Google Details New ‘Star Wars’ Sticker Campaign For ‘Allo’ Messaging Service

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Google has launched a sticker pack for its new Allo messaging service from Lucasfilm’s December 16 movie, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. The collection includes characters Jyn, Cassian, Darth Vader and K-2SO from the new film, as well as stormtroopers, AT-ATs and the Death Star.

Amit Fulay, group product manager for Allo at Google, told [a]listdaily one of the key principles behind the stickers in Allo is that they should be more than just cute artwork, but actually helpful in driving the conversation forward.

“We crafted our stickers around some of the most common things we all tend to say in chats—like ‘running late’ or ‘let’s get dinner,’” Fulay said. “With the Rogue One stickers, you can see this idea of using stickers as a way to say things in chat. It’s not just about showing the characters of Star Wars, but having them say something or do something that you can identify with and could use in chat.”

Fulay said Google partnered with Lucasfilm because the Star Wars characters are so iconic and people really identify with the story, and they wanted to bring that to Allo.

“We partnered with Disney directly to co-develop exclusive animated stickers and a co-marketing campaign to showcase the stickers in fun way to diehard fans of Star Wars,” Fulay said. “We worked together to choose an artist to design the stickers, and our creative team worked with Disney and the artist on the designs.”

Fulay said the goal was to include a mix of well-known and loved characters like Darth Vader, along with newer characters unique to the Rogue One film.

“Star Wars is certainly a story with large appeal to all types of people,” Fulay said. “But we also know that there’s a close affinity between people who love Google products and people who love Star Wars, so we thought this would be a great fit.”

Most of the Star Wars stickers feature animation, which Fulay said brings an additional layer of liveliness and delight to stickers in Allo. “Our animated stickers in Allo, such as the Julio the Bull sticker pack, are incredibly popular,” Fulay said.

Star Wars is just the latest offering for Allo users.

“We’ll continue to add more stickers over time, both through partnerships like the one with Star Wars and from independent artists,” Fulay said. “We don’t have immediate plans for a series with Star Wars but will continue to look for opportunities to bring new stickers to Allo.”

Stickers were a critical part of the design of Allo from the very beginning, according to Fulay.

“We focused on creating unique artwork that you could only find in Allo by working with independent artists around the world to create artwork that can resonate both globally and locally,” Fulay said. “We have unique sticker packs for India and Brazil, for example, and will continue to create more locally focused packs over time.”

From the outset of Allo, Fulay said the goal was to create a smart messaging app that can help you say more and do more right in your chats. To do this, Google applied its deep expertise with things like machine learning, search and natural language understanding to create an app that goes beyond just text. One example is the Google Assistant in Allo, which can help you with restaurant recommendations. Another example would be helping you find the perfect emoji, without having to scroll through hundreds of options.

“We’re focused on both being more assistive and helpful in your chats, but also helping you be more playful and expressive and fun,” Fulay said. “We’re at an exciting time for innovation in messaging. With advancements in language understanding and machine learning, we can now do so much more in chat beyond just sending text or photos. With Allo, we’ve really focused on applying technology to help you express yourself more fully and get things done, right in your chats.”

Google continues to expand the offerings of Allo. The company has released three updates since launching the app a couple months ago, bringing in new functionality like Smart Smiley, which makes it super easy to find the right emoji or sticker for what they’re trying to say.

“We also brought the Google Assistant in Allo to new languages,” Fulay said. “We launched Hindi and Brazilian-Portuguese last week, and will be adding more languages over time. We’ll continue to keep innovating and improving the app at a fast pace.”

Fulay said Google continues to receive user feedback on Allo, as it discovers how people are using the app.

“We did a lot of testing and research before launching, found that people tend to do a lot of scrolling and searching when it comes to stickers and emojis,” Fulay said. “That insight drove the development of Smart Smiley, since we knew there was a real need to solve discovery.”

ILMxLab Explains What VR Opens Up For ‘Star Wars’ Franchise

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With the December 16 launch of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Disney-owned Lucasfilm continues to build out the Star Wars universe. A key part of developing future Star Wars stories is Lucasfilm’s R&D lab, dubbed ILMxLab. This team of visual effects wizards, sound designers and video game developers is housed in the Letterman Digital Arts building in San Francisco, where virtual reality experiences like the HTC Vive Trials on Tatooine and 360-degree video experiences like the new Rogue One X-Wing video. ILMxLab even worked with Electronic Arts’ Dice to develop the Star Wars Battlefront Rogue One: X-Wing Mission game expansion for PlayStation VR.

Rob Bredow, chief technology officer at Lucasfilm, oversees ILMxLab and has been a driving force in mapping out how virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality will impact Star Wars and other franchises. We caught up with Bredow at the VIEW VR Conference in Turin, Italy recently to talk about the future of entertainment in this exclusive interview.

Rob Bredow, chief technology officer of Lucasfilm
Rob Bredow, chief technology officer of Lucasfilm

What do you see Google’s Daydream View opening up for the masses on the mobile side of virtual reality?

Anything that gets you to a tetherless environment and gets you more people who are able to experience VR is a fantastic thing for virtual reality, especially when you’re looking at raising the bar of what can be done in that tetherless environment. A lot of our focus to date has all been on very high-end headsets because the truth is, most of our focus at Lucasfilm is: where are things headed in a few years? The reason we gave Trials on Tatooine out to the world was because it was an interesting experiment, but that’s just a small seed that we’re planting along the way. We’re really interested in where things are going to be a few years from now, and Daydream is a good step in that direction, for sure. But we’re looking three years ahead to try to make sure we’re building all the technology, building our storytelling, and understanding what kinds of things people love, so that we can be there when the audience is ready for those kinds of experiences.

