Intern Sweatshop: 3 Ways Video Games Outplay Other Brands

Halo: Reach, the final installment of Xbox’s enormously successful Halo video game series, was released this week to epic fanfare. Game trailers on YouTube have over have views in the millions-- each. Fans camped out in front of game stores to attend midnight launch parties. This prequel to the trilogy made over $200 million its first day. This franchise is the Harry Potter of video games.

Starcraft 2, another critically acclaimed sequel, was released in July and also had fans lined up around the block. It has a 93 on Metacritic, compared to Reach's 92. And, according to VGChartz, Starcraft 2 sold 1,341,583 copies in its first week worldwide. Reach sold a staggering three million copies on its FIRST DAY. With so many critically acclaimed games, some with strong established fan bases, coming out every year, why Halo?

One word: Bungie.

If you aren’t a Halo fan, that word probably brings to mind those rubber cords you used to keep that mattress from flying off of your car. To the Halo fan, Bungie, the developers of Halo, are king. Even more so, fans actually consider Bungie their friends. Companies would kill to have millions of people referring to them as their friends. That's the dream of every business that has ever taken a stab at social media and "starting the conversation." Bungie did it and they did it before it was vogue. In my opinion, there is a full case study in Bungie's story, but let's hit three quick things every company can learn from them.

1. Be open to us.
For years, Bungie has done an update post every week. These weekly updates are full of info about progress on games, what Bungie is doing, and all the things any seriously committed fan would want to see. When Bungie is working on a new game, they periodically release video documentaries showing the progress on various aspects of the development. Bungie never leaves their followers in the dark (the anti-Apple, if you will). We, the public, love it when our company keeps us up to date.

2. Be honest with us.

If you ask diehard Halo fans what they think of the overall series, most will say something like, "IT'S AMAZINGG G!!1... except for Halo 2." Halo 2 had a half-finished story and a host of technical bugs. Who's at fault is a bit of a gray area (Microsoft is sometimes blamed for rushing Bungie). But Bungie didn't play the blame game. When fans expressed disappointment, Bungie took full responsibility. They explained their decisions, acted quickly to resolve issues, and apologized for not delivering the absolute best product they could. When Halo 3 was announced, Bungie was very clear that they would not make the mistakes they did with 2 and that the game would NOT be released until it was perfect.

3. Be one of us.

The people at Bungie are nerds. They have this weird obsession with the number “7”. Every year on July 7th (07/07) is "Bungie Day," and they do something fun for their fans. In past years they have released new downloadable content for Halo. This year they released a video showcasing new features in Halo: Reach. All throughout the year, they add whacky scenarios to Halo to entertain their players. A group of fans started using the game to make a web sitcom and Bungie loved it, even promoting it on their website. Fans are a fickle bunch, and we love a company that relates to us. If your fans are nerds, be nerds too! If your fans are vampires, better grow some fangs. In the last weekly update, the writer said:

“For the first time since I started working at Bungie, I really don’t want to write this update today. I really don’t even want to be here at all, parked at my desk, staring into this computer monitor. Fact is I’d rather be playing some Reach.”

Amen.

Bungie makes gamers feel like they are part of something bigger. That is why people stand outside of stores for hours waiting to get the game at midnight. It is a cultural moment. You have to make your consumers feel like buying your product and being loyal to your brand is something worth fighting for, not something they could take or leave tomorrow. That will never happen if your customers don't trust you. Be genuine, be open, and customers will listen. I’d know, I’m one of these fans and I’d follow Bungie to the ends of the Earth. I actually hear that's the plot to their next title.

--Kyle Sacks, Nerd-Wise Creative Department Intern

(PS "Nerd-wise" was Kyle's idea. He embraces his inner nerd as we all should. Now excuse me, I'm taking my lunchbreak to go watch some Thundercats. Oh, and am I the only person who thought Ben-Gali was just like a blue Tygra? Way to phone it in on that character design Rankin/Bass.--George)

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Pepsi: The Official Soft Drink of…Master Chief?

We're surrounded by advertising every day. As Jason pointed out, some of us are brushing our teeth with the magical saliva of Mary Kate and Ashely Olsen after eating a hefty serving of super-digestible Spider-Man cereal. (If you are raising your eyebrow in confusion right now, read Jason Bloom's blog below.)

We see commercials during TV shows, advertisements before movies, billboards on highways, and banners during the games. And now, we're starting to see the footprint of advertisers in video games more than ever before.

Though my infrequent play as of late makes me a slacker in the XBOX 360 community and my XBOX Live Gamer Score is definitely cringe-worthy (don't worry, I'll save the details for a geekier blog on a different site), I am still a video game fan. So, when I happened upon a link to an article titled Video Game Advertising: Closing In on a Billion Bucks, you're darn right I clicked on it.

According to the article in the E-Commerce Times, in-game advertising in 2006 was a mere $77.7 million (okay, I know a just used the word 'mere' in front of a pretty hefty sum, but compared to $1 billion it's like loose change in the sofa cushions). So, why is the Yankee Group predicting a sharp increase to almost a billion dollars by next decade?

Simple: because video games are where the eyeballs are. More in-depth games and online game play can easily mean hours upon hours of game-play. I personally know some people who have basically made gaming a mandatory part of their daily schedule. Go to work; pay the electric bill; birthday dinner for sister; defeat 1,000 zombies barehanded in Dead Rising.

It makes sense that more and more advertisers are exploring in-game advertising. And, it makes sense for developers too, as they face the rising costs of creating more advanced game play on more complex platforms. So, how do gamers feel about this growing corporate invasion into their beloved games?

I asked my friend Adam Gallia, a frequent player, what he thought of the issue. His response:

"It doesn't bother me that it's in the game, unless it gets to be gratuitous and overwhelms the game-play experience. It could even make a game feel more realistic. But let's face facts: a good game will sell and offset the costs of development. A crappy game will not. So, make a good product and recouping development cost is not a problem. Seriously, do you hear Bungie (makers of Halo) complaining about development costs? The answer is no. You wanna put a Coke machine in the scenery of Gears of War 2? Go for it! But when Marcus Fenix is running around in Nike shoes with a Stihl chainsaw, I'm officially done with video games."

The key is subtlety. Add elements that make sense to the game without being overbearing. Trust me, what seems like a small addition to the game environment will be noticed, and will earn respect from most players. If you're company is cool enough to support Call of Duty or Madden NFL, then you've gotta be good.

Want to be more obvious and still be respected? Then offer something that adds value to the game-play experience. Online gaming offers opportunities to sponsor new levels of game play, new characters, etc. Hey, you're sponsoring the development of new downloadable maps for Halo 3? Now you're really cool. Check out this guest column from Double Fusion CEO Jonathan Epstein for some more insight.

Developers are beginning to integrate ad technology into their design process. Nielson is looking to track video game use to give more validity to video games as an advertising medium. As advertising in video game grows, this player can only hope that companies and developers know where to draw the line.

--Alicia Taft, Course Developer

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