Heard it before…

…yeah, well but I’ve been busy. Currently writing my report up ad I hope to have some conclusions by the end of the summer. It’s due for presentation late August and after that I’ll try do publish a summary of my experiences along with with conclusions from the report itself.

I’ll sayt his though – If the subject interests you, then I suggest you consider doing a study of this type on a global scale. I’ve sure learnt that quite easily by using the right tools you can achieve some great and interesting results with good feedback from the industry.

Over the hills and far awry

Myself, I sometimes blissfully wander into that faraway fantasy land where revenue and economics no longer are a part of marketing (apart from the costs of course). I suppose it might be a trait of the left side of my brain which at some point intended for me to become an artist or a doctor (on account of my lousy handwriting). Needless to say, I rebelled against that and opted for the organized world of project management and marketing instead.

So I’m always grateful when economics grabs me by the feet and hauls me back into reality – especially a reality that has so much interesting tidbits of information to divulge.

I’m a bit sad Venturebeat haven’t chosen to publish the full report yet, but I’m hoping it might show up after the Gamesbeat ’09 event. From a marketing perspective this information is of course highly interesting. With the benefit of hindsight, the Iphone had alot going against it – some technical reviewers were sceptical of it (others lyrical) right from the start yet it has succeeded in wiping the floor with much of the competition already.

I suppose the question on everyone’s mind is either WHY? or HOW? – but I don’t intend to analyze that here. The fact remains that the Iphone will probably see alot of love from game developers in the near future. And the interesting point of discussion is how will you tackle this new market/segment by way of marketing an Iphone product?

The easy answer is of course distribution via a website or Apple’s own web portal, as well as other relevant channels for Iphone apps. Myself, I think Steam could (and should) be a viable option as well. And if I was smart, then maybe I’d consider doing a Steam port for the OSX and Iphone environment, allowing Iphone users to purchase games on the fly in true style. Not that I’m saying this would be a viable idea, just an interesting one.

Anyhow, back to the subject of marketing. How does one prove that the company’s Iphone products are the superior ones? To be honest, I believe we’ll see a clear segmentation based on quality, genre and pricing if the market is given enough time to develop and evolve. Necessiting clear future prospects by developers or publishers regarding the scope of their products. Premium products will be able to justify premium prices based on perceived value in that regard, but I think premium prices or products may not be what everybody wants all the time. Meaning that my highly personal opinion is that there’s ample space for developers of all sizes to target different market segments so long as they know what they’re doing and how much it’s costing them.

The thing to look out for would be cooperation between Apple and established publishers marketing the Iphone and Gaming products simoultaneously. It could very well become a reality. But that’s the beauty of the future, no-one knows what’s going to hit you in the face when you turn the next corner.

I think I’ve wandered off into the faraway fantasy again. Probably do another post dealing more constructively with the subject once I finish this executive report I was supposed to work on.

GamesIndustry.biz

This doesn’t exactly qualify as news, but I’d like to take a moment and promote the Gamesindustry.biz network. It contains separate sections for industry personnel and students. It’s been a great place to get some feedback on my research and participate in discussion regarding the evolution of the games industry. I highly recommend it.

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/network

A writer returns

Pardon the lack of updates. I’ve been busy trying the focus my field of research, and writing a scinetific article on that important aspect of marketing – Pricing! Nartually It’s about pricing games. For those fo you who consider yourselves fully up-to-date with the happenings in the industry, I can’t say that it contains anything new under the sky, but it does a good job of colllecting information from alot of disparate sources and gathering them all together in a single document for perusal at your own leisure.

Feel free to grab it from the link below and comment!

Pricing Games by Fredric L

Humour me

Something funny from wikipedia:

“When the GameSpy editors compiled a list of the “Top 25 Dumbest Moments in Gaming History” in June 2003, Duke Nukem Forever placed #18.[71] Zero Punctuation critic Ben Croshaw has noted that perhaps a decade of anticipation might raise the bar for the game to unreachable levels, saying, “I just hope that 3D Realms understands that if this game doesn’t turn out to be history’s greatest contribution to human culture and the cure for at least one type of cancer, I and every other reviewer on earth are going to saw its bollocks off.”[72].”

Once again…

…I humbly beg those of you proficient in swedish and working in some relation to games development (be it marketing or HR department or whatever) to take the survey. Link below.

One of the things discussed in The New New Media, is the authentic content and the context of which future media (advertising) is to be relayed with. I don’t know if that sentence made any sense, but here are a few examples of stock photos you may want to avoid, as they superbly fail in delivering authenticity, which means that they shouldn’t be used in a gaming context.