Where are we going to be in three years?

Anybody who tells you they know is probably selling something, right? I really don’t know. VR has had resurgences in the past. This is not the first time this has happened, but this one is bigger and it has some very big players with Facebook, Google, Sony and Microsoft all making big investments. It does seem like the time has come, whether it takes two or three years or whether it takes ten years is still to be determined. People’s first reaction when they put this generation of headsets on is that “Wow” moment, and we’re still in the wow moment as an industry. There will be a phase of like, “Well, this is kind of expensive.” It could see a bit of correction from that and that could be two months or it could be a few years, but we’re going to still stay on that trajectory where VR is going to be useful for lots of things.

Is VR the most exciting technology you’ve explored?

It’s equally as exciting as the early days of computer graphics when every few months there was a whole new technique that made it possible for us to do something completely new again. It really feels very similar to those days where we had some idea of how to make these kinds of images, but it was impractical to do it the right way so we had to do a lot of cheats and cut a lot of corners. Today, walking into VR, all of us have many more years of history and many more years of techniques to rely on, but a lot of those techniques just don’t work in VR for one reason or another, so now there’s a whole new set of challenges ahead of us.

How does video game design and thinking impact virtual reality storytelling?

It’s a perfect question because it’s interesting the way they complement each other. Giving people instructions without ever having to tell them what to do is just a lovely thing that transfers great into VR. You already know how to use your hands. You already know how to interact with things because you’re working in a virtual version of the real world, and the more simple tasks we can give people to do reinforces it as positive, and then we build on that for the next thing which is just classic good game design. We find that transfers really well, and that’s great for storytelling too because you can get people to follow along and you don’t have to worry about a fail through for every case if you’ve trained the user properly. So for the Trials on Tatooine experiment, when we first started doing it, I’d sit there sweating bullets watching people go through it and they’d miss that TIE Fighter coming in. Now we have to rethink how we’re going to train the user to look in the right direction, or change the composition in the storytelling so that they get the kind of interactions we’re looking for.

In VR, sound seems like it takes a bigger focal point. How does the Skywalker Sound fit into ILMxLab?

Yeah, we love working with the Skywalker team. They’re so amazingly talented. Not only did they bring their entire library and all the filmmaking experience, but they’re embedded here at ILMxLab. So, very early in the Trials on Tatooine experience—when we just had a Millennium Falcon model and nothing else—we’re mocking things up, we’re doing it with stand-in sound for everything, and you’re exactly right. We like to joke that audio is 51 percent of the experience and it really is. It’s so important, and there are the obvious things like giving them a TIE Fighter cue when they’re flying in. But that’s barely scratching the surface of what you can do with audio cues to give people a sense of presence; a sense of being immersed in the environment. Things like putting a fun sound system together so when the subwoofers go you feel like the Millennium Falcon is landing right next to you is pretty amazing, and we wouldn’t have discovered that without their involvement.

‘Star Wars: The Old Republic’ Holds Tight To Family Bonds

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Star Wars: The Old Republic (SWTOR) is a massively-multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) that’s currently in its fifth year of operation. The free-to-play game (with optional subscription), which is developed by BioWare (Mass Effect; Dragon Age) and takes place in the golden age of Star Wars’ fictional history, launched its Knights of the Eternal Throne expansion last week. In it, players are referred to as “The Outlander,” and become deeply involved with the Royal Family of the Eternal Empire and its fate. Similar to last year’s hit, Knights of the Fallen Empire, the latest expansion includes nine chapters that emphasize Dark vs. Light Side decision making and themes of familial conflict.

The creative director for SWTOR, Charles Boyd, and lead producer, Ben Irving, recently spoke about launching the new expansion, how it compares to the last one, and what it will take to keep the game going for another five years.

Irving explained that last year’s Knights of the Fallen Empire expansion worked very well with nine epic story chapters. However, what didn’t work was the monthly schedule for each chapter, which was chalked up to how people like to consume entertainment these days, such as binge watching on Netflix. Players weren’t satisfied with getting one chapter a month. So, while the Eternal Throne chapters are deep and revolve around personal choices, there is an added focus on replayable multiplayer content to fill in the spaces between the big story beats.

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Boyd also discussed the theme of family, which he describes as a core concept of Star Wars. “The original trilogy is all about the father, son and daughter relationship,” said Boyd. “It’s a family drama, which is very personable and very relatable. I think that’s what draws a lot of people into Star Wars. It’s an exciting space adventure; there are lasers, spaceships, strange aliens and all of that stuff, but it’s all grounded with very relatable conflicts and drama between the characters. There are probably no more relatable conflicts or personal drama than family, right? Everyone has some kind of family experience that they can relate to or have dealt with. I think that’s what makes Star Wars accessible, why that theme is so consistently used, and why we want to deploy it—because it’s so iconic to Star Wars.”

When asked whether the latest movies, such as The Force Awakens and the upcoming Rogue One had an impact on the game’s awareness and enthusiasm for the expansion, Irving told [a]listdaily:

“When Force Awakens came out, we saw a giant resurgence of Star Wars hype across the world. That certainly had a positive impact on Star Wars: The Old Republic as well. We saw a lot more interest in Star Wars, a resurgence in nostalgia, and when a lot of people think about Star Wars, they think about video games. They want a really deep, story driven, RPG-style game and that’s the exact kind of game that we’ve built.

