‘Final Fantasy Brave Exvius’ Uses Nostalgia Level Up On Mobile

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Final Fantasy is perhaps Square Enix’s most beloved role-playing game franchise. The first game released in 1987 for the Nintendo Entertainment System, and the popularity of series has only grown over the past 29 years. A great deal of attention is on the newest chapter, Final Fantasy XV, which launches this fall, but fans were able to enjoy an all-new experience last summer when Final Fantasy Brave Exvius launched for mobile devices.

The free-to-play Final Fantasy Brave Exvius stands out as the first game in the franchise to be built from the ground up for mobile devices. Although the latest Final Fantasy games for console systems sport cutting-edge 3D graphics, Brave Exvius uses 2D graphics that are reminiscent of the first six games of the series, giving it a classic feel. In fact, as the game’s producer explains, one of the original designers from the first game supervised the artwork Brave Exvius.

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Hiroki Fujimoto, producer for Final Fantasy Brave Exvius

Hiroki Fujimoto, producer for Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, spoke to [a]listdaily through a translator to talk about bringing the popular franchise to smartphones.

When asked about how a mobile game captured the feel of the Final Fantasy experience, Fujimoto explained how even though this was a free-to-play game, all the elements of the main role-playing (RPG) game—their essence—can be found in it. There’s an original story and a world with dungeons and towns to explore, so it has the full feel of an RPG.

One of the big challenges in developing a Final Fantasy mobile game, compared to a console game, were in the controls. In Brave Exvius, players tap the screen to control their characters’ actions. The developers had to think about the ease of moving characters around and engaging in battles by tapping on the screen, but the game also had to feature strategic and tactical gameplay.

In talking about how fans of the franchise took to the new mobile game, Fujimoto stated that longtime Final Fantasy fans will probably feel a sense of nostalgia, thanks to the 2D graphics. New fans are used to 3D graphics, but this game has artwork that’s fused with 3D, so that attracts them too. Furthermore, those that aren’t familiar with the original Final Fantasy games can play Brave Exvius and get a sense of what it was like before 3D.

The game can be targeted to many different audiences, who will be very satisfied playing. Since this is a free game, and everyone has smartphone these days, there aren’t any barriers holding players back from trying it out.

When discussing how Brave Exvius managed to stand out in an ever-crowded mobile game market, Fujimoto explained how Final Fantasy being a well-known IP helped. A lot of people who love the franchise will readily recognize this game, and Fujimoto wanted players to feel the same enjoyment with the mobile game as they had with the console games.

final_fantasy_brave_exvius_ss04Even though Brave Exvius is an original game, elements and characters from the earlier titles appear in it, which attracts hardcore fans. Brave Exvius has also done crossover collaborations with other games in Japan to bring in more players. There are other surprises and promotional activities in preparation for the future, but Fujimoto could not reveal them yet.

 

With Final Fantasy XV launching in November, we asked Fujimoto whether there would be any tie-ins with the console game. To which, he discussed how Brave Exvius features characters from Final Fantasy 1-6, 9, 11, 13 and 14. Although he couldn’t say when and which characters will be brought over from Final Fantasy XV, there was a good chance that some will make an appearance in the future. He just hasn’t decided yet.

Fujimoto also discussed the differences between the Japanese mobile gaming audience and the US one. He said that Japanese audiences tend to play the same games everyone else is playing, so the top ranks don’t really change. In contrast, US players will play what they want to play. As for spending on free-to-play games, he confirmed that Japanese gamers tend to play way more than the rest of the world, and therefore spend more.

When asked why he thought the Final Fantasy franchise was loved by millions of fans worldwide, Fujimoto said that one of the reasons is because the stories are very deep and dramatic. Also, there are many memorable and unique characters that players love. Fujimoto talked about how each entry in the franchise uses the latest technology for its time, so players are always in for a surprise when they play a new Final Fantasy game.

Why UK Media Giant Sky Is Investing In Virtual Reality

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Ahead of the launch of Google Daydream, European entertainment company Sky has launched the Sky VR app. The media giant, which serves 22 million customers across the UK, Ireland, Germany, Austria and Italy, is investing in the production of original 360-degree video content.

Sky partnered with im360 to produce Sky Sports: Closer featuring David Beckham, and will launch the first of a series of Sky exclusive commissions—a performance from English National Ballet’s production of Giselle ahead of its forthcoming UK tour. The company is also producing Sky News: US Elections and Tutankhamun’s Tomb: The Search for Nefertiti.

