Video Game Marketing

[Ghieri]

I always hated Runescape's recent marketing campaign. First they nerf everything challenging, then they add an option where you can pay money to get xp, then they create these trailers that make the game seem like some amazingly epic world, where in reality it's much more grindy than WoW. All of this under the guise that it's to "make the game better" when in reality it is to open the doors for all the 10 year olds with rich parents who inspired this pic:

Spoiler below!

... meanwhile drowning out the veteran players who actually made that game what it is. It became ridiculous to the point of absurdity, is what I'm saying.

[Kreekakon]

obliviator, Read the profile, it will explain why i repeat myself. tolerate it please or kindly dont mention it.

dark side...I'm going to be honest with you. I have Asperger's syndrome too. No, I am not kidding with you. I have various impulses too, but what do I do? I learn to control it for appropriate situations. Saying you have some sort of mental impulse is hardly an excuse for a forum especially since all it really involves is typing. All it takes is more effort to keep your posts under control.


On topic posts though: I'm not exactly a super fan of "cinematic trailers". It can be fun to watch I'll admit, and I still do it all the time. But I realize that what I'm watching is not a game trailer, it's a movie trailer. When it comes down to it, all the cinematic trailers can really dish out is the game's presentation, which sometimes can be misleading because you won't know how well that flows with a game's gameplay.

I'm not against cinematic trailers though. it's just that for me I feel that gameplay trailers will entice me to buy a game at least three times more than a cinematic trailer. This is something I feel that Dishonored has been doing really well. If you have been following them on Youtube, they are constantly dishing out gameplay videos for us to see, and those get me hyped for the game way more than the cinematic trailers ever could have.

[the dark side]

i didnt know that. sorry if ive let the side down kreekakon. to be hounest, i think ive got a long way to go. as you know, most aspies progress at very different rates, although i am a lot calmer than i used to be, beleive me, i was blowing up at the slightest little thing even as recent as 2 years ago, ive still got a long way to go before ill be able to prevent myself from blowing up at all, if i ever even get that far...

i really hate cinematic trailers for the same reason, all they show is the games presentation, that is pretty much secondary for me, to me, the whole point of a game, is its gameplay, its not the title, its not the art style or presentation, even the story can go fourth. gameplay is important, and if i dont see gameplay, then i have to rent or download a demo to find out how it plays, ok, 99% of the time the presentation of the advert is enough to tell me the game is yet another modern shooter/street gang racer, so i stay away, but not always, and i get pretty furious if i waste PSN space or a 5 pound rental fee on a modern shooter/street gang racer, because i hate them, even more now they are totally unessesary because they are over-saturated, and thus, dying genres.

agreed, if you want to sell me a game, show me the gameplay, its why i KNOW im going to love dishonoured, and why i pre ordered it, its got fixed crosshairs, its got a proper health system (no regen, get hurt, loose red in the lifebar, want it back?...eat a rat!), its innovative, it looks hard, you can turn the hints off, and by golly, the stealth gameplay and art design Really Remind me of the old Theif games. I seem to remember Serious Sam III had an advertising campaign that was very gameplay led as well, another game i knew was gonna be awesome in my opinion and pre-ordered (and thus, got SSTFE and TSE in HD form, FREE!-schaweet!).

ive really got to give bethesda double kudos for not only having the guts to not only allow what i call "a proper game" to be made in this day and age, as well as having the gonads to publish it on disk, but also giving it a Proper ad campaign, wich shows the old fashioned gameplay mechanics off as something "cool", and, as they are so rare now, "fresh".

heres hoping it sells like the hotcakes, outsells a few AAA titles, it certainly deserves to, for having the Guts to be not only old fashioned, but also incredibly creative and innovative, 2 words the mainstream industry finds to be almost filthy.

That way perhaps more publishers will start making proper games and giving them proper, gameplay lead, advertising campaigns again.

[Kreekakon]

99% of the time the presentation of the advert is enough to tell me the game is yet another modern shooter/street gang racer, so i stay away, but not always, and i get pretty furious if i waste PSN space or a 5 pound rental fee on a modern shooter/street gang racer, because i hate them, even more now they are totally unessesary because they are over-saturated, and thus, dying genres.

Just for fun, and off the record guess what this is.