“Rogue One hasn’t come out yet, and we hope that it’s a fantastic movie. All the previews suggest that it will be, and we think people are excited about that. We hope that people will continue to be excited about Star Wars, which is great for Star Wars: The Old Republic. If last year was any indication, that will be true.”

senyaAs to whether or not the movies influenced the game’s content, Boyd said that “no matter how hard we try, we can never get any real details about the movies in advance. Lucasfilm is very tight-lipped about it, which is good because we go as a company to check out the movies and it’s fun to just walk in and have the same experience as the fans—with no pre-knowledge and experiencing it for the first time.

“Given how we don’t have that secret insight into what’s happening in the film, we don’t really adjust for that. But certainly, we watch the previews like everyone else and get excited about the themes they’re exploring and the visual elements they’re introducing. We always look for ways to include that in our own stories.

“For example, in The Force Awakens, Kylo Ren’s lightsaber was awesome, and it was established that it was an ancient design from days long past, which happens to be the time period of our game! We were really excited by that; it was really cool to have the opportunity to introduce something new that fit perfectly into The Old Republic universe but also harkened to last year’s story.”

So, what’s the key to keeping an MMORPG engaging for over five years? Irving believes that it’s flexibility.

“The gaming industry changes significantly over a five-year period,” said Irving. “It’s a very mutable space, whether you’re building an online game, single-player game, strategy game, or shooter. You look at the industry and the feedback from people who are playing the games you made. I think we’ve been doing that, especially in the last couple of years. Look at Fallen Empire. The monthly chapters didn’t work out, but after you play the story, there’s highly repeatable content. So this year, our strategy is to have Galactic Command centered around providing longer-term engagement such as group activities and a focus on social. That’s all about retention and engagement. Of the lessons we’ve learned, the key is ultimately the flexibility to adapt to the industry and the environment.”

“We’re very fortunate to be on the type of game where we can do that,” Boyd added, “where we have regular updates, see what players are doing in real-time, get their feedback on different places, make changes and add new stuff.”

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In speaking about how BioWare created dynamic content that involved Light vs. Dark Side decision making, Boyd said, “I think it comes down to thinking about real life and the experiences that you’re having. Although that’s not a realistic way to do things—people rarely think about whether they’re going to have cereal or granola as a Light Side or Dark Side decision—or even when people do things that we don’t like. Usually, their reasoning is not to be mean.

“Ultimately, you’re looking at what people do and adding a level of drama to it to coincide with the Star Wars philosophy. This is a universe where good and evil have a tangible and visual effect on people and the universe. Just like with the family theme, we’re looking at decisions that relate to our own lives and adding drama. This is a universe where making evil decisions makes you more evil. You look at it in that lens and try to make it relatable, but have that exciting and dramatic outcome you expect from a space opera like Star Wars.”

The White House Is Using Video Games To Promote Healthcare

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The US Government wants gamers to know the importance of health coverage, and they’ve assembled a crack team of video game influencers to deliver the message. For the first time ever, our nation’s capitol is holding an eSports and gaming marathon—the White House Competitive Gaming Event—which will be livestreamed on Twitch in a four-hour special event hosted by Twitch programming manager and streamer, Anna Prosser Robinson. Last year, Robinson joined the ESports League (ESL) for a public service announcement to encourage pro gamers to get insured. Her husband, pro gamer Geoff Robinson, suffered from blood clots in his legs but was able to make a full recovery with the assistance of their healthcare coverage.

The White House Competitive Gaming Event will feature competitions with over a dozen popular and professional gamers, many of whom will be addressing the importance of healthcare ahead of the December 15 Health Insurance Marketplace deadline for January 1 coverage. Among the gaming celebrities taking part are ActaBunniFooFoo, Annemunition, bijoudemi, darkness_429, Elspeth, imcoty, kungfufruitcup, LifeWithLaughs, Okaydrian, thatchickparker, and Voyboy. These streamers and others will be sharing stories and playing various games for the delight of viewers.

There will also be a Rocket League Pro-Am match commentated by Goldenboy and featuring Fireburner, jacobRL, and sad_junior from NRG Esports’ Rocket League team, who are being joined by Moses. Justin Wong will also face off against Mike Ross in a Street Fighter V match commentated by Gootecks.

Healing is easy in video games, but healthcare is a must IRL. (Source: Cracked)
Healing may be easy in video games, but healthcare is a must IRL. (Source: Cracked)

“We appreciate how the White House has recognized the power and passion of our community,” said Brian Petrocelli, product marketing manager for Twitch, in a press release. “Their desire to present the White House Competitive Gaming Event to promote health coverage enrollment exemplifies how they continue to have their hand on the pulse of the younger generation. We share their enthusiasm since we also see the value of health coverage and encourage everyone to explore their options.”

As video games establish themselves as an athletic sport, the importance of nutrition has become a concern, and just as in any sport, a single injury can disrupt a promising eSports career. Such was the case for Aleš “Freeze” Kněžínek, who was the AD Carry for European League of Legends team, H2K until a repetitive injury sidelined him from the starting roster. However, he has since reported a full recovery is now working as a free agent.

According to the National Center for Health Statistics, 25 million adults aged 18 to 64 were uninsured in 2015. While this is a major improvement compared to 31.7 million uninsured the year before, there remains a major population with no health coverage of any kind. Meanwhile, the video game community is 155 million players strong, according to a report by the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) and 33 percent of those gamers are between the ages of 18 to 35. Although it doesn’t cover healthcare, Geico has been selling other types of insurance with the help of eSports team, SoloMid, thus proving that a team-up can be quite effective. The influential power of video game personalities along with the looming insurance enrollment deadline might inspire some folks to consider insurance—after all, gamer’s thumb is a real condition.

