Now Hiring This Week: July 29th

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[a]listdaily is your source for the hottest job openings for senior management and marketing in games, entertainment and social media. Check here every Wednesday for the latest openings.

  • Harmonix – Director of Marketing (Cambridge, Mass.)
  • Disney Interactive – Manager, Social Media (Glendale, Calif.)
  • Ubisoft- Brand Manager (San Francisco, Calif.)
  • Ayzenberg – Account Director (Seattle, Wash.)
  • Ayzenberg – Senior Project Manager (Seattle, Wash.)
  • Ayzenberg – Sr. Social Media Strategist (Pasadena, Calif.)

For last week’s [a]list jobs postings, click here. Have a position you’d like to place with us Email us at pr@ayzenberg.com.

 

Gamescom Preview: The ‘Next Level of Entertainment’

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The biggest consumer game show of all is coming up August 5 in Germany, as gamescom 2015 opens its doors to greet somewhere over 335,000 visitors at the Koelnmesse expo center in Cologne, Germany. The show has expanded its floor space by 18 percent to 193,000 square meters, which means we’re quite likely to see more visitors than last year to the show. The marketing value of the conference is not to be underestimated.

Unlike the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) show in Los Angeles, the focus at gamescom is on the consumer. Yes, the trade and the press will be at the show as well (with over 5,000 journalists expected to attend), but this show allows direct experience with eager fans. It’s a prime promotional opportunity that the game industry’s largest companies are taking full advantage of, with over 800 exhibitors from more than 45 countries will present their new products in Cologne.

Game publishers are taking full advantage of the marketing opportunity with special tournaments, plenty of livestreams, elaborate booths, and all of the social media love they can encourage amoung the hundreds of thousands of game fans in attendance as well as the millions who are expected to tune in to the show remotely. There’s plenty of news expected to drop about upcoming releases, and we should see a wave of new game trailers to get excitement for new titles ramped up even higher.

The theme of this year’s gamescom will be the “Next Level of Entertainment,” and that means more than just the upcoming games, there will be plenty of virtual reality on display as well. BIU managing director Dr Maximilian Schenk explained this year’s theme as follows: “gamescom is reaching a new level in 2015. It’s not just bigger – it’s also more diverse, and takes an all-embracing look at the future of digital games. This year we have brought a very appealing partner country on board with the United Kingdom, [which] highlights the reputation of gamescom as the most important business platform in Europe.”

While all the major game companies have booths at the show, many are holding press conferences as well in order to present important information on new titles. Here’s some of what to expect from gamescom beginning on August 5:

Blizzard has a big gamescom 2015 press briefing planned, with media invites already sent out. What’s in store isn’t confirmed, but we already know Blizzard is gearing up for Legacy of the Void, its expansion for Starcraft 2, later this year. Meanwhile, Heroes of the Storm and Hearthstone are probably going to get some promotional love. Eager fans are also hoping for more info on Overwatch, and of course more information about World of Warcraft is always welcome. As the Warcraft movie draws closer, we may even see something from that.

Microsoft is promising the “greatest games lineup in Xbox history” for gamescom, with a special page set up to give a glimpse at what they will be showing. Featured games will include Quantum Break, Crackdown, and Scalebound. Of course, Halo 5: Guardians will be get prime placement as Microsoft’s biggest release this year. We’ll learn more about Halo 5, and perhaps see some new products associated with Halo 5 from Astro Gaming. Microsoft will be showing their gamescom briefing live on your Xbox or at xbox.com, and there will be live video updates throughout the show featuring “gamescom breaking news, exclusive announcements, trailer reveals, game demos, and interviews with game creators.”

Sony won’t be making a big splash with a press conference at gamescom, saving their efforts for Paris Games Week in October. Of course, Sony will still have a booth with plenty of games being showcased, and no doubt we’ll see more about Horizon Zero Dawn, No Man’s Sky, The Last Guardian, and the special content coming up on the PS4 for Destiny and Call of Duty: Black Ops III.

Nintendo’s booth will be showing many of their top titles that are already out, including Splatoon, with some key upcoming titles like Super Mario Maker and Star Fox Zero getting some special attention. There will be some special events for Nintendo fans, including Super Smash Bros. and Splatoon tournaments. Check out the full lineup here.

