‘LawBreakers’ Markets On Being Different, And Difficult

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LawBreakers, the gravity-defying shooter from Cliff Bleszinski’s Boss Key Productions and Nexon, has officially launched for PC and PlayStation 4. Since the game is different from anything else on the market today, promoting LawBreakers focused primarily on getting it in the hands of gamers—while giveaways, competitions and a bit of influencer marketing helped fuel the hype.

For a game as different as LawBreakers, its developers knew that players had to try it to believe it. That’s why Boss Key brought a nearly complete game (as opposed to a mere demo) to E3 2017. For Boss Key Productions, getting players to pre-order the game (especially because it’s no longer free-to-play) would rely on building a strong and loyal community around it.

“I think it’s just getting them to believe in the game, and that’s the reason we’ve been doing all these betas for so long,” Dan Nanni, lead designer at Boss Key Productions, told AListDaily at E3. “We’re gamers ourselves, and we feel that we’re making a game for both ourselves and the community. Our players have given us feedback and we’ve changed the game accordingly. We’re going to keep on iterating and making the game that they want because even though we think it has a solid foundation, we need our players to make it better. We think those players are going to be here for the long term.”

In LawBreakers, teams of five players must work together to complete objectives, with one side playing as “Law” and the other playing as the “Breakers.” The game features zero gravity areas, which means players can attack—and be attacked—from any angle on the map.

The game is purposely made to be difficult at a time when developers are making games more accessible to new players. Given the marriage of chaos and skill required to play LawBreakers, Boss Key and publisher Nexon are embracing those who would be just as happy to watch as to play, so they turned to the obvious partner—Twitch.

“Twitch is a powerhouse, so when we identified that we wanted to find some influential gamers to showcase LawBreakers the way it’s meant to be played, Twitch was the obvious choice,” Nexon America’s VP of marketing and communications Vlad Coho told AListDaily. “To put it another way, LawBreakers’ gameplay dictated the message, ‘this game takes skill.’ So, then we identified the people who could really demonstrate that message (high-skill streamers), then we went to the place where they all do their thing—Twitch.”

The team also invited streamers to a special pre-launch event called #skilledAF, allowing them to get exclusive hands-on access with the game, meet the developers and of course, share lots of posts on social media.

Twitch Prime members can unlock special in-game items with the “Bleeding Purple” pack which includes a character skin, three weapon skins, four weapon stickers, and the infamous Kappa icon as an account portrait.

Boss Key Productions has hosted a number of livestreams leading up to and celebrating the launch of LawBreakers, so everyone could see the game in action. The team also rolled out a number of competitions that challenged its fans to “break” the beta, upload the best video montage and more for prizes. The game even has its own custom PS4 Pro console, which fans can enter to win by joining the official PSN community.

While promoting the game, Nexon says the most important brand message to share was just how unique the game is—and that it’s not for the faint of heart.

“We wanted to help everyone understand that LawBreakers asks a lot of players in terms of reflexes, precision, visual awareness, teamwork and movement coordination,” Coho said. “Also, we wanted to convey that this is a multiplayer FPS that is both unlike anything currently on the market, but also deeply rooted in the genre’s truest truths.”

The Void Partners With Disney To Create ‘Star Wars’ VR Attraction

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Lucasfilm, ILMxLAB and The Void are collaborating to bring a new multiplayer hyper-reality arcade experience, Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire, to Void Experience Centers at Disney World for the holiday season.

The untethered VR experience is being developed using Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 4 technology. It’s the second Hollywood IP for The Void. Previously, the Lindon, Utah-based franchise worked with Sony Pictures on a VR experience called Ghostbusters: Dimensions at Madame Tussauds in Times Square.

Curtis Hickman, The Void co-founder and chief creative officer

The Void co-founder and chief creative officer Curtis Hickman spoke with AListDaily about the collaboration with ILMxLAB and Disney Parks, and The Void’s tech, which blends tetherless VR headsets with haptics, sounds and other senses.

“Guests who step into Star Wars: Secrets of the Empire won’t just see this world, they’ll know that they are part of this amazing story,” Hickman said. “We work hard to make sure it’s not just your eyes, but it’s everything.”

The Ghostbusters experience is designed for four players and is 10 minutes long, with a few minutes before and after to put on and remove the gear. Star Wars will also be a multi-person experience, but while Ghostbusters involved a 3.5-pound portable desktop computer disguised as a proton pack, Star Wars will be tether-free, absolving the need to hide a computer.

“We’re trying to improve on what was done in Ghostbusters,” Hickman said, “and that includes new technology that improves the social interaction. Guests can talk [to] and see each other in The Void experiences.”

Hickman said that as a general rule of thumb, four is a great number to work with because it allows two pairs of people to go through the experience and have a nice dynamic interaction. By working on Ghostbusters, Hickman’s team learned that people are looking for a rich experience and wish fulfillment when they step into a movie universe they love.

“It’s important that a VR experience delivers on those dreams and desires people have from those properties and the worlds they love so much,” Hickman said. “We also learned about flow and experimenting with space and we’re applying all of those things to Star Wars.”

The Void’s Star Wars experience also uses a technology called redirected walking, which gives the user the illusion of exploring a much larger virtual reality world. “In home VR, you can stand in one place and look around at a perceived landscape,” Hickman said, “but if you take two steps you run into a wall. In a Void experience, you can keep going.”

The exact length of time for the Star Wars VR experience is still being determined, but Hickman said it will take place in a similar-sized space as Ghostbusters. The bigger-picture goal for The Void is to create spaces that can be built across many locations around the globe featuring multiple hyper-reality experiences.