[video=youtube]http://youtu.be/C_E83GfWM-A[/video]

I know you said 99%, but ^this is the complete opposite of what you might think it to be lol

[the dark side]

I quess starcraft 2 is the 1% that you cant really tell its gameplay from its trailer. From the trailer, i would say it was a Sci-Fi, 3rd Person cover shooter, a Gears Of War clone, yet according to Wiki, it is an RTS! the cinematic trailer gives a totally inaccurate impression, another flaw of the cinematic trailer. it can put people who overwise WOULD have baught the game OFF (hardcore gamers like me who thaught theyd commited the unpardonable and tied the starcraft name to a GOW clone, something i would not put past activision, who own blizzard, in fact, id expect a bunch of sell out like them to do just that) and attracts the sort of gamer who can kill a game flat in 5 seconds because "itz 2 hurd!!11!!1" (the casuals, who think its gonna be a GOW style game) resulting in forum anger, a loss of sales, and an axed franchise. they are not a good idea. i really cannot work out why they are so darn popular. i really cant.

[Kreekakon]

The Starcraft series are not games for everyone. It is one of the most challenging, and rewarding games I've ever played, especially the multiplayer. It is relentlessly unforgivable towards player mistakes in its gameplay design. This is the same reason why so many people love it, and why some people never seem to be able to get into it.

[the dark side]

i think i had better get on amazon and see if i can track down some used copies of the games then, sounds the sort of game i Really, Really Enjoy, used to be quite into RTS back in the old windows '95 days, perhaps i should get back into them. thanks for the recommendation mate! serves me right by missing out on them for getting the wrong idea from the trailers i quess. what on earth posessed them to advertise a hardcore RTS like a casual GOW clone i will never know. a foolish and misquisded attempt to boost sales perhaps?

[Kreekakon]

what on earth posessed them to advertise a hardcore RTS like a casual GOW clone i will never know. a foolish and misquisded attempt to boost sales perhaps?

Looking back now, I should've worded my thought on cinematic trailers better. Cinematic trailers are good for advertising a game's presentation, especially the story. The point of this Starcraft 2 trailer was to advertise the story, and the conflicts that you will encounter in the game. The focus was not gameplay. There are plenty of Starcraft 2 gameplay videos too, quite a lot actually.

What I should've said is that I like cinematic trailers trying to illustrate a game's presentation, but I do not like it when ALL they release are cinematic trailers, and never release gameplay videos until a week before release.

EDIT: Also, there are no such things as used copies of Starcraft 2, only used accounts. Once you buy the game, it will lock onto your battle.net account.

[the dark side]

nevermind, i often word things wrong myself. yes, i will admit your wording on it was a little bit confusing for me, so i just had to jump at what i thaught was being said, sorry. i dont mind a story trailer, but i personally think its wrong to have as trailer that is pure story, yes, show the story off for 2: 45 if you must, but at least follow that up with 60 seconds of gameplay.

agreed, no gameplay trailers, no purchase from me, the longer they leave the gameplay trailers, often, the worse the gameplay is.

to be hounest though, id rather they didnt do story trailers at all, as really, it SPOILS the story. they should, in an ideal world, only do gameplay, "making of" and tech trailers, those are what i, and most other true gamers like us, are really interested in from what i have seen, IMO the story should just be left as something to experience in the game, not spoiled by trailers.

oh dear, that is a bit of a problem, starcraft 2 is MP only then (ill have to stay away if it is, i cannot cope with MP), or has it just got that infernal "always on" DRM. can you at least get starcraft 1 as a used disk and play SP?.

[Kreekakon]

nevermind, i often word things wrong myself. yes, i will admit your wording on it was a little bit confusing for me, so i just had to jump at what i thaught was being said, sorry. i dont mind a story trailer, but i personally think its wrong to have as trailer that is pure story, yes, show the story off for 2: 45 if you must, but at least follow that up with 60 seconds of gameplay.

You're going to start pooping out diamonds then after I show you this trailer:





Everything you wished for right here.

they story should just be left as something to experience in the game, not spoiled by trailers.

Not really. Offering a premise is all good. It doesn't spoil anything, and lets you know what you might be in for.

oh dear, that is a bit of a problem, starcraft 2 is MP only then (ill have to stay away if it is, i cannot cope with MP), or has it just got that infernal "always on" DRM. can you at least get starcraft 1 as a used disk and play SP?.

It's not as atrocious as Diablo 3 if that's what you're thinking. You can play Starcraft 2 in offline mode after you've activated it.