“In order to coordinate all of the VR activity taking place across Sky, from news to live sports and entertainment, we felt it best to create a dedicated team,” John Jelley, vice president of business development at Sky, told [a]listdaily. “Sky VR Studio coordinates all VR activity across Sky, from the generation of content ideas to filming and post production. It’s a centralized resource, staffed by VR experts, that any of our teams can call on.”

By the end of the year, Sky will have shot more than 20 VR pieces, covering heavyweight boxing, Formula 1, Team Sky cycling and Premier League soccer.

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David Beckham on Sky Sports: Closer set

“We are known to have unprecedented access to the world’s biggest and best sporting events, the making of some of the most popular entertainment shows, and to a range of significant cultural events,” Jelley said. “We can use that access to transport viewers to locations around the world, offering them a unique perspective on events.”

The Sky VR app includes 20 partner experiences, including previously released 360-degree content from Disney, Fox Innovation Lab, Warner Bros., Baobab Studios, Jaunt, Innerspace and Surround Vision. “Launching the Sky VR app will allow Sky to understand what works, what consumers like, and how we might develop the app further,” Jelley said. “We want to be at the forefront of the development of VR and help shape the industry. We’re really just at the beginning of what’s possible with VR.”

Jelley said that while there are a lot of VR headsets available across mobile, PC and now PS4 with PlayStation VR, there’s a lack of great content outside of gaming. At the same time, 360-degree cameras now have improved functionality, and are more readily available.

“For a content creator like Sky, it opens up exciting new opportunities to transport viewers to places they have never been before,” Jelley said. “We can offer them a truly unique perspective on major events.”

In addition to working across mobile VR headsets, the app allows non-VR owners to explore the content. When asked about PlayStation VR, Jelley said the app will expand to additional platforms in the future, and Google Daydream will also open up new opportunities for Sky and other VR apps.

“VR is at a really collaborative stage,” Jelley said. “Google’s expertise in software and hardware development is driving innovation with Daydream and creating an ecosystem allowing VR to go mainstream. Google, like Sky, wants to be at the forefront and set the agenda when it comes to the development of VR.”

Sky is also continuing its investment in gaming. Sky completed a $1 million investment in the GC VR Gaming Tracker fund, which is managed by entertainment and video game executive Jon Goldman. Jelley said this fund will invest in early-stage VR, augmented reality (AR), eSports and gaming start-ups.

“We are focused on developing what we are doing in VR films and exploring demand for eSports, with the recent launch of the Ginx eSports channel on Sky,” Jelley said. “We are monitoring developments in gaming and are always interested in exploring new ways of engaging with content. Although, we have no immediate plans to move in this area.”

‘Resident Evil 7’ Delivers Flavors Of Fear To Virtual Reality

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Currently celebrating its 20th anniversary, Resident Evil remains one of the most recognizable horror game franchises in the world. Although few promotions can compete with 2012’s pop-up fake human meat butchery, which opened at London’s famed Smithfield Market for two days for the launch of Resident Evil 6, the newest sequel is no less successful in giving fans a taste of what’s to come.

The upcoming Resident Evil 7 will be the first game in the series that will be playable in virtual reality using the PlayStation VR in addition to traditional screens. It is also very likely to be the first full-length game to be released in VR. Capcom has been doing a great deal of promotion for the game, which includes a demo on the PlayStation Network called Resident Evil 7: Beginning Hour. In it, players must escape a dilapidated house and in doing so, find clues about the upcoming game. Then there’s the Lantern VR demo, which debuted at Gamescom earlier this year, where players are pursued through a darkened house by a woman carrying a lantern.

Mike Lunn, brand manager of Resident Evil at Capcom spoke with [a]listdaily from the New York Comic-Con show floor to talk about the franchise’s big move to VR, and how it was still delivering scares after twenty years.

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Mike Lunn, Resident Evil brand manager, Capcom

What Resident Evil demos are you showing at New York Comic-Con?

We’ve got a couple of VR demos here—a lot of love around VR for the past couple of months since we announce the title at E3. What’s cool with the New York Comic-Con is that this is the first time we’re showing our Lantern demo [at the convention], giving people a bunch of different experiences. So, not only do we have the demo on PlayStation Network, Beginning Hour, now we have a new VR experience for people to try that gives them a different gameplay style.

It’s one of the videotapes you find in the game—it’s a slice of the main game itself. You’re going to be pursued by one of the characters that we recently introduced named Marguerite Baker. You can’t let her find you. If you do, horrible things happen to you. But it is cool to put on the VR headset and go into a new space. It’s really cool, really immersive, and you’re really able to drink it all in when you’re in VR.

Will the Lantern demo be made available to everyone when PlayStation VR launches?

Not the Lantern demo, but every PlayStation VR unit in North America has a demo disc, [and] the Kitchen demo will be included with every headset.