“We’re designing the template that we can reuse for many different experiences,” Hickman said. “That’s what we’re looking to do here in Disneyland.”

Digital Domain Shifts To Original Content With ‘Monkey King’ VR Series

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Monkey King (aka Sun Wukong) is one of the most enduring figures in Chinese mythology, and has inspired characters like Son Goku, the main protagonist of the Dragon Ball franchise. The mythological character, who’s an anthropomorphic monkey that has the intelligence of a human and the impatient temperament of monkey, has a broad range of powers that include super strength, speed, agility and shapeshifting—that’s all on top of being the best martial arts warrior on both heaven and earth, battling humans, demons and gods.

Now, just as how the myth has been revised throughout history, Monkey King finds fresh life in the digital age, this time in virtual reality with a new series created by Digital Domain.

Wayne Kennedy, director of creative development at Digital Domain

“Digital Domain’s Monkey King isn’t a game, but rather a visually captivating, cinematic storybook experience told in VR,” Wayne Kennedy, director of creative development at Digital Domain, told AListDaily. “Forged from 16th century Chinese mythology and brought to life through the power of VR, viewers are immersed in a world of supernatural creatures with twists and turns along the way.”

The first episode of the three-chapter series debuted digitally for PlayStation VR in July and tells an origin story that unfolds in 360 degrees around the viewer. It is the first original series from Digital Domain, which is best known as a visual effects company that developed the Incorporated VR experience to promote the Syfy TV show, in addition to a VR talk show called House of Legends for the NBA.

Monkey King is the starting point for Digital Domain’s shift to creating original content.

“To build on Digital Domain’s legacy, the studio’s first piece of original content needed to be an impressive mix of all our in-house talent and capabilities,” Kennedy said. “Upon considering many great stories, I was most inspired by a childhood favorite of mine, the fabled story of Monkey King. Our team adapted the fantastical tale with some originality and are excited to introduce the story to Western audiences. Bringing a cinematic experience to an immersive world will open up the possibilities of virtual reality to a more diverse audience.”

Discussing the company’s long-term goals with the VR series and developing original content, Kennedy said, “Digital Domain has been an innovator in the entertainment industry by creating content that fans want to consume. Monkey King is the first of many pieces of original content to leverage our in-house visual effects artistry, 360 experience and interactive technologies. Immersive storytelling is the next level of transportive experiences.”

Kennedy said the company saw an opportunity to take advantage of PlayStation VR’s platform for Monkey King’s debut.

“When considering a launch platform, we consider a variety of factors, not necessarily favoring the capabilities of one over the other,” said Kennedy. “For PlayStation, we saw an opportunity to exploit the limited available cinematic VR experiences. We love games, but we believe there is also a market for passive viewing.”

That being said, Kennedy confirmed that Monkey King will also be available on the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, Steam, Google Daydream and Google Cardboard later this year. “Following a very positive response to our previews of Monkey King at VR Con at the San Diego Comic-Con, we’re working closely with Sony to promote the VR experience to PlayStation VR users,” he said.

Digital Domain plans on releasing more VR stories in the future, and although they may not involve Monkey King or world mythology, audiences seem excited for animated VR TV experiences.

How ‘The Legend of Zelda’ Saved The House Of Mario

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Thirty years after Link first ventured into Hyrule in The Legend of Zelda, he would return to save the day in real life. In 2016, Nintendo was still spiraling downward, experiencing a 27 percent decline from the year before and needed a big win with its new console, the Nintendo Switch. Nearly five million unit sales later, it’s safe to say that the Nintendo Switch is a hit—mostly thanks to its biggest launch title, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

While it’s true the Nintendo Switch only launched with two titles—Breath of the Wild and 1-2 Switch—it is abundantly clear which title fans rushed out to buy. Having barely a handful of launch games usually spells doom for a console launch, especially since Breath of the Wild received relatively little in terms of marketing, but the Switch proved to be an exception. Breath of the Wild went gold in February, and by April had sold over 1.3 million units—outselling the Switch console itself.

These figures include more than 925,000 units sold for Nintendo Switch and nearly 460,000 units sold for the Wii U console.

“This high of an attach rate is more or less unprecedented, and we anticipate that this momentum may lead to a new sell-through record for the entire The Legend of Zelda series,” Nintendo president Tatsumi Kimishima said in the company’s earnings report.

Originally announced only as a Wii U title, this new installment of the hit franchise was said to “rethink the conventions” of The Legend of Zelda series. Not much was revealed about Link’s new console adventure until E3 2016, when Nintendo transformed its entire 30,000 square-foot booth into a living, breathing environment. The floor was covered in real grass, life-sized props, ambient nature noises and even smells—transporting E3 attendees to the world of Hyrule and giving them a taste of their future game adventures. At the same time, Nintendo hosted a livestreaming marathon, showcasing the game’s graphics and many hours of gameplay to millions of people around the world.

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is the first open world title in the series, allowing fans to freely explore the kingdom of Hyrule. Much like Pokémon GO, the game’s premise fulfills many childhood dreams of immersing themselves into the game environment. Nostalgia and excitement for Nintendo’s new console helped launch The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild to the top of the charts.

“Nintendo wrote the book on the combo of new hardware with a hit title. Every console has had a Mario and Zelda game that drove the initial installs, and the Switch is proving no different,” SuperData CEO Joost van Dreunen told AlistDaily. “What is remarkable about The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is that it’s a masterpiece in its own right—more so than a game to merely show off the capabilities of a new device, like Wii Sports.

