Disney Infinity Replaces Licensed Games

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Disney’s figured out a way to have a game based on a movie for far less time and effort — add licensed content to Disney Infinity rather than create an entire, stand-alone game. That’s the tactic Disney is using for Monsters University and The Lone Ranger, its most recent major releases. Content for the Disney Infinity toy-game hybrid (which is slated release on August 23) will instead be used for the usual cross-promotion, and this will be standard going forward.

“They serve as a perfectly adequate replacement for a standalone licensed product,” producer John Day told MCV. “We already use Infinity to support films and even events at the theme parks. That is part of Infinity‘s purpose.” Each add-on package comes with multiple characters and a six to eight hour adventure.

Source: MCV

 

China’s 2013 Gaming Revenue $5.5 Billion So Far

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China’s gaming market has earned a total of $5.5 billion in revenue so far in 2013, according to new data gathered by the Games Working Committee, IDC, and Gamma Data.  The dragon’s share of that revenue comes from online gaming on both PC and mobile platforms which accounted for $5.1 billion of the total, and Chinese-developed games brought in a majority of the sum.

PC-based online games accounted for $3.8 billion in revenue, showing that MMOs and other online PC games have a chokehold on the market. Mobile online game revenue grew an astounding 119 percent over last year, bringing in over $400 million.  Unsurprisingly, console games only accounted for $100 million in revenue because of the console ban in the nation, though these numbers could change by next year as the ban may soon be lifted.

Source: TechInAsia

Predictive Mobile Ads Are Up To 20X More Effective

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Your phone likely has GPS built right into it, and a new marketing effort called “inference advertising” allows advertisers to serve ads to users based on their location as well as their social activity.

“What we’re trying to do is change advertising from intrusive to invited,” said Bill Gross, CEO of UberMedia. “The whole focus of UberMedia is to show the right ad at the right time, to the right person.”

For example, predictive ad software would recognize that a customer liked Shin Megami Tensei IV on Facebook and combine that with knowledge of his GameStop visits to serve up ads for other RPGs like Ni No Kuni and show the nearest GameStop where the game could be found. Ads using UberMedia are already used in about 100 apps, even apps such as the LA Times‘ app and Echofon.

UberMedia’s predictive ads are working, according to Gross. These predictive ads achieve a click-through rate between 5 and 10 percent, 10 to 20 times more effective than average rates, and UberMedia takes a flat rate of 30 percent off of ad sales.

Privacy concerns are an issue, but Gross feels UberMedia has it handled. Users can opt out if they want by turning the capability in the phone’s settings or emailing UberMedia. No third-party information is sold and tracking is only seen by the algorithm to fulfill ads.

Source: Mashable

Schick Targets Gamers With Ubisoft Co-Op

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Schick has tried game tie-ins before but it just launched its biggest effort to-date with a promotional partnership with Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. The Energizer-owned razor maker is introducing a version of its Hydro razor that includes free downloadable content for the upcoming game. To announce the promotion, Ubisoft gave Schick a high profile presence on the replica Jackdaw pirate ship it sailed into San Diego Bay for Comic Con, where it gave willing (and presumably scruffy) visitors free shaves courtesy of a crew of professional barbers.

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“Comic Con seemed like the perfect opportunity to announce the partnership,” Schick brand manager Stefanie Weintraub told [a]list daily. “Last year, Schick Hydro debuted the Hydro Power Select razor at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. In order to demonstrate the razor’s unique innovations, we offered consumers and media custom shaves by professional barbers at the Schick booth.”

Weintraub added, “We know that Comic Con is another busy, crowded convention, and wanted to offer event goers a chance to get off their feet, relax, and receive an excellent shave with our Schick Hydro 5 razor. Consumers loved the program — in total our two barbers did more than 200 shaves in just two days, more than they typically do in an average week.”

Schick isn’t a stranger to video game promotions. It started dabbling in the gamer segment with Kuma Reality Games’ 2006 title DinoHunters, where an extensive co-op promotion had Schick product placement in the game, and had the companies partner on a series of online videos. Pairing up with Kuma, who has had more controversy than hit games and is best known for bringing the bloody battle for Fallujah in the Iraqi war out as a game, may have nicked Schick. It wasn’t until two years ago when the brand gave it another go with game promotions, offering free DLC with Schick product purchases for Sony’s Gran Turismo 5, Killzone 3 and Infamous 2.