Kitchen is a tech demo we started in 2015, but we’ve updated and optimized it as time has gone along. Before we announced RE7, it was our way to test bed VR. We hadn’t made any VR games, so we wanted to make sure that when we did it, we did it right. We showed it at E3 2015 under the moniker of Kitchen, not even Resident Evil, and the development team took feedback on how to make VR the best product possible. Kitchen is a seeded sequence, and it happens after our PlayStation Network demo, where it’s an intro to VR.

What would you say are the core elements of the Resident Evil franchise?

I would say atmosphere. We really want people sunk into that atmosphere, that world. Survival horror and different fears. The first game was the fear of what could be around the corner. A little bit later down the franchise, when you’re in Kijuju, Africa or Europe, where there are tons of different enemies, it’s the fear of being overwhelmed. We offer different flavors of fear.

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Resident Evil 7 integrates a lot of what of what we’ve learned over the years and goes back to the fear of the unknown. That’s really high-tension gameplay. Other than that, we have a lot of our keystone stuff. We’ve blown out our puzzle solving. Instead of just finding an item and putting it in a door, there’s going to be stuff to test your mettle. We’ve got combat in there, but it’s not the focus. You’re not going to be suplexing zombies like you were in RE6 or driving motorcycles off of buildings. It is slower paced, but we still do have combat and engagement.

What are the most crucial components for bringing Resident Evil to virtual reality?

Definitely, I think the immersion and horror. This is the first time we’re using the first-person perspective for a mainline Resident Evil title. What we wanted to do is, instead of being Chris, Leon or Ada (from previous games)—where a zombie comes around the corner, and you say, “cool, I have a grenade launcher. I can just blow it away.”—We wanted it to feel like it’s actually you. If it’s just you, then it’s like, “I’m not prepared for this!”

Not only will you be playing the character in first-person, but adding that VR element puts it over-the-top, because you’re literally looking around corners, checking for stuff, and it feels very natural.

Resident Evil 7 will be entirely playable in VR. How difficult is it to bring a full-length survival horror game into VR?

This isn’t just a demo experience, it’s not a side mission, this is the full tour de force gameplay. You can play with the VR headset, you can play without it, you can interchange. It’s totally up to you.

When we started development of the game, we wanted to do stuff with first-person. [We were] in early talks with Sony about what they were doing with their VR headset—it was something that was planned very early on. It wasn’t like we made the game and tacked on a VR mode. It was designed with that (VR) in mind.

There are a lot of survival horror games out right now. How does Resident Evil compete in a genre it helped create?

It’s our 20th anniversary, so we’ve been doing this for quite some time. I think that over the years, we’ve innovated in terms of what we’ve been doing. Back in the ‘90s, we were in Racoon City, and it was a slower-paced survival horror game. These past years, RE4, 5 and 6, were a little more action-y with an over-the-shoulder camera, but we’ve innovated and taken stuff from those games. We’ve brought back what make RE cool to begin with. You’re back in a traditional mansion setting, much like the first game.

This is actually what RE started as. These are the roots, but now with the power of the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation VR, we’re able to do a lot of new and cool things. For example, with the videotapes, instead of finding a note on the floor, it’s a full-on video sequence that gives you potentially different gameplay and new insight on the characters. We’ve got our first-person camera, and there’s a lot of new tech-side stuff on top of the gameplay features we’re pushing. It’s really exciting.

After six games, numerous spin-offs, and a seventh game coming, what makes Resident Evil the go-to series for survival horror?

I think that what we’ve done over the past 20 years in terms of trying new things—again, we haven’t been the same game for the past 20 years, and I’m most proud of that. We’ve had the courage new things and learned what works for what we’re trying to do. For RE7, we’re trying to do old-school survival horror, but in a 2016/2017-timeframe.

I keep saying it, but it’s the immersion and the tension of you being there—we want to make you feel like the character. With Resident Evil 7, we’re really excited about the product we’ve got, and with VR, it’s even better.

Are there any cross-promotional plans with the Resident Evil: The Final Chapter movie release?

Yes, we’re planning a number of things. Nothing finalized yet, but the game comes out on January 24, the movie comes out January 27. It’s definitely high time to have a little cross-promotional love there, but no specific things to announce just yet.

Chipotle Continues Its Fresh Ingredients ‘Love Story’ With A Tie-In Game

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In July, Chipotle Mexican Grill released the animated short film A Love Story. The production, which has been viewed more than 61 million times, is a cautionary tale about two young entrepreneurs whose rivalry results in competing fast food empires that sacrifice quality for quantity.