“More broadly, considering the disappointment following the Wii U and the initial skepticism around a portable console like the Switch, Nintendo has managed to hit a home run by delivering a rock solid game in Zelda. Yes, there weren’t that many titles available at launch, but Nintendo came through in a big way with such a high-quality title, reminding consumers and industry alike that it remains an undisputed leader. It’s the kind of magic that Sony and Microsoft have yet to replicate.”

Nintendo revenue is now up 148 percent and the company’s share price is up 46 percent since the Switch launched in March. As of June 2017, The Legend of Zelda is the second-best-selling title across all platforms in the US, according to NPD. Two expansions are on the way for the hit game, as well, so fans haven’t seen the last of Hyrule just yet.

Titles such as Splatoon 2 and Minecraft are helping to keep sales momentum strong for the Nintendo Switch, while upcoming games like Super Mario Odyssey keep the fans talking. Time will tell if the Switch will outperform the Wii, but it’s off to a strong start thanks to The Legend of Zelda.

McLaren Esports Competition Expands Brand And Motorsports

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McLaren surprised the gaming world in May when it announced that it was partnering with Logitech G, racing apparel and simulation brand Sparco and the GiveMeSport media platform to enter into the esports space with a new competition series called World’s Fastest Gamer.

The competition is the brainchild of Darren Cox, founder of IDEAS+CARS, who has spent over 20 years promoting the automotive industry through gaming events such as the Nissan GT Academy, esports and other creative initiatives, now complemented with an unorthodox approach toward esports. McLaren’s competition will feature a spread of games across multiple platforms—including mobile, consoles and PC—using different games that include McLaren cars in them. Its most recent addition is the mobile game Gear.Club, and the person who masters racing across all the diverse platforms wins a job at McLaren driving its Formula 1 simulator.

Darren Cox, founder of IDEAS+CARS

“The growth of esports is well documented, but one thing that slips under the radar is the size of the racing community because it is so diverse,” Cox told AlistDaily. “We’ve seen a huge amount of interest and investment in soccer over the last year, and I think the next great area is going to be motorsports.”

Cox said that he’s seen strong growth in what he calls “unreal esports,” which includes games such as Dota 2, League of Legends and more. But the recent expansion of traditional sports such as American football, soccer and basketball into esports convinced him that now is the time for motorsports to take its place in gaming. However, motorsports faces some unique challenges.

“For a number of years, motor racing has had a huge market on gaming consoles, PC and mobile, but it’s been relatively untapped in terms of potential,” said Cox. “One of the reasons for that is, unlike something like soccer, where FIFA is the dominant source for gaming or Madden for American football, racing is spread across many titles like Forza or Gran Turismo on consoles, something like iRacing on PC and Real Racing on mobile. There isn’t one dominant game for the racing genre.”

Cox then went into detail about how the World’s Fastest Gamer competition came together and how it will grow esports, the McLaren brand and motorsports in general.

What inspired the McLaren World’s Fastest Gamer competition?

The idea behind it is finding the champion of champions. There are many debates on forums and communities across the internet which will discuss whether one favorite game is better than another one. Normally, competitions have been held on one specific platform, and we’ve never had a chance to find out which game is the champion of champions. So, we set out to bring all of those diverse games together to find out what the best of the best is. The great thing about it is that it’s got probably the best prize in esports, which is a year’s contract to work at McLaren’s Formula 1 factory in the UK as a simulator driver helping out the Formula 1 team as they performance engineer their race car.

How did the competition come together?

I’ve had a relationship with a number of people from McLaren over the years, and Zak Brown, the new executive director of the Formula 1 team, and I have worked on a number of projects. I went to them with this concept and we quickly signed a deal to make this happen. Zak is changing a lot of things at McLaren, and one of those things is letting driver Fernando Alonso race in the Indianapolis 500. He’s doing things differently from the traditional approach of Formula 1 teams, and despite how Formula 1 is a technologically advanced and an innovative sport, it can sometimes be very conservative in the ways it goes to market and attracts fans.

McLaren is changing that and that’s why they decided to commit to World’s Fastest Gamer and be the first Formula 1 team to be heavily involved in gaming, despite the fact that gaming is a huge part of the fans’ interaction with motorsports. We’ve got everything from mobile through to PC, and all the games are being played with McLaren products. For them, it’s a fantastic marketing tool—not just for the content of gamers being seen in a McLaren environment, but also because their cars are being driven virtually by thousands of gamers that may not have previously. I think that everyone in the motor industry is now seeing gaming as a valuable marketing tool instead of as just a way of deriving license fees.

What led to the inclusion of Gear.Club, and how do you get over the huge differences between the mobile, console and PC platforms?

That’s the beauty of the competition. Formula 1 is and has been very exclusive, as is esports in a way. When you look at some of the esports, you need a high-end PC and a very good keyboard, mouse or controller. McLaren and I wanted to democratize motorsports. We wanted to make this as accessible as possible, and not just from a cost point of view, but from a geographical one. There are parts of the world where you can’t compete in esports because they lack the internet bandwidth. So, we spoke to a number of different mobile game licensees, and Gear.Club—a newcomer to the space—was willing to use this platform and project as a marketing tool. We’re excited to have an accessible game like Gear.Club played alongside rFactor 2, which is seen as one of the best simulators on the PC. Whatever your focus is in the racing world, you’ve got access to one of the world’s greatest sports.

Besides the fact that they have McLaren cars in them, what goes into choosing these games?