Ubisoft won’t be holding a big press conference, but their gamescom booth will feature a new Assassin’s Creed Syndicate demo, hands-on multiplayer battles for For Honor, Rainbow Six Siege, and The Division, along with a Rabbids Virtual Reality Ride and on-stage presentations for Just Dance 2016 and The Crew Wild Run.

Electronic Arts will be holding a press conference, but they aren’t providing any details of what might be announced. You can expect to see the company’s fall titles showcased, though, with Madden NFL 16, FIFA 16, and NHL 16 in the spotlight, along with Star Wars Battlefront and Need for Speed.

Square Enix has already announced some of their Final Fantasy events you can catch online. Square Enix will be hosting livestreams of Final Fantasy 15 on their Twitch channel.

A rather exhaustive list of games being displayed at gamescom can be found here.

Marriott’s Moxy Hotels Introduce ‘Do Disturb’ Web Series

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YouTube viewers, prepare to get your Moxy on.

Per a report from Tubefilter, Marriott International has announced that it will launch a new digital series based on its millennial-driven Moxy Hotels brand. The series is called DO NOT DISTURB (with the word NOT crossed out, in case you missed it), and it will focus on interviewing celebrities, as well as introducing consumers to the Moxy brand across its various locations in the U.S., including New York City, San Francisco and Seattle.

The series will be hosted by YouTube actress/comedian Taryn Southern, who has a huge following on the video channel thanks to her variety of humorous and music-based videos. She previously signed up with The Today Show to provide a series of “Self Help For Your Digital Soul” videos, so she fits right in with what Moxy’s trying to do with its series. Southern will interview the celebs, getting more insight into their careers and best travel experiences.

“We are excited about our collaboration with Moxy Hotels and Taryn Southern to produce DO NOT DISTURB,” said David Beebe, Vice President of Creative and Content Marketing at Marriott International, in a release. “This partnership allows our studio to create innovative content that will entertain and amuse a new generation of consumers, and speaks to the playful nature of the Moxy Hotels brand. Furthermore, this series is another example of how our portfolio of brands is partnering directly with the YouTube creator community to establish long-term relationships with a focus on enabling creators to do what they do best – tell original stories, engage audiences, and ultimately create entertaining content where the brand plays a character in the story.”

“Moxy fully embraces today’s contemporary traveler and welcomes guests with its style, design, affordability, and attitude,” added Vicki Poulos, Brand Director at Moxy Hotels. “Marriott’s Content Studio gives Moxy creative platforms that sets us apart from other lifestyle brands and helps us connect with travelers through the power of YouTube.”

A sample video of what Moxy has in mind for its campaign is below, and it’s definitely an edgier approach than most hotel advertising, with the promise that the show will definitely follow in the same style.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=YVtoi0-Kuzw

The show will make its premiere this September, and episodes can be watched either on the Moxy Hotels web page or its dedicated YouTube channel.

 

Mobile Strategy Games Are Winning

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Mobile strategy games have really grown in popularity over the last few years, with offerings like Clash of Clans and Game of War: Fire Age getting millions of downloads and making huge bank based on both player popularity and lucrative marketing campaigns, featuring the likes of Liam Neeson and Kate Upton, respectively.

Per a report from Chartboost, games like these, as well as Supercell’s Boom Beach, rule the top-grossing charts on mobile, raking in millions of dollars a day through in-game transactions, according to numbers reported by analytics company Think Gaming.

But before any of these games existed, earlier games helped pave the way for their success, including 2009’s Kingdoms At War from A Thinking Ape. Even though it took a little time for the profits to start rolling in, that title would eventually become one of the highest grossing games for both 2010 and 2011. From there, Kabam stepped in with Kingdoms of Camelot: Battle For the North, which became the number one grossing iOS game for 2012.

How we look at strategy-based games, however, has changed immensely. Back then, these games didn’t have a huge campaign to drive their success, only customer rankings and, with the right placement, advertisement in an app store. These days, companies like Supercell produce multi-million dollar campaigns to spread the word about its titles, and more often than not, these campaigns pay off — like the well-received Super Bowl ad featuring Liam Neeson, threatening to get revenge on a player who destroyed his land. (The commercial is below.)

And what’s more, there’s always room for more competition to come in and make mad money on a good strategy game. Big Huge Games’ DomiNations has managed to earn a strong place in mobile in a short amount of time; and others, like NaturalMotion’s forthcoming Dawn of Titans, are expected to drive in even bigger sales upon release later this year.