A Love Story is written and animated in a style reminiscent of a Pixar film, and tells an emotional story set to music, without dialogue. Now the restaurant’s message of staying true to fresh, unprocessed ingredients continues with a card match memory game beginning Wednesday.

chipotle-a-love-storyPlayers must match cards depicting fresh ingredients like onion, jalapeños and brown rice but suffer time penalties should they choose an artificial ingredient. Those who play the game in the US or Canada will receive a buy-one-get-one offer via SMS text message and must provide a cell phone number and email address to redeem.

“A commitment to real, unprocessed ingredients remains central to our mission,” Mark Crumpacker, chief marketing and development officer at Chipotle, said in a statement. “This new game furthers the important themes in A Love Story while reinforcing our commitment to sourcing the very best ingredients and preparing them using classic cooking techniques.”

Thus far, audience reaction to A Love Story (the film) has been positive. Market researcher Ace Metrix noted that the film was the highest scoring quick-service restaurant ad it ever tested—”an accomplishment made more impressive by the film’s three-minute length,” Chipotle said.

The company’s own research showed that 71 percent of consumers surveyed would be more likely to agree that Chipotle uses high-quality, whole ingredients, and 65 percent said the film made them more likely to trust the company.

According to the Brand Keys 2015 Customer Loyalty Engagement Index, Chipotle was number one for customer loyalty. Chipotle operates under the promise of “food with integrity,” meaning it’ll supply meats free of antibiotics and hormones when possible. Last January, the company stood by its mission to only provide the best ingredients by removing pork from its menu for about a third of its stores after discovering that one of its suppliers wasn’t living up to its animal welfare guidelines.

Chipotle, which has seen its profits drop by 82 percent, has been on a continuous saving face mission with a variety of marketing plans in wake of the E. coli outbreaks that rocked the company to its core over a six-month stretch beginning last year. For example, the restaurant chain is making a big push for millennials with a weekly Snapchat show called “School of Guac.” The comedy posts are shown at 3 pm on Tuesdays—a type of appointment viewing that may become a lot more common now that Snapchat is wooing Hollywood for content.

A Love Story is the latest animated campaign in collaboration with Passion Pictures—previous campaigns include Back to the Start, a tale about industrial farming, The Scarecrow, about processed food and Farmed and Dangerous—that explored how perceptions are created in the industrial food sector.

Newzoo: American Millennials Watch As Much ESports As Baseball

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How do traditional sports demographics compare to those of eSports? American male millennials watch as much competitive eSports as they do baseball and more than ice hockey, according to a new report by Newzoo.

Seventy-six percent of eSports enthusiasts surveyed say that their eSports viewership is taking away hours they used to spend on traditional sports like football or baseball. While some may argue that video games can’t be a “real” sport, the traditional athletic industry isn’t so quick to dismiss the potential of cross over fandom.

Based on eSports consumer insights research in 27 countries, Newzoo’s latest report offers a comparison of eSports fans with those of the four big American sports. For example, there are six million eSports fans in the US who do not watch baseball, hockey, basketball or football at all, but basketball clubs, in particular, have tremendous potential to attract these fans by investing in eSports.

Of the 80 million American basketball fans, 9.6 million are also into eSports. American sports clubs, owners and celebrities are adopting eSports and thus appealing to a wider audience.

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“The huge interest in eSports from sports celebrities, clubs, media companies, and brands alike illustrate how games are leading the media and entertainment business towards a new future that has more in common with games than not,” said Pieter van de Heuvel, head of eSports at Newzoo, in a statement. “Games bring innovation in tech and consumer business models, and have a unique ability to engage with and actively involve the younger generations. Traditional and digital media and sports companies bring experience in providing advertisers with an effective communication platform. There clearly is a natural, strategic and commercial fit.”

For marketers, creating a genuine brand relationship with millennials is often difficult and confusing. (Turns out that simply calling your brand “bae” doesn’t work.) Newzoo reminds brands in the report that the millennial audience between the ages of 21 and 35, and the generation following, have a completely different media consumption profile than older consumers.

“Games and eSports give them the active engagement they desire and thrills they do not find in other entertainment,” the company said.

Video game enthusiasts are early adopters of new technology and tend to spend more on digital entertainment. ESports fans take it to the next level of spending, with 52 percent of US eSports fans having a HBO subscription versus 29 percent of the general online population. Similarly, 42 percent of eSports enthusiasts own an iPhone compared to 38 percent of the general population.

“Gaming is what every traditional sports league is desperate to become: young, global, digital, and increasingly diverse,” ESPN The Magazine previously said in its special eSports issue.