I would say an open mind, because it’s the first year and no one knows how these sorts of projects will pan out. It’s great to have such a strong brand like McLaren to back it, but year one of any project is always a test. Everyone we’re working with has an open mindset and they’re looking at different ways to improve the project. In year one, we can’t give you a bunch of stats like KPIs, but we can explain the five-year vision of where this is going, and those with open minds have committed very early to it.

What is the long-term goal in targeting gamers with the competition?

It’s to open both McLaren and motorsports to a new audience. We had a study with a partner site a couple of years ago that indicated that about 78 percent of gamers found motorsports through gaming. As we know from studies in other sports such as major league soccer, the younger generations are finding sports through gaming rather than their local soccer fields, race tracks or athletics tracks—they’re discovering in a different way. McLaren has seen that the average age of racing fans is going up, it wants to get to a new audience, and they’ve made a big commitment to be in this area.

A side benefit of that is that their cars are being driven through virtual test drives. Now, I don’t think anyone is saying that anyone is going to buy a McLaren car off the back of World’s Fastest Gamer, but there is some data that suggests that the McLaren brand went up significantly when one of its cars was featured on the cover of a Forza game. You can become affiliated with a brand through gaming. Perhaps having McLaren seen as an innovative brand will bring it to the attention of people who can afford the cars.

What is the relationship between high-end car brands and gamers, many of whom may not be able to afford them?

It’s an interesting space, and we know that many other car brands are getting further involved in gaming. Porsche had a recent partnership with Forza at Le Mans, where roughly 100 gamers were flown there to race virtually while the real Le Mans 24 Hours was on. Audi has also had competitions on Forza. So, we’re looking at the high-end brands, knowing that they need to be in this space for the future and because they know that their current consumers are gamers. We know that some people spend tens of thousands of dollars on gaming rigs, so the dynamics and demographics of gamers are changing dramatically.

A number of brands have even used gaming to launch cars. BMW is launching the 6-series in Gran Turismo before it launches in the real world this fall. Like I said before, car manufacturers once saw gaming as an income stream that was a profitable sideline to their normal business, but the switch is coming where brands want their cars to be in certain games, and they work closely with publishers to make sure they’re front and center. I can see the license fee model changing, where certain games will be able to charge the other way around—offering premium position for car brands. That’s how important gaming is to the car industry.

How have you been getting the word out about this global multiplatform competition?

This is a multi-year deal, so we haven’t gone hard in the beginning—we’re building it very organically. Our main outlets are the McLaren social media sites, and they have millions of followers across Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. They’re pushing this story to their current fans. We have an excellent media partner called GiveMeSport, which is the biggest sports publisher on Facebook with 26 million fans and they’ve been carrying all of our content. So, at the moment, we’re just doing introductory content about the gamers that have gotten through to the finals and what the competition is all about.

We’ll be livestreaming the main qualifiers next month across Facebook Live, YouTube and Twitch, but the main piece of content will be the finals in late October, early November at McLaren’s. We’ll have short-form content, livestreaming and we’ll have a long-form documentary style piece about the competition and the winner. It’s 100 percent digital first because we know that’s where our audience is, it’s where gamers are and it’s where car fans are today. We haven’t done any broadcasting with traditional channels, so everything is rights free and free to access. We’re also engaging with individual gaming communities that exist around Gran Turismo, Forza, Project Cars and others.

CMOs Say They Will Invest In AI And Machine Learning

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Eighty-six percent of retailer CMOs are planning to invest in AI and machine learning this year, according to a study by Persado. While nearly half (47 percent) of marketers surveyed said they will invest up to $50 million in the technology, not everyone is confident. Only 22 percent felt that they were skilled at emotionally engaging customers through their content.

The ability to source, understand and then quickly react to feedback, preferences and needs is important, if not critical, to the delivery of an exceptional customer experience. That’s according to 90 percent of CMOs surveyed for The CMO Council’s new report, “The Responsiveness Requirement: How Agile Marketers Act on Consumer Feedback to Drive Growth.”

Despite the common consensus, however, 60 percent of respondents believe a focus on customer over product will need to take place for any significant progress to be made. In fact, 77 percent of respondents admit it can take up to 90 days to respond and react to customer feedback.

Seventy-three percent of gamers are happy with the ad-funded model of app games, according to a study by Facebook Audience Network and 2CV. While these users are sufficed to support their favorite titles through monetization, not all ads are created equal. Respondents were 23 percent more likely to buy or use an advertised product when presented through a rewarded video ad as opposed to “non-choice-based advertising.”

Overall, players seem more content with a reward-based advertising system. The study found that mid-core and hardcore games with rewarded video ads receive 15 percent more five-star ratings than games with “less choice to engage with videos.” Casual games weren’t far behind, receiving 11 percent more five-star ratings than similar games with other monetization structures.

What kind of movies do gamers like? Machinima found that the answer lies in what games they play. Those who like role playing games are 31 percent more likely to see a science-fiction film when it premieres, and fighting-game enthusiasts are 30 percent more likely to see a horror film when it opens. Mobile gamers, meanwhile, are 21 percent more likely to go to a comedy and those who enjoy sandbox (open world) games are 36 percent more likely to see an animated film.

Gamers see films more often than the average consumer, Machinima discovered. Every one of the 2,051 players surveyed said they go to the movies at least once a year, compared to the general population at 71 percent. In addition, 17 percent of these gamers see at least 12 movies a year, compared togeneral audiences at 11 percent.

According to a study by AdColony, 75 percent of mobile app developers (mostly game-related) named rewarded ads as the most effective monetization method. Native ads come in at a distant second—32 percent. The AdColony Summer 2017 Publishing Survey found that 71 percent of mobile app developers use three or more strategies to keep users engaged, including achievements (65 percent), push notifications (62 percent) and value exchange (rewarded) ads at 49 percent. The least popular engagement tool was banner messaging at 14 percent.