“It’s a famously difficult task to reach Millennials and Generation Z with any message whether that be from a cause, a brand, a politician, or otherwise,” Petrocelli told [a]listdaily. “Members of the Twitch community tend be cord cutters or often ‘cord nevers.’ They consume media in a wholly different way as compared to other generations. Given that a significant part of that media revolves around gaming, leveraging a social gaming platform like Twitch makes sense if that’s the demographic one wants to reach.”

Learn everything you need to know to invest in today’s fastest-growing media channel—Competitive Gaming and eSports on 2.16.17 in Los Angeles. Go to alistsummit.com for more info.

Ubisoft Motion Pictures And 20th Century Fox Focus On ‘Assassin’s Creed’ Film

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There’s a new Assassin’s Creed adventure coming this month, but instead of a video game, it will be exclusive to the Hollywood big screen. Ubisoft is taking a brief hiatus from its video game franchise and allowing 20th Century Fox to have the spotlight in the Ubisoft Motion Pictures and New Regency production starring Michael Fassbender and Jeremy Irons.

Ubisoft Motion Pictures vice president of global marketing, Stephanie Simard, said at an E3 media presentation that games are changing, opening up optimal storytelling beyond the interactive medium. “We’re working with top filmmakers to ensure the quality of the product while maintaining creative control to maintain the spirit of the games and what fans love about them,” Simard said.

With over 96 million units sold worldwide, Simard said Assassin’s Creed was the perfect choice for a feature film as the number one Ubisoft brand. “It has an expansive universe and all of the building blocks needed in creating a feature film with characters, action, historical eras, the mythology of a secret society, genetic memory, the theme of free will vs. control, and learning about who you are through your ancestors,” she explained.

Ubisoft has assembled a stellar Hollywood team for the new film, partnering with New Regency, which has won the Best Picture Oscar for two of the last three years, and 20th Century Fox, which is distributing and marketing the Christmas release. “Michael Fassbender was our first and only choice to play our hero,” Simard said. “He was immediately captivated by the brand and the work our game teams have done with the franchise. He became a producer of the film and has been involved every step of the way.”

Frank Marshall, who has generated over $9 billion at the box office through franchises like Jurassic Park and Back to the Future, serves as producer of the film. He brought in director Justin Kurzel (MacBeth) to helm the original Assassin’s Creed big screen adventure.

“Assassin’s Creed has always been about tribe, about belonging to something,” Kurzel told [a]listdaily from the set of the movie at London’s Pinewood Studios. “This is an origin story about a man who discovers that he’s an Assassin and that he’s not alone, and that in him he has a blood that runs very, very deep. Those themes are really fascinating—the idea that you’re made up of the people that come before you and you somehow have some kind of conscious dialogue with your genetics. It’s really really deep and interesting stuff, and it’s probably why the game’s so popular. As a context to the game, it’s smart and sophisticated, but also very contemporary.”

Simard said the filmmakers worked with Ubisoft’s brand team in Montreal to establish the rules of the universe and ensure consistency in the film around the essence of who the Assassins and the Templars (their enemies) are. “We’re not interested in telling the same stories from the games,” Sinard said. “Films bring in a new dimension. Working from the present day allowed is to introduce new characters and attract a wider audience, while exciting existing fans.”

Kurzel said the most tricky part of adapting this universe for film has been reversing the focus from the past. In this case, that’s the Spanish Inquisition time period. “In the game, you spend more time in the past, and the present settings are really transient cases to get you into the past,” he said. “In terms of setting up the film, we spend a little more time in the present setting up the lead character, Cal, and getting the audience to know him and understand him.”

Kurzel talked about how, in the games, there’s the “bleeding effect” and the idea that the shadows of the regressions start to play out in the present world with seeing the ghost of your past ancestor.

“The idea that history becomes a ghost within the present can been seen in the Animus, which is built in this Byzantine Templar church that Abstergo has built its headquarters around,” Kurzel said. “We’ve decided to combine the old and the new within the actual production design, where you feel the history of the Templars play in a space like this. We were continuously trying to find ways in which there’s a bridge between those two worlds. But at the same time, there’s something very exciting about going between two different pallets. The past feels very like a Caravaggio painting. It’s rich and very seductive and like the game, there’s a romance to the history that we really didn’t want to lose. That contrasts with this very sophisticated architectural, heavily-designed world of modern day Templars.”

That Animus has been designed with this in mind, which means it’s different from the one used in the games. Fans can get an up-close look at the Animus in the new free Assassin’s Creed VR Experience on Oculus Rift.

Kurzel said the film is also packed with Easter Eggs that fans of the games will be able to enjoy. “We believe this is a film that will stand on its own with no knowledge of the franchise necessary,” Simard said. “But we want fans to be on the inside.”

Capturing The Magic Of ‘Final Fantasy XV’ In Live-Action

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It took a decade of development, but the wait was worth it. Final Fantasy XV launched last week and instantly became a huge hit, topping charts around the world. It has already become the fastest-selling game in the series’ history, with publisher Square Enix reporting that the combined day-one retail shipments and digital sales exceeded five million units.

Additionally, the game received wide critical acclaim for its open world gameplay and the stunning graphics that have become a hallmark of the Final Fantasy brand. However, one of its key promotions, the TV commercial, took a decidedly different approach. The live-action spot, set to the song “Stand By Me,” features a group of kids who come together to defeat a giant monster using traps, weapons and magic.

