which is crucial for gamers.
EA SPORTS FIFA on Facebook got 21,349,542 likes.


The hashtag for FIFA 14 is #fifa14.
@EASPORTSFIFA is the twitter page for FIFA 14 with over 1.52 million followers. Tweets such as this,"Rare Gold 25K packs are now available for 24hrs. Limit of 5. ," are found on there twitter page which is free advertisement to there additional content. This maintains the audience (gamers) as it keeps them focused on any additional information regarding the game.