Instagram Stories may look a lot like Snapchat Stories, but brands are using one a whole lot more. L2 tracked 89 brands who have both an Instagram and Snapchat account during July and found that marketers posted 1,347 Instagram Stories compared to 614 Snapchat Stories. In one instance (the week of July 10), 41 percent of marketers used Instagram Stories compared to just nine percent on Snapchat.

This may come as somewhat of a shock, but it is possible to go on on vacation or head to the airport without sharing it on social media. Luckily for Experian, who wanted to study travel-related hashtags, there was no shortage of such posts. Experian used its social media analysis tool to connect social media posts with travel brand engagement.

What they found is that more than 12 percent of the consumers discussing travel plans also hashtagged “beach” in their posts. Interestingly, these consumers are 2.1 times more likely to live in Washington D.C., 1.3 times more likely to live in Washington and 1.3 times more likely to live in Vermont. Sixty percent of females shared their plans more than their male counterparts, and 47 percent of consumers were between the ages of 31-to-50.

Smart home device owners are open to the idea of sharing data and device control in exchange for electricity discounts, according to research from IoT market research firm Parks Associates. This response applied to 51 percent of smart thermostat owners, 50 percent of hot water heater owners and 48 percent of smart clothes dryer owners surveyed.

“It is essential for all IoT players to understand consumers’ willingness to exchange data for services, their views on privacy and security, and the conditions under which they will grant access to their data,” Tom Kerber, director of IoT strategy at Parks Associates, told Marketing Daily. “When you have data about how products perform in the field, you can roll out patches or fixes or new products at a faster rate.”

Editor’s Note: This story will be updated daily until Friday, August 11. Have a new report, study or tip? Let us know at editorial@alistdaily.com.

Madison Square Garden Company’s Plan To Take Esports Mainstream

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The Madison Square Garden Company (MSG), owners of the world famous sporting venue as well as the New York Knicks and Rangers, is the latest traditional sports and entertainment company to invest big in esports. MSG has acquired a controlling stake in North American esports team Counter Logic Gaming (CLG), which fields professional teams across League of Legends, Counter Strike: Global Offensive, Overwatch, Super Smash Bros. and H1Z1.

With this partnership, MSG significantly expands its presence into the fast-growing world of competitive gaming, offering the esports brand full access to its sports business, including marketing partnerships, media rights, event operations, ticketing, merchandise and fan engagement. MSG has already hosted two sell-out esports events in August 2015 and October 2016.

Jordan Solomon, executive vice president of MSG Sports

Jordan Solomon, executive vice president of MSG Sports, told AListDaily that witnessing the October 2016 LCS World Semifinals at Madison Square Garden first-hand played a major factor in the company’s commitment to esports.

“The fans are rabid and enthusiastic, and these are incredible events,” Solomon said. “As an organization, we’re always looking to put on and host iconic events at our venues and the esports tournaments and competitions are some of the more compelling up-and-coming events.”

MSG also owns the New York-based venues Radio City Music Hall and the Beacon Theatre, The Forum in Inglewood, California, The Chicago Theatre and the Wang Theatre in Boston. “We have looked for the last couple of years for how to get involved in this growing industry and saw esports events as a natural entry point into the industry,” Solomon said.

ESL and Riot Games have both used The Theater at Madison Square Garden for events, while Activision Blizzard used The Forum for last year’s Call of Duty XP. “With CLG, we saw team ownership as an attractive opportunity in a world where more esports leagues are going towards a franchise model,” Solomon added. “We see this franchise model as an opportunity where we can build off of our expertise,” Solomon explained. “But we don’t have expertise in selecting players and coaches and building out the infrastructure of a successful esports team. Partnering with CLG is perfect because that’s where they’ve been extremely successful.”

In addition to the Knicks and Rangers, MSG owns the New York Liberty (WNBA), along with two development league teams—the Westchester Knicks (NBAGL) and the Hartford Wolf Pack (AHL). Esports opens up a brand new and younger audience to MSG. According to research firm Newzoo, 285 million people worldwide watched esports events last year, and the majority of this audience are the millennial and Gen Z viewers sponsors are clamoring for.

“We don’t see a ton of overlap between traditional sports fans and esports fans,” Solomon said. “A lot of the folks coming to esports are people we have never interacted with in the past. It’s a different demographic, and that’s exciting because it’s a new way to introduce our venues, customer experience and brands to them. That’s why we’re always looking for the next set of live experiences.”

When it comes to brands and sponsors, Solomon sees esports as an unbounded opportunity. “We want to help connect both endemic and non-endemic—including our more traditional marketing partners—to the esports space,” Solomon said. “We have numerous partners across all of the traditional industries we’ve worked with for decades. They’ve come to us asking how they can get into the esports space.”

In addition to the CLG teams, MSG will also be involved in the debut of the NBA 2K ELeague next year through the Knicks. “We see all of these video games as entry points for our traditional marketing partners,” Solomon said.

He added that one of the current issues that still surrounds esports is that many traditional brands aren’t sure what they’re going to get when partnering with a young and inexperienced esports organization. That has lead to trepidation on esports teams being able to deliver on a brand’s marketing goals.

“We’ll help bring these deals to life,” Solomon said. “We have plenty of experience partnering with brands and connection with millennials across our events and teams. We’ve seen a lot of inbound interest around that notion since the CLG announcement.”

While games like Super Smash Bros. and Overwatch have attracted a more mainstream audience, NBA 2K has the potential to connect with an even broader audience.