It’s one of the first and only live-action commercials for the game franchise and its director, Kasra Farahani—who has worked on blockbuster movies such as Alice in Wonderland, Star Trek Into Darkness and Men in Black 3 in addition to the upcoming Black Panther movie—recently spoke with [a]listdaily about putting it together. Farahani is a gamer who has many fond memories of Final Fantasy VII, which played a role in the original pitch for the commercial. He proposed adding a magical Final Fantasy element called materia, which longtime fans might recognize. He was joined by Mat Kishimoto, senior product marketing manager at Square Enix America, and Andy Franco, product marketing specialist at Square Enix.

What drew you to the Final Fantasy XV promotion?

[Farahani]: It was very appealing—it wasn’t a tough decision to try and get it. There’s a great, nostalgic quality to the storyline the had about these four kids that were facing insurmountable odds. The idea of whether or not they succeeded, while important, was secondary to their bond. First and foremost was their devotion and the fraternal quality between them. Also, it had a really cool giant monster and visual opportunities in terms of shooting in a foggy forest.

Farahani was also very excited to be a part of the franchise’s 30-year legacy.

What were your thoughts when you first saw the finished trailer?

[Kishimoto]: It’s really been a labor of love. We kicked off with the Omelet team in February, so it has really been a pleasure to see it go through different iterations and pivots to where it is today. It was a real surreal moment—the first time I saw it in all of its final glory—to see something that we’ve been working on for so long come to life.

digic_omen_011_18How did you come up with the theme?

[Farahani]: I can’t take too much credit for that. The basic kernel of the idea came from Omelet, which presumably came out of discussions they had with Square Enix. The core of it was there, and what I did was work with a great, collaborative team to refine it and tailor it to a story about brotherhood and devotion in the world of Final Fantasy.

We didn’t want to do anything generic, which is part of why the villain that they’re fighting is the Iron Giant. There are a lot of cool beasts [in the game], but if Final Fantasy is a pillar of video game history, then I think the Iron Giant is a pillar of Final Fantasy history. It has been in many games and offers something to hardcore fans.

How would you say the trailer captures the look and feel of FFXV?

[Kishimoto]: We took a lot of creative liberties with it. It doesn’t take place on an actual world within Final Fantasy XV, but we wanted to capture the same kind of drama and intensity that the game has, bringing it into the real world.

How does FFXV stand out from previous games and its numerous spin-offs?

[Kishimoto]: I think there are two big key differentiators. One is that it is a full-blown action game rather than a turn-based strategy game. That makes it more accessible to more modern gamers. The second key differentiator is that it’s an open world game. While there is a critical story path, you can do things in any order that you want. For hardcore fans of the franchise who love the rich storytelling, deep characters, classic monsters and other core Final Fantasy elements—those are in Final Fantasy XV. So, there’s something for everybody.

What are the key elements to any Final Fantasy game?

[Franco]: One is that they’re all individual games. Each Final Fantasy game is a standalone title—meaning that you don’t have to have played previous versions in order to jump into the next game in the series.

[Kishimoto]: That is one of the most important things. There are so many games out there that have a linear story that carries on from each sequel, whereas Final Fantasy is unique. The characters and world are completely different, and even the combat systems and villains are different. But I think what strings the series together is the graphical quality. Final Fantasy has always been known for its beautiful vistas and high graphical fidelity that blends together medieval, fantastical, and sci-fi elements into one universe. The world has a mix of mechs, magic and swords all in the same universe. The other thing is that Final Fantasy known for its iconic music, which is orchestral and operatic.

[Franco]: Then there are the stories—really deep, engrossing stories. One of the main things we’ve heard from fans of the game is that one of the things they have a long-lasting connection to are the stories that they feel they become a part of.

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Was it challenging to create a promotion for a game franchise that’s known for cutting-edge CGI graphics?

[Farahani]: It’s intimidating. It’s a beautiful game, and our challenge was to tie-in to the aesthetic of the game as much as we could without trying to do a 1-to-1 excerpt from the game. The showcase of our story are these kids, and the heroes come in, but you see them in a mysterious way. You can sort of imagine that our little film is like side mission or vignette that Noctis (the main character) and his friends undertake, which is alluded to at the end of the spot.

[Kishimoto]: On the marketing side, I think it was a huge advantage. Being able to create assets and materials that are of such high fidelity is definitely a plus.

[Franco]: At the same rate, it’s a wonderful opportunity, but it raises the bar that much higher. Our job [with the promotions] is to make the game look and feel as incredible as it really is. With great power comes great responsibility, so with great assets come the great responsibility of pushing them out there and making them look phenomenal.

What are the challenges of promoting a Final Fantasy game, which has such high awareness and popularity?

[Kishimoto]: That’s the fun of all of it. There’s a lot to live up to, especially when you’re coming in at the 15th iteration, and you’ve had fourteen other titles that have been around for the last twenty-nine years or so. The fun is in how you reinvent yourself and how you make yourself relevant in the modern market when there are so many fantastic entertainment IPs out there. [Final Fantasy] is a great brand to work on because you always have to reinvent yourself on every title. You have to explain the story and who the characters are.

[Franco]: The fan base is an incredibly rabid, policing one. They take incredible pride in games that have come before and their connection to them. There’s a lot of pressure—in the quality of the game and in everything that we do—to live up to the standard that fans are expecting.

digic_omen_004_06How are you reaching new players that might not be familiar with previous games?