Interestingly, Newzoo’s report indicates that eSports fans enjoy competition across multiple platforms, even mobile. While eSports normally refers to games like League of Legends or CS: GO, 39 percent of eSports fans surveyed said that they played Clash Royale in the previous three months, compared to just 17 percent of the general gaming population.

When you look at the crossover between millennials and the overall brand loyalty of eSports fans, it’s no wonder traditional brands are investing. eSports revenues generated through merchandise, ticketing, media rights, advertising, and sponsorships have already raked in around half a billion dollars this year.

If eSports revenues per fan were similar to the NBA, Newzoo notes, it would easily be a $2.5 billion business today.

‘BoutThat’ App Makes A Game Out Of Live Debates

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Internet debates are as old as the internet, itself, but what if you could take them live and vote on the winner? BoutThat is a new app by the California-based developer, 1-800-N0TH1NG that mixes live video with gamification elements to create an interactive debate platform. BoutThat aims to turn online arguments into a live video game and users can debate about whatever they want in front of a live audience.

“Millions of flame wars happen every day on the internet—on social networks, comments sections, and forums, and all of us have watched,” said Matt Mason, head of 1-800-N0TH1NG in a statement. “But the way we argue online has been broken since day one. It’s like bare-knuckle fighting. It’s unregulated, it happens in spaces where it doesn’t belong, and is not pretty. However, it’s hard to look away. We asked ourselves here at 1-800 if there was a better way for good people to disagree on the internet. The answer is BoutThat.”

BoutThat, launching Tuesday on iOS, lets players pick any topic and challenge other players to a face-to-face debate via livestream. Viewers of “bouts” can then vote for either player in real-time. The winner is the player who has the most votes at the end of the debate. “Because you can see the person you are arguing with, and you know an audience is watching you, our hope is people will be able to feel more empathy here for the person they are talking with, and not resort to the name calling and mudslinging that happens so many text-based, anonymized comments sections,” Mason added.

The new app launches on the heels of Bbl, 1-800-N0TH1NG’s mobile app that invites users to post trivia challenges, using the device camera to record themselves asking the question. At launch, BoutThat‘s will have three debates available at a time, in an effort to “concentrate viewership around a small number of debates.” As the audience grows, players will be able to unlock new rooms and create more debates, the company said.

Although debating is what the app was designed for, BoutThat has endless possibilities. “It might be rap battles, it might be staring contests, it might be improv comedy,” says Mason. “We’re looking forward to seeing what people do with this engine. There has never been anything quite like this in the market before, which incorporates two livestreams with real-time feedback from viewers. It’s pushing the boundaries of this technology to create something that we hope changes culture for the better.”

Here’s hoping for some creative branded content like say, a belching contest between Coke and Pepsi, which is apparently not out of the question. “We’re hoping BoutThat sparks great conversations between groups that might not normally hear from each other,” Mason told [a]listdaily. “That could be people at different ends of the spectrum on any subject, or it could be a brand and its target audience. As we think about the road map for BoutThat, brand integration is something we are spending a lot of time on. There are so may ways you could things here that just aren’t possible on other platforms. As long as it’s fun to watch and a great experience for our users, we’re open to it. “

Sony Chairman Discusses PlayStation VR Launch

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Sony Interactive Entertainment is launching PlayStation VR on October 13, a brand new platform that will give the 46 million PlayStation 4 owners worldwide an opportunity to explore virtual reality at a price well below high-end PC gaming systems like HTC Vive and Oculus Rift. Sony has 50 games lined up for launch through the end of the year, including 20 available this week.

Sony has been marketing PSVR through its own television ads as well as through a series of Taco Bell commercials as part of a co-marketing partnership. But hands-on trials will play a key role in getting consumers who have heard so much about virtual reality to invest the $400 to $500 in the headset bundles Sony is launching.

Shawn Layden, chairman of Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios, explains to [a]listdaily what’s in store for gamers in the first wave of interactive offerings in this exclusive interview.

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Shawn Layden, chairman of Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios

How has the investment in VR by companies like Google, Samsung, HTC and Facebook helped generate awareness for your product?

When you look at all the activity in the VR space, 2016 is the year of VR. It all came together at the same point in time, and that’s good. It’s raising awareness for VR.

What non-gaming opportunities is PlayStation VR opening up?

Virtual reality is allowing us to take the technology that we’ve developed to provide the best gaming experience in the home, and giving additional tools for non-gaming content developers to play with. There’s more crossover today than ever between the computer-generated graphics that we find in games and what we find in films. Those two entities are very closely aligned. Now, with the power of platforms like PS4, the importance of good narrative in games like The Last of Us show that people want more than the exhilarating adrenaline rush of the game. They want a good story.