“The 2K esports endeavor is really compelling for both existing NBA basketball fans and esports fans,” Solomon said. “It’s a way to engage with that audience on platforms that they’re playing on day-to-day—platforms they’re most familiar and comfortable with. The data in traditional sports would suggest there’s some shifting of viewership away from traditional channels to online streaming and following through social media. The NBA 2K ELeague and esports will help to satisfy that natural transition for millennials.”

Blizzard Entertainment recently told AListDaily that the new Overwatch League will open up regional and local sponsorship opportunities, as well as hometown fan bases.

“Our aspiration is for MSG to be a strong brand in New York and for CLG to be a New York esports organization,” Solomon said. “The initial reaction to CLG on social media from people who live in New York City has been that they want them to be their local team. We intend to invest meaningful time and energy to build out fandom and awareness here in New York City.”

‘Life Is Strange’ Prequel Connects With Fans Using Authenticity

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Episodic game series Life is Strange was a huge hit when it debuted in 2015. Developed by French studio Dontnod Entertainment and set in the fictional town of Arcadia Bay, the game told a multilayered story across five episodes that covered issues such as grief, bullying, sexuality and suicide, just to name a few.

All of it was wrapped in a supernatural coming-of-age story and a complex murder mystery involving strange characters, reminiscent of the TV show Twin Peaks.

Both adolescent and adult fans were drawn to the teen drama about a high school girl named Max Caufield who used time travel abilities to change decisions—ones that mostly centered on her estranged childhood friend Chloe Price, who was looking for her missing friend Rachel Amber.

So, it came as a surprise to fans when, instead of announcing a sequel, Square Enix brought a prequel titled Life is Strange: Before the Storm to this year’s E3, which is being developed by Deck Nine Games (formerly Idol Minds) while Dontnod finishes its work on a separate game called Vampyr.

The three-episode game series will release its first chapter August 31. It will focus specifically on Chloe Price (who does not have any supernatural abilities) and is set during the time period when she first meets Rachel. The setting is important because it deals with a period that isn’t fully discussed in the first game; therefore fans won’t already know what will happen, or how the story will end.

Zakariah Garriss, lead writer at Deck Nine Games

“We’re examining the life of this girl when she’s really lost and has burned every bridge at school and at home,” Zakariah Garriss, lead writer at Deck Nine Games, told AListDaily. “We’re looking at what it’s like for her when she meets Rachel Amber and examining what it’s like in someone’s life when they need somebody and they meet somebody who can change everything for them.”

Garriss has had experience in Hollywood writing for TV and film before entering game development, and the opportunity to work on the Life is Strange franchise came when the studio met with Square Enix to discuss using its game development toolset StoryForge.

That conversation occurred just as the Life is Strange fan base was exploding, which shifted the topic of the conversation. “Square cares so much about the franchise, that world, and meeting fans’ desires to go back there,” said Garriss. “We met, and those conversations turned into discussing what kind of story we would tell in a Life is Strange game. That led to creating the prequel.”

However, one of the core elements from the first game was Max’s ability to rewind time. Garriss explained how he pitched fans the idea of a Life is Strange game that didn’t seem all that strange. “While we don’t have a power like time travel, we have plenty of supernatural stuff in the game,” he said. “The idea of Chloe herself having a power felt wrong, but Arcadia Bay is a very strange place. Life is Strange’s art and narrative styles have surreal aesthetics to them. It has the willingness to examine odd, almost unexplained things as ways to represent the interior worlds of the personalities that live there. We’ve fully embraced that. There are all sorts of strange and surreal spaces to navigate in the game.

“The other way I would pitch it is that [the story] is more about responding to fans. I think the thing that’s most memorable about Life is Strange for most people isn’t the power, it’s the characters. It’s dealing with these relatable people and real-world issues. A lot of those stories were very personal [with issues like] bullying, relationships and even sexuality. There’s a courage there that we see as the cornerstone of the franchise—taking relatable problems that teenagers go through very seriously. We let that be our guide.”

It seems as though fans have taken to the game’s announcement very well, despite the fact that it’s being developed by a different studio. “There was rightfully a lot of curiosity,” said Garriss, “but our experience is in sharing what we’re doing by talking about the work and revealing more as we lead up to launch. We’ve received an incredible groundswell of support from the community, which is excited to go back to Arcadia Bay. The expectations are really high, and we wouldn’t have it as any other way. We all identify as fans ourselves.”

With the release date fast approaching, Deck Nine has been closely engaged with fans of the series. “One the most exciting moments for us in development was E3, because that’s when we announced, released the first trailer and started to engage the public to talk about the game and what’s to come,” said Garriss. “Here at the studio, we all monitor social media differently, but our entire studio was watching when we announced the game and they saw YouTube videos of people recording their responses to the announcement and trailer. We take them very seriously, and it’s an incredible privilege to work in this franchise and share our love of Life is Strange with the community. It’s incredibly humbling and rewarding to see so many people excited about the game and wanting to learn more about what Before the Storm is going to be like.”

Before the Storm was also presented at the San Diego Comic-Con, where Deck Nine showed an early demo of the game. The studio has also released developer diaries on social media and YouTube as opportunities to further engage with the enthusiastic community.

In May, Square Enix and Dontnod Entertainment announced that Life is Strange had sold over three million copies, and thanked its community for sending a multitude of supportive letters and gifts, including photos and even statues inspired by the game. Garriss shared his thoughts about how Life is Strange brought together an incredibly dedicated fan base that’s comprised of both teenagers and adults.