[Kishimoto]: There are different ways we do that through our PR channels, retail partners and social media. I think the live-action trailer that we produced was one of the main ways that we wanted to reach out beyond our core fan base. The core reason we went this route was because we could cut together gameplay trailers and cinematic assets from the game, but what would have really helped expand the core fan base was going with live-action.

What do you think it is about FF that has inspired a dedicated fan base around the world?

[Farahani]: It’s difficult to quantify. I think that they (Square Enix) reinvented the franchise a couple of times, but I think they’ve always managed to walk this line between fantasy—things that are grand and larger than everyday life—and finding moments to shade characters in a way that they seem familiar and relatable in a more conventional way. On top of that, I think they’ve done such a good job making spectacular visuals and set pieces over the years. They’re remarkable, and you want the experience just because of how epic they are. You see a trailer for a great film, and you want to experience what that is. I feel that Final Fantasy has done a good job of that.

It’s a good bit of showmanship to make them wait ten years, too.

[Kishimoto]: I don’t think there’s one single thing out there that brings in the masses; there are so many different things. I’ve talked to so many different fans and business partners, and people are drawn in for different reasons. Some people like the epic battles, some like the cinematic cut scenes, others love the individual characters and storylines. Some just love the epic scale with magic and weapons. That’s the magic and fun of Final Fantasy.

Op-Ed: TV Ads Game The Holidays

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Mobile advertising continues to grow rapidly, but the costs continue to rise with so many competing companies. Moreover, standing out in a crowded environment is very difficult. Those are some of the reasons advertisers like MZ (Machine Zone) have been putting mobile game ads on television. Marketers are finding, as MZ has, that cross-channel marketing can be very effective. Of course, television ads don’t offer the same incredible data stream that you can get with mobile ads, but the picture is not entirely bleak, as more companies are striving to provide advertising data that helps target TV ads.

There’s certainly no question that TV ads remain popular among console game publishers during the crucial holiday period. Data provided by iSpot.tv to VentureBeat shows this clearly. TV advertising during October was dominated by Microsoft with Xbox spending, representing nearly 40 percent of the total TV ad spend for the month. Other top console brands such as PlayStation, 2K Games, and Bethesda Softworks also had a strong presence, but MZ represented only 5.5 percent of the total spend, putting mobile gaming far down the list.

Of course, the difference is that console game publishers have significantly increased their ad spend on TV for the holidays. We see the continued strength of console games on TV as the data tracks into November, where Sony captured nearly half of the industry’s digital voice. According to iSpot.tv, the total ad spend in the period of October 16 through November 15 was $105.6 million and represented 40 brands that ran 129 different spots nearly 23,000 times.

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The reach of these TV ads is impressive; Sony generated over 700 million ad impressions from its 14 commercials that aired over 2,500 times. Microsoft generated almost 800 million ad impressions from 15 commercials airing over 3,600 times. Even Nintendo got into the TV advertising spend for that time period, generating nearly 200 million impressions for 13 commercials that aired nearly 2,000 times.

The massive influx of console games for the holiday season is not unusual, considering that this is the time for the biggest consumer spending. The added incentive this year for TV advertising is that the share of digital game sales continues to rise, thus encouraging a more direct connection with the publisher that TV ads foster. Seeing an ad for a game on TV may lead to turning on a console to download the game right away. That sort of correlation is one sort of data that game companies can track, noting the extent to which downloads increase relative to the airing of TV commercials.

Hardware is playing a big role this holiday season as well. We also now have new consoles such as the Xbox One S and PlayStation Pro. There’s also VR hardware that includes Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and PlayStation VR, in addition to an array of new smartphones, tablets and micro-consoles. Even 4K TVs, which have dropped in price, beckon for gamers to take full advantage of the new consoles. A well-crafted television ad may help encourage people to upgrade their televisions.

You Had To Be There: Marketing With Location-Based VR

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Although there are plenty of options for VR hardware, not everyone can afford them or are willing to bring this new technology into their homes. Instead, it makes more sense to head out to arcades and theaters for a taste of VR. Here’s how brands are getting creative with immersive entertainment and taking VR to the streets.

Franchise Immersion

What if, before you saw the next Harry Potter movie, you could challenge your friends to a quidditch match? Or after seeing Batman, you could explore Gotham City? Well, location-based VR experiences like these may be coming to a movie theater near you. In fact, the Assassin’s Creed VR Experience is touring AMC theaters right now.

IMAX recently partnered with VR creator, publisher and distributor, Starbreeze to bring location-based virtual reality experiences to cinemas across the world. Starbreeze regularly partners with filmmakers to create original virtual reality content such as John Wick Chronicles and Overkill’s The Walking Dead. IMAX will create a premium VR experience that will leverage Starbreeze’s StarVR headset technology, which provides a 210-degree full peripheral field of view—double that of any other VR headset currently available. It’s tech offerings like this that sets location-based VR experiences apart from its home entertainment counterparts.

“The price of the initial investment of a head-mounted display and PC that powers the headset aside,” Emmanuel Marquez, chief technology officer at Starbreeze explained to [a]listdaily, “you already have challenges with finding that spot in the house where you can move around in VR without getting your knees bruised from bumping into furniture. There are so many great accessories and setups today that enhance your experience that just wouldn’t be viable to put in a home. We can cater to that.”

The partnership between IMAX and Starbreeze makes these experiences affordable and easily accessible to those who are already in the mood for consuming entertainment. Other memorable location-based VR experiences include Suicide Squad and American Horror Story at San Diego Comic-Con and Madam Tussauds Ghostbusters: Dimension hyper-reality experience.