Chartboost has broken down this success in a number of factors with its report, starting with a historic timeline that looks back on when the genre got its start (following the launch of the iPhone in 2007 and the Android market in 2008); and then also breaks down a number of design tips for effective mobile ads for strategy games, as explained by Zynga. (These include keeping certain goals in mind, imagining your game having presence at a dinner party, following the tenets of good design, testing and optimization, and knowing when it’s a good time to break the rules on game design.)

Another factor to keep in mind is player retention, and having players around for the “long haul” when it comes to continuous play. As you can see by the chart below, player retention is quite important for the strategy genre, especially with Google Play gaining ground on iOS for last month. The report breaks this down with various numbers as well, including spend per transaction ($16.90 on iOS compared to $12.57 on Google).

There are also some strategies from mobile strategy game creative as well, including a breakdown of how certain games are designed. One example of this includes Samurai Siege from Space Ape Games, which breaks down into three steps:

1. Stack of characters oriented toward the CTA and logo, training viewer’s eyes on the essentials while still looking exciting.

2. Creates a sense of urgency, motivating higher install rates.

3. Gameplay screenshot ensures players are clicking because they know exactly what they’ll get.

Finally, DomiNations‘ success is broken down with an explanation in various parts, including entering the mobile market, finding the right development team and appeal, and prioritizing the in-game experience. “We don’t really try to teach facts,” said Big Huge Games co-founder Tim Train. “But we do try to convey our love of history, and designing for mobile meant we could do so for a much broader audience than other platforms. In the old days, if one of our games sold two million units, that was a staggering amount — [but] with DomiNations we have a real chance to reach 100 million players or more.”

The full report can be found here. It’s quite the read for those who want to learn more about the growing strategy market.

Ivana Kirkbride Departs YouTube, Lands At Vessel

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by Jocelyn Johnson

Ivana Kirkbride has departed her post as head of unscripted at YouTube to join competing online video platform Vessel as VP of of content acquisition. Vessel confirmed the move late yesterday.

Kirbride joins a content acquisition team at Vessel that has expanded from three to ten people in recent months. She will assume her post in August. Ben Relles, previously head of comedy, takes over Kirkbride’s duties, assuming the title of head of comedy & unscripted for YouTube Originals.

Keep reading…

This article was originally posted on VideoInk and is reposted on [a]listdaily via a partnership with the news publication, which is the online video industry’s go-to source for breaking news, features, and industry analysis. Follow VideoInk on Twitter @VideoInkNews, or subscribe via thevideoink.com for the latest news and stories, delivered right to your inbox.

Youth Looks Forward to VR

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As news about virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) continues to appear, interest is growing – and not just among adults. Touchstone Research queried a US sample of 500 kids ages 10-17, drawn to provide even distribution across the ages, 50/50 boy/girl and nationally representative on the basis of US Census region and ethnicity for kids this age, according to the company. The results can be seen in the infographic below.

“We at Touchstone Research are predicting that VR will be the next disruptive technology platform to hit the market,” noted Touchstone Research president Aaron Burch. “Similar to how smartphones/tablets and social media changed the world we live in we feel that virtual reality has the same potential to be disruptive if not even more so.”

Burch spoke with [a]listdaily about the research and what it revealed about VR’s potential.

Kids seem to have a good awareness of VR, based on your survey. Where are they hearing about VR?

This question was not asked in the survey, however, we would predict that they are hearing about VR mainly on social media (YouTube, Instagram, etc.) or gaming and technology related blogs and websites as well as from their friends.

What’s more important to kids — the price of VR equipment or the quality of the experience?

This question was not asked in the survey, however, kids were asked the following:

‘When the new virtual reality devices are available, do you think you would ask your mom or dad to buy one for you (These might cost about the same as a video game console system.)

75 percent said they would ask.

Do you think kids and teens will be an important driver for VR market acceptance?

Absolutely, I think Teens will help lead the charge along with the 18-34 year old’s. Kids will have a major impact on VR and will likely first experience VR through cheap, mobile platform focused headsets and that for many kids and teens, this experience will happen first in the classroom. We think the education system will play a major role in the adaptation of VR devices from elementary school environments to universities as well as online education. Today’s kids, teens and young adults will be among the first group of early VR adopters. While it may take a few years, and several rounds of VR console platforms, I believe that VR will be the next disruptive technology platform to hit the market. Similar to how smartphones/tablets and social media changed the world we live in we feel that virtual reality has the same potential to be disruptive if not even more so.