“To me, it’s about the flaws in the characters,” said Garriss. “Life is Strange is about telling stories with imperfect people who are dealing with really difficult but relatable problems. I think there’s a kind of celebration of the normal, even as it explodes what normal means if everyone is weird—if everyone is a little strange. There’s a kindness in that. There aren’t a lot of stories that feature characters who are really flawed but very real. I think that’s what creates the powerful connection players have with Max, Chloe and the other personalities in Arcadia Bay.”

In addition to the dramatic story and engaging characters, the music featured in Life is Strange turned out to be a huge draw for fans. The game became a vehicle for music discovery, which led to the inclusion of a soundtrack disc in the Life is Strange Limited Edition, a boxed retail edition that released last year.

Before the Storm will continue to engage with that love of music by including a Mixtape Mode in the deluxe edition. With it, players can create their own playlists from the soundtrack to play alongside a dramatic scene in the game.

Jeff Litchford, vice president at Deck Nine Games, discussed Before the Storm’s soundtrack with AListDaily.

“The first Life is Strange game was hugely praised for music and we want to follow in those footsteps,” said Litchford. “Aside from multiple licensed tracks, we also have a bespoke musical score that has been created for the game by a well-known band. Discoverability is something we feel was really important in the first game, and we look to continue this by using a mixture of recognizable tracks alongside some bands that players may not have come across themselves.”

‘The Crew 2’ Expands Franchise With Planes, Boats And Community Engagement

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Motorsport fans have a lot to look forward to next year when The Crew 2 releases. The game, which is coming to PC and consoles (enhanced with PlayStation Pro and Xbox One X features), will be a significant step up from its predecessor—a massively multiplayer online game that focuses exclusively on land-based vehicles. In the sequel, players will have the opportunity to race across the skies and dodge obstacles in planes, then take to seas in race boats, and go on land again to do stunts in a monster truck, participate in a pro circuit race, speed through city streets or go off-roading throughout the United States.

Ahmed Boukhelifa, managing director at Ivory Tower (a Ubisoft studio)

Speaking with AListDaily, Ahmed Boukhelifa, managing director at Ivory Tower, a Ubisoft studio, said that the newest installment in the racing franchise completely reinvents the game. The gigantic open world encompasses practically all of the US and lets players compete online across sea, land and air events to prove who the fastest racers are.

“When we released The Crew three years ago, we knew that it was only the beginning,” said Boukhelifa. “We did a lot to expand the game because we had a lot that we still wanted to do. Our incredibly engaged community was asking for stuff and we knew that we had to improve the game, releasing patches and expansions to make the game bigger, more varied and interesting than ever. But at some point, even with all those evolutions, we were getting to a wall that we needed to break in order to bring a revolution. That’s what we’re doing with The Crew 2.”

Boukhelifa also went into detail about the new frontiers Ivory Tower wanted to explore, stating that the developer had to look at the world and cities from all directions using cars, planes and boats.

“We had to reinvent our world, so we needed to not be afraid to break anything—to break everything—and that’s what we did and why we made The Crew 2,” Boukhelifa explained. “It will be another good start for a very long life of updates and expansions.”

Although Ivory Tower will be happy to keep the original game going after the sequel launches, Boukhelifa said, “We’d love for all the players to come and join [The Crew 2]. That’s why we set up a loyalty program, and every month (for a total of 10 months) players will have specific objectives which will allow them to earn new cars and vehicles that will be waiting for them in The Crew 2.”

The loyalty program started in June, and players earn achievements and rewards through Ubisoft’s Uplay platform.

“Not only is it a way for players to earn cool new vehicles for The Crew 2, but it will give them objectives to rediscover everything that is in The Crew,” said Boukhelifa.

So far, fans seem excited about the sequel, even though the announcement came from out of the blue (so to speak) during Ubisoft’s pre-E3 presentation.

“When you’re creating a game, it’s all about listening to the community, but it’s also about developing your vision and taking risks,” Boukhelifa explained. “You want to give players what they want, but you also want to surprise them. Through the planes and boats, we wanted to create a surprise. We worked very hard to make sure we presented a wide scope of content at E3 and we’re super happy with the response from the community.”

Pleasing a highly engaged community is one of the top lessons learned from servicing The Crew.

“What’s been interesting is that now with online games, you’re always interacting with the community,” said Boukhelifa. “You provide a service, people are playing and you know what they’re playing and what they don’t. They vote with their feet like the British Parliament—if they don’t like it, they won’t come. If they like it, they will come and ask for more. If there are issues, you’ll hear about it on the forums or the community media. We’ve been listening, always trying to do our best to understand what the players like and how they play.

“Actually, we don’t have one type of player. We have several types of players who like to play differently. Some like to explore the world, some like to compete. Some will compete very hard while some compete more casually, and some will want to do and collect everything. We try to give them new ways to play over numerous updates in The Crew, and that was the basis from which we worked from [to make The Crew 2].”

Attendees were given an early look at The Crew 2 at E3, and Boukhelifa went into detail about how they presented the enormity of the world and the variety of vehicles at the event. He said that they started by showing a map of the US and zooming into New York City and out again. Then they did the same with Miami and other cities. That’s when audiences realized that the scope included Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, St. Louis and everything in between.

“Then suddenly, what’s just a premise of the US becomes something that is too big to consider,” said Boukhelifa.

That’s when gameplay using boats, planes and cars was added to show the wide variety of vehicles featured across different events and challenges.

“You put all of that in a shaker and suddenly, the sky’s the limit,” he said.

When describing the essence of The Crew’s brand, Boukhelifa went into detail about the experience Ivory Tower strove for to engage its players.