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John Wick Chronicles lets viewers become the assassin in VR. (Source: Starbreeze)

Upgraded Experiences

Theme parks have already adopted virtual and augmented reality experiences for their attractions, such as Six Flags and Cedar Point. In Six Flags’ The New Revolution Virtual Reality experience, ride-goers strap on VR headsets and engage in a futuristic battle to save the planet from an alien invasion. With The Battle For Cedar Point, attendees can join different roller coaster-themed clans to compete with each other by scanning different areas of the park with their smartphones, such as signs and special t-shirts, for an augmented reality experience. The technology essentially turns the theme park into one gigantic video game. At the end of the day, members of the winning clan can purchase a special pin to commemorate their victory.

While braving a roller coaster may be fun on its own, adding a VR headset to the mix can create an entirely unique adventure each time, eliminating the need to build a new attraction. For example, Six Flags has a dedicated VR coaster that gets new adventures as the opportunity arises, such as the Superman: Ride of Steel attraction this past summer.

Guests don VR headsets on the Six Flags Revolution roller coaster. Source: Six Flags
Guests don VR headsets on the Six Flags Revolution roller coaster. Source: Six Flags

Playing Together

VR Arcades are popping up around the globe, finding a particularly booming industry in China. These businesses offer a range of immersive, group entertainment from interactive games to virtual rocket rides. In October, HTC unveiled its Viveport Arcade system, creating a revenue-sharing marketplace for public entertainment centers to access the latest interactive titles.

“VR has found a home with Chinese players as the majority of the market do not have the capability to support home based VR and already are happy to play their PC games in LAN Game centers sometimes called PC Bang sites,” Rikard Steiber, president of Viveport and senior vice president of VR at HTC, told Polygon. “Amusement venues and location-based entertainment sites have also grown in popularity in the Asian Dragon market—so it was logical that VR Arcades would be embryonic within this incubator.”

Analysts expect the market for virtual reality in China to grow to $8.5 billion by 2020, benefiting largely by the $1.1 billion global VR spending spree.

China is not the only country adopting this idea—Bandai Namco, the publisher behind Pac-Man and Tekken, has opened its own HTC Vive arcade in Japan called VR Zone: Project i Can. Among a number of available games is a terrifying, immersive challenge in which users must rescue a cat from a plank suspended on the side of a skyscraper. The combination of VR and environmental elements creates a sense of “being there,” a feat not usually possible in a home entertainment setting.

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Audi Is Making Virtual Reality History With LiveLike And Fox Sports

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Fox Sports continues to explore new livestreaming opportunities in virtual reality. The broadcaster has partnered with LiveLike to bring the MLS Championship Game on December 10 to VR fans through the Fox Sports VR app. Audi has signed on as the official sponsor for the VR livestream, which soccer fans can also watch across iOS and Android devices without using a Google Cardboard or Samsung Gear VR viewer.

“We partnered with MLS to continue to grow the sport of soccer in the US and engage fans of the sport in new, innovative ways,” Loren Angelo, vice president of marketing at Audi of America told [a]listdaily. “We’re working with LiveLike to bring VR to soccer so that fans will have the opportunity to interact with the sport in a way they never have before.”

That interaction includes the debut of several new features within the virtual suite users will view the game from. The game will be broadcast from five separate cameras, which gives viewers the ability to select their viewpoints on-the-fly.

Andre Lorenceau, founder and CEO of LiveLike, told [a]listdaily that some of the highlights include a new DVR with rewind functionality, a first-of-its-kind feature that combines the best elements of a TV-viewing experience with VR—allowing viewers to rewind as far back as 30 minutes. “Our trademark VR Suite will now be branded with Audi, including having an Audi car in-suite,” Lorenceau said. “Audi is a huge brand and a great partner. We’re just scratching the surface of how we can integrate brands into our live VR experiences, and we are really excited to continue expanding these efforts in 2017.”

The MLS game also introduces the Audi Player Index, which Angelo said was developed to continue to grow the sport of soccer in the US and engage fans of the sport in new, innovative ways. “Similar to our development of the Audi Player Index—a statistical analysis that tracks, measures and evaluates nearly 90 components and 2,000 player movements across every MLS game—we found a way to bring technology to the sport to elevate fan engagement,” Angelo said. “Now in VR, friends and fans can experience the Index and the game unlike ever before.”

Angelo said Audi targets consumers who are passionate and driven, which aligns nicely with soccer fans. “With the highest percentage of the millennial audience of any major US sport, our partnership with MLS allows Audi to reach a diverse, passionate and fast-growing audience that aligns with our strategy of reaching the next generation of millennial buyers,” Angelo said. “Audi’s partnership with MLS parallels the aggressive, challenger spirit of the two brands.”

Lorenceau discussed how brands can take advantage of the ephemeral feeling viewers get when watching sports in VR. “The potential is just huge,” he said. “For viewers who can’t make a game or are unable to sit court side, VR immediately puts them right in the action. And with TV ratings for live sports down nearly across the board, that immediacy is super important. All sports fans want a truly immersive, lean-in viewing experience that combines the best elements of TV with all that can be done with VR. And for brands to attach themselves to this is incredibly valuable. We’re just scratching the surface of what we can do for them, and expect to see a lot of innovation around VR and advertising in 2017.”