People are also telling stories through 360-degree videos and sharing them on YouTube 360 and Facebook 360. What types of connectivity will PSVR have for people to experience homemade content?

We’re looking at supporting as many of those video formats as possible on our platform, but we’re coming at this first and foremost as a game platform. That’s our wheelhouse.

Can you talk a little bit about the advantage that Sony has over some of the PC competition, especially when it comes to pricing?

The answer was in your question. That’s certainly part of it. The fact that we already have over 40 million PlayStations worldwide that are capable of supporting PSVR is a huge advantage for us, as well.

How are you seeing game developers explore virtual reality game creation at this early stage?

We have a new platform and people are trying to find a way to interact with others and express themselves against that. They take formats and genres that we’re familiar with and try to bring it across this platform. So we’re seeing some racing games like DriveClube VR and Trackmania VR, some shooting games like RIGS and Until Dawn: Rush of Blood, some indie games like Battlezone and Thumper. We’re going to see a lot of different types of content in the first year of VR as people search to find out what is the quintessential VR experience. I don’t think anybody should show exactly what it is right now, but I just wanted to make sure we’re actually doing things that are novel, innovative and first-of-its-kind.

How are you seeing developers explore PSVR with original content versus ports of existing franchises and games?

You’re going to see both kinds of content. A lot of it is built from the ground up specifically for the VR experience, and other games will have levels and modes or sections of the game which are enhanced by having a PSVR to play with that, like the Batman: Arkham series or what the Battlefront guys are doing with Star Wars. It’s pretty exciting in that area. We’re going to see a lot of different ways people come at this content, and I’m just as excited to see we have a lot of support from the indie development community. They see this as an opportunity to break into another area of a beginning market. It’s a really wide selection here, and we’re going to see a lot of interesting activity between now and Christmas, certainly.

How are you supporting multiplayer experiences within PSVR?

With the power of the network, you just need to put VR players into the same environment with games like RIGS playing three-on-three competitive gaming, and lots of other games where you’ll be able to put the VR headset on and interact socially with other people who are in that VR space. There are other video games like The Playroom VR, where you put the VR headset on and you are the monster on the screen, and you interact with all the other players in your living room who also have controllers and are fighting against you as the monster on the TV. We’re leaving it as wide open as possible with all the social connections that we can to see what kind of multiplayer gaming really gets the most traction in VR.

What role will exclusive games play in the success of PSVR?

Having exclusive content is always very attractive to the PlayStation owner. Certainly, the content coming out of our own Worldwide Studios will be exclusive to the platform, and we have probably a good dozen titles coming out between now and the holiday in that regard. Exclusivity allows the developer to concentrate on one platform and to extract all the power and abilities they can without having to move to a common denominator. So that’s still important. I think the users still find attraction and value in that.

Snapchat Brings Mid-Roll Ads To The Fore In Stories Update

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Last week, Snapchat began rolling out some big changes to its Stories format by giving users control over whose updates they view. Previously, Auto Advance would play them all back-to-back with Snap ads in between. Now, Snapchat users can manually select which Stories they wish to view and the updates will be played in that order. If users watch more than one, ads will appear mid-roll, or at the end when viewing just one at a time. In this way, Snap, Inc. hopes to set itself apart from Instagram Stories, which (copying Snapchat) advances automatically through all updates.

In addition, friends’ Stories will now appear above Discovery channels, focusing more on personal experiences rather than marketing ones—similar to Facebook’s recent move to prioritize friends over publishers within its feed. For brands, this means a stronger need to create compelling messages on the popular social platform. In a survey conducted earlier this year, roughly 44 percent of Snapchat users between the ages of 13-24 who said they had used Live Stories and/or Discover reported doing so on at least a daily basis. Moving friend updates above Discover channels is a strategy to show Snapchat users that personal stories still matter in a big way.

Going Hollywood

Now that Snapchat is Snap, Inc., a camera company, the social media giant wants to be “in the pictures.” Enlisting Hollywood talent agencies like CAA and WME, Snapchat is now included in the same “coverage update” that Hollywood agencies regularly send to clients about “who’s buying and what they’re buying,” sources told Digiday. “Snapchat’s now on that list, which is interesting because it’s usually [TV networks like] NBC or History Channel,” said an executive at a studio that’s pitched Snapchat. Snap, Inc. wants short-form shows between 2 and 6 minutes an episode, but are open to all genres from reality TV to comedy and everything in between, according to a coverage report sent to WME.