Weintraub sees gamers as a great segment for Schick to target, and seems to hint that the Assassin’s Creed IV campaign may be a sign of more to come.

“As a brand, Schick has always targeted the areas we see as men’s passion points. For instance, with our series Clean Break on Fuel TV, we connected with guys through travel, adventure, and extreme sports. We know the guys who use Schick are also passionate gamers,” she said.

Ouya Owners Slow To Buy Games

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The Ouya has been seeing steady sales in its first month, but new data shows that only 27 percent of Ouya owners actually shell out for games on the Android console. There are a good amount of games available, but the console features free demos for every game and, in some cases, games are completely free-to-play. The numbers seems to show that Ouya gamers seem content with playing free games and demos instead of upgrading to full versions.

These numbers don’t worry Ouya CEO Julie Uhrman. In an interview with The Verge, she said these numbers fall in line with the console’s free-to-play “try before you buy” model. There may be only an 8 percent attach rate to the paid versions of the top 20 games on the console, but Uhrman says social and mobile app devs “would kill” for these numbers on any new platform.

The biggest seller on the console so far is Matt Thorson’s game TowerFall, earning a total of $21,000 after Ouya’s cut. The console has only been released to the public for a month now, so it’s hard to call the console a success or a failure based on current statistics. In the coming months, Ouya will begin to see competition in the form of other Android consoles, and we’ll see if gamers spend a bit more of their hard-earned cash on software.

Source: IGN

Router Maker D-Link Sponsors eSports

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Wireless router maker D-Link has joined forces with eSports team Evil Geniuses to launch the Star Craft II League’s Season One Tournament. The tournament will take place over two months and feature eight of the West’s top teams fighting it out to earn a place at the Dreamhack tournament in Bucharest, Romania this September.

The prize pool for Dreamhack stands at $10,000, but D-Link has stated that they will add $10 to the prize pool for every D-Link Gaming Router (DGL-5500) tournament viewers pre-order at Newegg.com by using the code DLNKGAME5.

“As players formulate their winning strategies in epic StarCraft battles, network connectivity and lag-free performance are critical to maintaining a competitive advantage,” noted Daniel Kelley, VP of marketing for D-Link.

The growth of eSports has made sponsorships an excellent promotional opportunity, and one that D-Link is connecting to directly with its router aimed at hard-core gamers.  We’ll be watching to see if the Newegg.com cross-promotion boosts direct sales for D-Link.

Source: D-Link press release

Chromecast Quickly Ends Free Netflix Offer

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Google announced last Wednesday that its new $35 Chromecast dongle would come bundled with three free months of Netflix, and orders poured in immediately. Demand was so enormous that Google took less than a day to cancel the promotion.

“Due to overwhelming demand for Chromecast devices since launch, the 3-month Netflix promotion (which was available in limited quantities) is no longer available,” Google said in a statement.

Simple math showed why orders poured in. The three free months of Netflix applied even if you were already a Netflix subscriber, making the Chromecast an $11 device for existing Netflix users. The deal will still be honored for early buyers: Customers who received a promo code from Google after ordering will still be getting free Netlfix, and anyone who purchased a Chromecast from Amazon before 5:31 pm last Wednesday also gets their free Netflix months.

While the promotion didn’t last long, it certainly brought massive attention to Chromecast.  We just wish we were quicker with our own purchase.

Source: TechCrunch

Slay French Vampires In Blood Masque

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1890’s Paris is a dangerous place in Square Enix’s Blood Masque, having been overrun by vampires that attack the living. Now, a group of hunters band together to fight back. In this game, users input their own face and the faces of their friends to personally demolish the undead. Blood Masque is available now on iOS.  Check out the trailer for this game below.

‘Cloudberry Kingdom’: One Crazy Platformer

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Cloudberry Kingdom looks like a very tough challenge even for an experienced gamer. Harkening back to the heyday of the side-scrolling platformer, Cloudberry Kingdom has players creating a character then taking to some insane platforming. Screens are filled with spikes, lasers, fire, rockets, and almost anything deadly imaginable.

Cloudberry Kindom will be available July 31 on PS3, Xbox 360, Wii U and PC, and you can view video of the game below.

Final Fantasy XIV Dungeon Crawl

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Building anticipation for Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn, this journey shows the dark underside of the world of Eorzea. From the dank depths of Sastasha to the Copperbell Mines, players get a glimpse of the beautifully rendered  yet threatening places that await when the game is released next month for PC and PS3.  Watch this latest trailer in the embed below.