Fox Sports has been working with LiveLike for over a year, and the broadcaster has experience with bringing soccer games to VR fans. “Some of our earliest tests were with soccer and it’s a natural fit with the ability to switch perspectives in the stadium—from a high, mid-field perspective that allows you to follow the formations and tactics, to sideline and goal post cameras that get you in close to the action,” Devin Poolman, senior vice president of digital platforms at Fox Sports, said. “I still remember streaming a test match from COPA America and catching the right moment from an incredible Venezuela goal against Mexico. I knew this was something viewers would be excited about too. That also taught us that the DVR capabilities to re-watch those moments would be especially critical for soccer, and so we added that capability recently.”

Poolman said Fox Sports will promote the Audi LiveLike VR experience as part of the linear broadcast, along with special promotions from our mobile apps to make sure those streaming or following the game on Fox platforms are aware of the additional VR stream. “We’ve evolved our experience from initial, fairly static, experiences to more the more interactive and augmented livestreams in the Fox Sports VR app,” Poolman said. “But the biggest step forward may have been the availability on any mobile phone without needing Cardboard or a head-mounted device. We’ve learned that the interactivity is compelling even with a less immersive ‘magic window’ mode.”

Lorenceau said the LiveLike experience will continue to evolve, including the addition of multiplayer that will allow friends to gather in a VR Suite together to watch a game.

Poolman said Fox Sports is very interested in new platforms such as Google Daydream and PlayStation VR for some obvious reasons, like the controllers and room scale capabilities. But they’re also intrigued by both platforms extending to the TV set directly or via Chromecast. “They both have the potential to put a lot more head-mounted devices into users hands, which will be a great thing for everyone building VR experiences,” Poolman said.

How NextVR Brought New Perspectives To ‘The Game Awards’

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The third annual The Game Awards show celebrated the best the video game industry had to offer last week by broadcasting live over a wide variety of digital channels, including VR. Virtual reality livestreaming was handled by NextVR, which also partnered with the NBA to deliver weekly live games in VR and created the NFL post-game experiences. The company brought its expertise in broadcasting live sporting events to make The Game Awards the first awards show to be livestreamed in VR.

Danny Keens, NextVR vice president of content
Danny Keens, NextVR vice president of content

NextVR’s vice president of content, Danny Keens, recently spoke to [a]listdaily about working with The Game Awards and described the company’s goals: “When you imagine consuming VR content, we want you to imagine NextVR as a broadcasting network with a large variety of programming brought to viewers regularly.”

In talking about how the company came to work with The Game Awards for a VR broadcast, Keens explained that “NextVR is known for expertise in livestreaming sports and entertainment events, so partnering with an awards show that honors the achievements in the video game industry is both a natural fit and an incredible way for us to continue making consumers aware of our content—while tapping into one of the largest most dedicated audiences in gamers. The Game Awards is the first awards show livestreamed in VR, so we were excited to be the first to do it.”

The VR livestream of The Game Awards can be watched using the NextVR app, which is currently exclusive to Samsung Gear VR devices. However, Keens said that the app will soon be available for all headsets. Until then, viewers who don’t have access to a Gear VR will have to stick to watching the traditional 2D version of the show across a huge selection of digital channels, including YouTube, Twitter, Facebook Live, the PlayStation Network, Xbox Live, Twitch and Steam. “A translated version of the show will also be available for viewers in China through QC, a Chinese social network,” Keens added.

Keens also explained how cameras were placed in unique areas so that the VR experience had perspectives that neither the 2D broadcast or even live attendance could offer.

“The live VR broadcast of The Game Awards featured VR camera rigs placed throughout the Microsoft Theater. Viewers had multiple vantage points of the show, including a front row seat next to some of the biggest names in the industry. An on-stage robotic camera built especially for the show moved around during the broadcast to continually give VR viewers a new perspective on the awards and musical performances. Instead of just watching, we are transporting viewers into the screen and putting them on stage with their favorite artists.”

When asked about the challenges of broadcasting a live show in virtual reality, Keens said that “with virtual reality, it’s new and the perspective is different than watching content on television, so we are still working on best practices and ways to deliver the most ideal experience to viewers. With an opportunity like an awards show, it’s about coming up with the most compelling experience and creating a product that demonstrates the capabilities of VR and doesn’t simply re-create the linear broadcast experience that one would see by turning on their TV set or watching the show elsewhere.”

Keens went on to describe how VR could be used to enhance the viewing experience for awards shows. “Just as with sporting events, viewers are getting closer to the action than ever before,” he said. “You could see the show in its entirety from multiple different vantage points, but we were also able to create different virtual environments that we dropped into the production. For example, with The Game Awards, viewers were able to see a jumbotron in the Microsoft Theater playing a variety of 2D content (trailers, nominations, etc.) from their VR devices. You’ve never been able to step inside the television screen and experience an awards show like this before. Rather than catching highlights of the show on the big screen or on your mobile device, you’re actually able to attend. The technology allows viewers to feel inches away from the action and feel fully present.”

So, what kind of impact will VR have on live events? “Live virtual reality will forever change how fans experience live events,” said Keens. “The next 12 months will mark the first time fans will be able to watch live sports in VR on a consistent basis, thanks to our partnership with the NBA. It is undoubtedly the most immersive way ever to experience sports, and it will become the de facto sports watching medium of the future.”

According to Keens, the future of VR looks bright, particularly in the mobile viewing space. “In 2017, you will see the biggest electronics companies all over the world continue to make headsets and groundbreaking technology to support VR,” he said. “Mobile manufacturers are making screens with higher resolutions and better processors, which will improve the quality of the VR experience. With all of those changes happening, VR is going to become mass market and people will spend more and more time immersed in the technology.”