The brand formerly known as Snapchat is out to prove itself to investors, preparing the paperwork for an IPO and hoping for a value of $25 billion or more. Should the company receive this valuation goal, it would be the biggest company to go public on the US Exchange since Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. debuted at a $168 billion valuation in 2014. Snap, Inc. plans to offer shares beginning in March 2017. By creating strong relationships with Hollywood and reinforcing brand loyalty among users by making them feel more important than advertisers, Snap, Inc. aims to prove its worth to the world.

‘John Wick’ VR Game Is The Perfect Movie Promotion

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The original John Wick movie, starring Keanu Reeves, is about an elite hitman who comes out of retirement to take revenge against the mob for killing his beloved dog. It developed quite a following, with Starbreeze Studios (makers of the heist game, Payday 2) counting itself among one of its biggest fans. The video game developer has already included the John Wick into Payday 2 by offering him as a playable character, and now it is working in partnership with Lionsgate to create an original virtual reality game called John Wick Chronicles for the HTC Vive and immerse players in the movie’s action-packed underworld while promoting the next film, John Wick: Chapter 2.

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Almir Listo, global brand manager, Starbreeze Studios

Almir Listo, global brand manager at Starbreeze Studios, spoke to [a]listdaily from the New York Comic-Con show floor where it was demonstrating the first chapter of John Wick Chronicles, called An Eye For An Eye.

Listo describes John Wick Chronicles as a virtual reality game for the HTC Vive, and it’s a Starbreeze Studios production made in partnership with Lionsgate Entertainment. “You play as John Wick, the legendary assassin, in the John Wick universe, known from the movies,” said Listo. Players get to visit iconic locations, including the Continental Hotel, known from the first movie. They’ll also get to meet recognizable characters, try out weapons and start doing missions. In the 7-minute show floor demo, players were challenged to defend a rooftop location as waves of attackers come from all around or try to snipe from neighboring buildings.

“The cool thing is,” Listo continued “[is that] we’re releasing the game at roughly the same time as the movie, on February 17.” Players can already pre-order the VR game on SteamVR for $20, and buying early gets them a free copy of Payday 2 along with the John Wick Weapon Pack content. There’s also a deluxe edition for US residents, where players will get all of the previously mentioned content and the original John Wick movie for $30.

When asked about how many John Wick Chronicles chapters there would be, Listo said that it still to be determined. “We will create as few or as many [chapters] depending on what the community wants.” As for whether or not the John Wick Chronicles would be released as an episodic VR game, Listo stated: “I think it depends. We’re still so early on in virtual reality game development—the industry as a whole—so the best practice for releasing new content is yet to be decided. We will listen very closely to what the VR community has to say when they try the experience and we’ll definitely take their voices into consideration when moving forward with additional content.”

Listo also talked about the reactions he’s seen to the John Wick Chronicles demo at convention show floors like New York Comic-Con. “I think they’ve been fantastic so far,” he said “and we haven’t showed it at that many places thus far. So the reactions we get here at Comic-Con mean a lot to us.”

In discussing how the partnership with Lionsgate came together, Listo said “We’ve always had a great relationship with Lionsgate. We’ve worked on Payday 2 together, introducing John Wick as a playable character. Since then, we’ve always stayed in touch and tried to collaborate wherever possible. I think John Wick Chronicles is the peak of that collaboration. It’s best we’ve put together so far, and we’re very excited to see it go live in February.”

Although the VR experience promotes the upcoming film and debuted a new in-game trailer for John Wick: Chapter 2 played on a giant virtual screen, Listo explains that “The VR experience has a separate plot line, so it’s not necessarily tied to the movie. However, it’s played out in the same universe, so you will meet with characters from the movies.”

Lionsgate has also been helping to develop the game, and practically everyone that is involved with the movie has had an opportunity to provide feedback. “We had one session where the director (Chad Stahelski) and Keanu Reeves played the game and gave us their feedback, which was very meaningful. It’s important for us, because not only do we make video games at Starbreeze, we also love movies. We would never have done this collaboration if we didn’t like the original movie. It’s important for us that the movie and video game stay true to each other. We don’t want to shy away from the message of the movie, and want to make sure John Wick Chronicles builds on it and empowers the movie.”

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Listo further explained what he thought about VR gaming and using it as a movie promotion. “I think VR has the possibility to become the biggest thing in gaming history,” he said. “The reason being: just look at what you get to experience. The action, the thrill of it.

“It’s a great way to unite different kinds of IPs. The John Wick IP is a very cool one because the original movie was an original script and idea. It’s great to see that it was so successful, because it shows that there’s still room for original IPs to be created. We’re very excited and proud to be partner with Lionsgate on creating a John Wick VR game.”