How important will smartphones be in creating an interest in VR?

Interestingly, we feel both mobile devices and social media will play a major role in pushing VR forward as technology companies develop VR platforms compatible with mobile devices and VR adds yet another layer to social experiences. With major developments like Google’s VR headset platform “Google Cardboard” and Facebook’s massive investment in Oculus Rift — there is no doubt that the disruption is just around the corner.

Will VR have an impact beyond games and entertainment — perhaps even on on marketing?

VR will likely impact every major industry including gaming, education, healthcare, fitness, ecommerce, social, mobile, entertainment, technology and travel to name a few. In addition, we feel that VR will have a significant impact on the market research and consumer insights space — think about what it would be like to conduct a focus group in a virtual environment without ever leaving the office, conducting concept test, ad-tests or study shopping behavior all within a virtual space, streaming your pilot TV show, movie or ad all within a virtual cinema — the possibilities are endless! One thing is for sure, VR is certainly something that should not be ignored.

Instagram’s Ad Market Ready To Explode

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There’s been a lot of discussion as to how Instagram’s advertising program will fare – but it’s certainly gotten its fair share of success. And, according to a recent report from eMarketer, it’s going to get even better over the next couple of years.

The report indicates that the program, which consists of various images and videos hosted by sponsors, will generate nearly $600 million this year alone. That’s a big number, but it’ll show even more progress over the next couple of years, as it’s estimated to make a whopping $2.81 billion in ad sales by the end of 2017 — topping the likes of its main competitors at Google and Twitter.

Part of this program’s success is Instagram’s ties with Facebook, which purchased the company a few years back for an estimated $1 billion. “We expect to see rapid growth in Instagram’s ad revenues this year and throughout the forecast period — driven by high demand for the social network’s new ad products, which will expand beyond branding to include direct response, the ability to buy ads via an (applications programming interface), and enhanced measurement and targeting features,” said eMarketer in the report.

Robert Peck, an analyst for SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, added, “Monetization is moving at a ‘measured pace'” when it came to the campaign.

With Instagram — as well as its investments in WhatsApp and Oculus Rift — Facebook could be looking at huge numbers when it reports its second-quarter results later this week, with an estimated $4 billion in revenue set to be announced. Ad revenue is expected to be a big part of that, with a 15 percent increase year-over-year, according to Adweek.

Even though Instagram only makes up a small percentage of that profit at the moment, things are going to get bigger and better for the photo/video site.

Console Sales Now Allowed Throughout China

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There’s been talk about it for some time, but now it looks like it’s finally happening – China is set to allow Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo to sell consoles anywhere in its country, completely removing the 15-year-old ban. The ban had been partially removed last year when China allowed console manufacture and sales in the Shanghai area, but nowhere else.

China will now allow the production and sale of video game consoles throughout the country, according to a story in Fortune. The Ministry of Culture released a statement this week, stating that companies will now be allowed to manufacture and sell consoles anywhere in the country – and what a market it is, as it’s considered the third biggest gaming market in the world, mainly due to mobile sales.

The ban was originally put in place back in 2000 in an effort to protect children from the negative effects perceived with playing video games. In return, “gray markets’ were created that allowed consumers to import consoles through other means – although that process clearly isn’t needed now.

This follows China’s recent measures to alleviate the ban with the introduction of “foreign-invested enterprises” within its Free Economic Zone in Shanghai. However, with the lifting altogether, all sorts of games and systems can be sold, instead of working under that geographic limitation.

China is already becoming the biggest gaming market in the world – even bigger than the United States. A report from Newzoo indicates that its market could reach a whopping $22 billion by next year alone, which would surpass the $18 billion in online game sales made last year. Console sales may add to that, but so far sales of game consoles in China have been slow so far, according to Niko Partners.

So far, companies have already jumped on the initiative to sell consoles in China, with Microsoft selling more than 100,000 Xbox One units on its first day back in September. The PlayStation 4 has also been on sale for some time now, but now will see a bigger market across the entire country.

“I think this is huge for the industry! This broadens the market and will hopefully bring life to gamers in the region! Now they can game what they want, when they want!” said Caleb Soleb Gayle, owner of 2nd Opinion Productions.

We’ll see how the market fares over the next year, but it’s nice to see that China can finally get its game on – and without restrictions, no less.