My favourite is probably the one with the guy with an afro haircut sitting in a limo. It somehow looks like a snapshot from a video featuring afroman. Which possibly can’t be good if you’re trying to be even the slightest politically correct.

The New New Media

This report from GIO was released in 2007. GIO is basically a research department working for IBM and they produce some great materials.

If you haven’t read this report (Don’t worry, it’s short) yet, then shame on you. In it they explore many threats and possibilities open to a number of bussinesses working with new media. To me, that includes the games industry.

Special sections of note would be the viral anti-marketing topic. Viral anti-marketing is what happens when you get a negative consumer reaction that hurts your brand. The cure for this is according to an interview in the report an interactive stance. By interacting and creating a dialogue with the customer, a solution is formed and the brand strengthened as a result. I highly recommend reading this report.

See?

Valve gets it.

There’ll be another post today once I finish reading The New New Media.

Also, please feel free to link to my survey if you’re a part of the industry and forward it to people who are. Not that I’d really think you’d do it – but it’d be most kind of you if you did.

Also interesting. Especially for those of you trying to hit within the MMO arena. Decent suggestions for a couple of bussiness models in there.

On a related note, here’s Chris Anderson (Chief editor of Wired Magazine) speaking at Media Evolution in Malmö a couple of weeks ago. Just click the video in the left-hand bottom corner. I’m not sure it’s fully related to the subject at hand, but the gist of what he claims does have some merit. Above all I think that the lesson to be learnt is How to evolve your Media in regards to exposure, publishing and advertising. There’s no good model for this if you ask me, but the focus ought to be to simply try and keep up-to-date with the media evolution (as a subject, not the conference).

Survey

Well, here’s my survey:

http://medieteknik.spelutvecklare.sgizmo.com

It’s in Swedish, but if you’re working within the Games industry, then please do take the time to answer the questions in there if you haven’t done so already.

Survey Draft – Which questions do you want to answer?

I’ve completed a first draft of my survey questions, and I want some feedback. The idea is to keep this survey quite basic, but still I need some fast input from people regarding the questions. Mostly I’m wondering whether you think…

– That they’re relevant to your business?
– That they cover the major aspects of media technology and marketing?
– That they establish which kind of competence there is in the business and the extent of it?

All kinds of comments are welcome, positive or negative as I want this to produce some interesting and helpful results in the end.

Here they are:

Which of the following tools do you utilise in your office?
– Picture- or illustration-editing software (Photoshop, Illustrator, Sumopaint, etc…)
– Layout-editing software (Indesign, Quark Xpress, etc…)
– Web design software (Dream Weaver, Visual Web dveloper, etc…)
– Content Management System (Episerver, WordPress, etc…)
– Video-editing software (Final Cut, Premiere Pro, etc…)
– Audio-editing software (Pro Tools, etc…)

How often do you utilise these tools?
– On a daily basis
– At least once a week
– At least once a month
– At least once every quarter of the year
– Seldom/Never

Does the company on a regular basis incorporate beta-testing for these kinds of tools – In the purpose of producing, editing or handling material for web, printing or marketing?
– Yes
– No
– Don’t know

Are you familiar with an example of this?
– Yes, for example;
– No

Does the company develop its own tools for these purposes?
– Yes, within; Marketing, Web, Printing, Internal information, Film, Audio
– No
– Don’t know

For what purpose do you utilise the above mentioned tools?
– Information (Targeted at employees or organizations belonging to a particular network)
– To produce web material
– To produce printing material
– To produce Video/Animation
– To produce Audio
– To publish web material
– To prepare printing material for publishing
– To publish Video/Animation
– To publish Audio
– To prepare material for a games concept
– To prepare material for games production

Do you possess any formal education within this area? (University, Post-graduate, etc…)
– Yes, alot (3 years or more)
– Yes, a little (0-2 years)
– No, I’m self-taught
– No, I have little or no knowledge of this area

Does the company possess any guidelines regarding the preparation and handling of graphic material (Regarding the use of the company’s logo for example)?
– Yes
– No
– Don’t know

Does the company utilise any sort of tool or system for quality assurance control (Such as online soft-proofing tools for example)?
– Yes
– No
– Don’t know

What is you working title?
– President, Vice President
– Project Manager
– Game Designer
– Level Designer
– Game Producer
– Game Artist (3D-modeling, Texture)
– Concept Artist
– Audio or Music producer/composer
– Marketing Manager or Assistant
– Sales Manager or Assistant
– Human Resources
– Other;

Also, I’ve finally begun reading up on some literature. I just found som bits to support my earlier hypothesis regarding interactive marketing from the GIO report on the New New Media. Check out the link to the right for more.