Listo further explained that “this is a unique collaboration between a video game developer and publisher, Starbreeze Studios, and Lionsgate—an established film studio—where we’re building up the hype for the upcoming movie together with a VR game. And not only with the VR game, but with Payday 2, where John Wick is also a playable character. It all ties together in a beautiful way for anyone who is interested in the John Wick universe.”

When asked if he believed that VR entertainment would remain limited to 7-10-minute experiences for the foreseeable future, or if there was any hope for full-length VR games, Listo said “I think everything is possible. At Starbreeze Studios, not only are we working with HTC and Valve on the Vive to create content, we also have our own platform called StarVR. We have a joint venture with IMAX to create VR centers. So I think there’s definitely a place for shorter experiences, and I there’s room for experiences that are much longer.

“It all depends on what the market wants and what people are willing to do. Seven minutes [of playing] was kind of tough. Imagine doing that for two hours. You’d die. I know I would. So I think it depends on what kind of experience it is. The great thing is that it doesn’t have to do with motion sickness anymore. It only has to do with the quality of content and how long you are physically able to be in it.”

When asked about what he imagined these VR theaters would be like, Listo said “I think there are many things that we could do. It remains to be seen exactly what we put together, because we’re still working on all of that, but I think the future is super bright when it comes to VR, especially VR in public places.”

john-wick-chronicles-and-eye-for-an-eyeAs far as content, Listo explained that we’re still at the early phase of VR gaming, and how there were vast opportunities for video game developers to create unique content that can’t be experienced the same way without a headset. John Wick Chronicles is unlike any traditional first-person shooter. “That’s an unbelievable thing,” said Listo “and we’re just at the beginning of it. Give us another ten or twenty shots at making a game like this, and it’s going to be unbelievable—not saying that this game isn’t great already, but we’re just beginning, and that’s the cool thing about VR.”

We asked Listo about what challenges VR faced right now, after being on the market for almost a year. He said: “I think the challenge right now isn’t necessarily a technical one, but more of a marketing one—making sure to get the word out there [and] making sure that people get excited about VR. The only way to really enjoy VR and get the hang of it is to experience it yourself. That’s when you truly realize how good it is. You have to see it to believe it.”

Why Nescafé Created A 24-Hour Global Facebook Livestream

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Nescafé combined caffeine and content and celebrated International Coffee Day on October 1 by inviting its legion of java enthusiasts around the globe to upload a video of themselves enjoying their morning joe.

The “Good Morning World” campaign invited people to post selfie-style shots of themselves enjoying their morning brew while Nescafé’s social managers compiled the best content in a celebratory coffee “mug chain.” And for every video that was uploaded, the Nestlé-owned food industry giant distributed a coffee plantlet to a farmer around the world.

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“Nescafé is all about creating real connections—connections that matter,” Michael Chrisment, Nescafé global head of integrated marketing, told [a]listdaily shortly after the livestream concluded. “We wanted to celebrate International Coffee Day by helping coffee lovers around the world connect over a morning cup of coffee. Livestreaming was the perfect way to bring people together in an innovative, and very real way. When you wake up, you grab your phone and a coffee. Nescafé and social media go hand-in-hand, which is why Facebook livestream was a great way to reach our fans.”

Chrisment says the livestream—which was also live on YouTube and Periscope—was a perfect fit for Nescafé’s on-going mobile-first REDvolution, which is a unified global look and feel across all their products in 180 markets worldwide.

“It’s also about continuously looking for new and exciting ways to help mobile-loving young fans to start new connections,” he says.

The world’s first instant coffee and the fifth most valuable food and drink brand is keen on connecting youth with their caffeine in the name of content creation. It’s how people communicate, Chrisment says, and as a brand, they want to be relevant to the world that young people live in.

With over 35 million fans on Facebook, Chrisment said that the platform is naturally a major part of their multi-channel digital strategy—further evidenced by 360-degree video—and they are allocating their marketing budgets accordingly.

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Earlier this month, Nescafé Dolce Gusto also launched the “Creativity Reinvents The Classics” campaign with Grammy Award winning musician will.i.am, where the artist took over the Facebook page for 48 hours.

Another way Nescafé is reinventing the coffee category is through their Tumblr-powered website, a portal where people who love their coffee can upload and share their own content. Nescafé was the first global brand to move their entire website to Tumblr last year.

It’s all part of a strategy that shuns direct marketing for a social-first approach. The rebranding exercise was also complemented by a logo redesign, too.

“Our ambition is to shape the new world of coffee,” says Chrisment. “We believe some of the key trends driving the coffee category today are authenticity, personalization, new experiences and digital. We want to remain the world’s favorite coffee today and tomorrow, so digital and social are key ways for us to connect with people around the world.” 

Follow Manouk Akopyan on Twitter @Manouk_Akopyan