“We want to allow everybody to live their passion for driving and motorsports—all the pleasure you have when driving a vehicle. Hearing the engine roar, feeling the asphalt below your wheels, feeling the air when you’re driving, and the exhilaration of having your plane go around buildings and down near a river. All the skills you need to develop and the pure pleasure you have when playing with those vehicles are realistic recreations.

“It’s a passion that we have for motorsports in all its varieties. When you consider street racing, it’s very different from racing on the circuit, which is different from freestyling and doing stunts with a monster truck. But at the same time, when you go for it and live this passion with these events, in these vehicles, at those places, it’s a very unique and true experience. It’s a passion that we want to make live in the game in all its forms.”

The current fan base, which includes over 12 million players, according to Boukhelifa, certainly seems to feel that passion. After converting them into The Crew 2 players, the challenge will be in getting new players. Boukhelifa believes that the fresh challenges and experiences featured in The Crew 2 will be the key to both engaging with current players and attracting new ones.

“The first step is putting out the game and showing it—getting journalists and players to play it and talk about it. The media is a huge way for us to get the word out there and it’s only the beginning. We opened the registration for our beta program, and of course, getting the game in the hands of players is another major step,” said Boukhelifa. “We’ve seen a massive response in registrations and we’re happy with that. We intend to keep engaging with the community through the loyalty program in The Crew, through the betas that will be coming, and other opportunities in our future communications.”

Brands Champion LGBTQ Community With Long-Term Commitment To The Cause

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For the LGBTQ community, the search for love and self-identity can be a battleground. Finding itself under political fire again recently, this group has received an outpouring of support from citizens and brands alike—but are well wishes enough?

With a combined buying power of $917 billion, it’s no wonder brands have made a concerted effort to connect with LGBTQ consumers for principle and profit. Sixty-seven percent of agency professionals believe that changing American values are causing brands to become more interested in corporate responsibility and values-based marketing.

Taking a stand on any hot-button issue is a risk for any brand, especially since 58 percent of consumers dislike when a brand gets political—but an authentic campaign can touch consumers of all orientations on a personal level.

While there are countless well thought-out and brilliantly executed campaigns for the LGBTQ community, these three were chosen for their authenticity and long-term commitment to the cause.

Wells Fargo—Standing Together

Background: Wells Fargo has been supporting the LGBTQ community for 30 years but for this year’s pride month (June), the bank wanted to do something different. “Stand Together” is a short film campaign that highlights four non-profits helping the LGBTQ community—Point Foundation, The Trevor Project, SAGE and GLSEN.

“Strategically we wanted to move beyond just a celebratory rainbow campaign,” John Lake, LGBT segment lead at Wells Fargo, told Adweek. “We wanted to go deeper and tell some real, authentic stories about some of the most vulnerable members of the community and really bring some awareness to the organizations that are addressing those needs.”

Why it was chosen: In marketing, the term “authentic” gets thrown around a lot, but consumers can tell when a social justice campaign is contrived. “Standing Together” offers hope to the LGBTQ community whether they are Wells Fargo members or not—showing support through stories that go beyond a PR statement.

Smirnoff—#LoveWins

In 2015, the US Supreme Court declared same-sex marriage legal in all 50 states and “Love Wins” became the battle cry for LGBTQ members and advocates everywhere. Smirnoff, a long-time supporter of this community, never stopped celebrating.

Smirnoff has introduced limited edition #LoveWins bottles in partnership with Sarah Deragon, founder of the Identity Project. Deragon’s photography project “seeks to explore the labels we choose to identify with when defining our gender and sexuality.”

The limited-edition bottles of Smirnoff No. 21 vodka feature photographs of real LGBTQ couples against a rainbow gradient tone. Each bottle, like each couple, is one of a kind. For every bottle purchased, Smirnoff will donate $1 to the Human Rights Campaign. The company is already taking submissions for next year’s #LoveWins couple photos.

“Our goal is to create more welcoming environments for the LGBTQ+ community across the US,” Smirnoff says on the campaign’s microsite. “Thanks for your support and friendship. When we stick together, Love Wins.”

Why it was chosen: Smirnoff wasn’t satisfied with just saying “Love Wins”—the company humanized the phrase with actual photos. These bottles are creating precious memories for the couples involved and sending a message to the community that they’re loved and accepted by the brand. That message is further backed by the HRC donation to help support the community in other ways.

Many consumers—especially millennials—make an effort to purchase from brands whose causes align with their own. A survey of 1,000 American adults by Toluna revealed that 45 percent of millennial consumers would be willing to spend time researching which causes a brand supports, and 47 percent would be willing to pay more for brands that pass the test.

Burger King—Proud Whopper

Background: In honor of the 2014 San Francisco Gay Pride Parade, Burger King changed the wrapper on its famous Whopper. Sold exclusively at the Market Street San Francisco restaurant, the “Proud Whopper” was identical in every way except for a rainbow-colored wrapper that read, “We are all the same inside.”

It was a bold statement that made headlines across the world. The campaign made some people angry and some customers cry with joy—but in the end, everyone knew that Burger King supported the LGBTQ community.

“The biggest risk is taking no risk,” Fernando Machado, head of brand marketing at Burger King US, told Which-50.

Proud Whopper won numerous awards and made another appearance for 2016 Cologne Pride in Germany.

Why it was chosen: Sometimes it’s the little acts of kindness that stick the longest. This campaign was chosen for our list because of its simple yet effective message that touched the hearts of many. The campaign earned over seven million views and 1.1 billion impressions within its first week alone. Three years later, people are still talking about Proud Whopper.