The Game Awards made history last night by being one of the largest shows to be distributed digitally. It was broadcast simultaneously across Twitch, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, Steam and even VR devices with NextVR. Additionally, Tencent broadcast the show in China and highlights were posted in a Snapchat Live story. That’s a lot of eyes watching Overwatch win for Game of the Year, and there were plenty of surprises and premieres, which presented a strong marketing opportunity for its participants—especially for the featured games that went on sale across different platforms.
Promotional events included how AMD worked in partnership with EA/Dice to give away a Radeon-powered gaming PC along with a copy of the Battlefield 1 Collector’s Edition. As if that weren’t enough, the prize also included a scale model of a Mark V tank, painted with Radeon RX-inspired branding.
Meanwhile Schick, a big sponsor of the event this year, brought its own superhero to the show: Hydrobot. The costume is of a humanoid robot with a Schick Hydro shaving razor for a head.
The Assassin’s Creed VR Experience, in promotion of the upcoming movie, made its debut at The Game Awards. Ubisoft partnered with AMD, Alienware, Fox Innovation Lab and Practical Magic to bring the VR experience to the show floor. The experience begins its US tour today in AMC Theaters, starting in San Francisco before moving on to Los Angeles, Austin and New York City through January 1, 2017.
It was also announced that Guardians of The Galaxy is getting its own 5-part Telltale Games adventure, which will premiere in 2017. Meanwhile, the off-the-wall cult hit Bulletstorm is being remastered as Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition for next year and adds Duke Nukem as a playable character in the campaign.
Other new game announcements include Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment, a prequel to much-loved retro indie game, Shovel Knight. Phoenix Labs announced Dauntless, a free-to-play cooperative action game that’s due out next year. Last but not least, it was announced that Starbase Arc, a free gravity-defying arena for Rocket League, will release on December 7.
The Game Awards is also known for incredible trailer premieres, and this year’s show didn’t disappoint. Nintendo, still riding high from the twin successes of PokémonSun and Moon, continued its promotion of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild at the show with a short but sweet trailer. Other premieres included a highly-anticipated Mass Effect: Andromeda gameplay video. Hideo Kojima, who was presented with the Icon Award last night, showed a new and creepy trailer for Death Stranding. It looks like sci-fi horror fans got the most out of The Game Awards show, because Arkane Studios and Bethesda Softworks debuted a brand-new trailer for Prey, and followed up with an 8-minute gameplay video.
Ripstone, developer of games such as Pure Chess is making the big leap into eSports this weekend with its game, Pure Pool. The company is working with Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) and ESL to promote the Pure Pool Contender Cup, which takes place tomorrow, December 3. Competitors across Europe will test their skills to see who is the best pool player.
Ripstone’s head of PR and marketing, Michelle Turner, recently spoke to [a]listdaily about the event and how a Pure Pool (which has sold 300,000 units to date across PS4, Xbox One and PC) could make a name for itself in the eSports scene.
Michelle Turner, Ripstone Head of PR and marketing
Turner explained that eSports was something that Ripstone has been considering for quite a while for several of its games, particularly Pure Pool and Pure Hold’em. Furthermore, the communities for those games were already setting up their own tournaments.
“Our account manager at Sony contacted us and brought Pure Pool to the table (excuse the pun) , so it seemed like a no-brainer,” said Turner “We’re using Pure Pool as the test-bed with the hopes of expanding this to more countries and more of our games in the future.”
Speaking about why the pool game made for an ideal eSports pick, Turner explained that “the popularity of Pure Pool shows that there is a real passion for pool and snooker games. We’ve already seen our players, especially on PlayStation 4, getting into the spirit of the game and starting their own tournaments, so for us, it was the obvious next step to set up official tournaments.”
With players already setting up their own tournaments, Ripstone did not have to force a tournament mode into the game, and eSports seemed like a natural progression. “In the ‘real world’ pool and snooker championships are televised and are hugely popular proving that the desire is there from people,” Turner continued, “so why not bring this to the gaming world?”
However, it’s tough to overlook how the eSports scene is currently dominated by MOBA games like League of Legends and first-person shooters such as Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. So where does a game like Pure Pool fit into that space? “Pool is a game that everybody knows, so it makes it a little more accessible to people that may find MOBAs or first-person shooters a little daunting, or if people want a relaxing alternative to those kinds of games ,” said Turner. “If you want something a bit more chilled or a different kind of intensity as to whether someone is going to make that shot or not , Pure Pool is a great choice for that. The audience isn’t going to be as big as those other genres but there’s still a great following of people who love the game and want to get involved.
When asked how Ripstone was working with SCEE and ESL on putting the tournament together, Turner said that “we have a great relationship with SCEE, having published our games on several of their platforms—PS4, PS3 and Vita. Pure Pool does really well on PlayStation 4 , as does the rest of the Pure series, which includes Pure Chess and Pure Hold’em. It was actually our SCEE account manager that came to us initially, and he introduced us to ESL. They’ve been great in handling all the setup and logistics of the tournament and guiding us through the process as it’s our first foray into eSports.”
According to Turner, Ripstone is interested in expanding the Pure Pool eSports tournament to North America. “We have a huge audience of Pure Pool fans in North America already so it would be great to expand the tournaments to include those players too so they can be part of the action,” she said. “Once we’ve done the initial launch in Europe we’ll see how we can expand it further from there.”
Turner also detailed how the company was generating awareness for the Pure Pool Contender Cup. “We’re trying to promote it as much as we can in the lead-up,” said Turner. “There are Live Tiles on the PlayStation Store, so all current owners of the game will see this in their dashboard. We recently did a price promotion for the game alongside our initial announcement about this partnership. It’s included in the PS4 Events App and on the ESL website so people can sign up there. We’re continuously sharing through our various social media channels and doing newsletter mail-outs to our fans, as well as practicing our own pool skills on our Twitch channel to help generate excitement.”
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Intel-owned Voke is partnering with the National Football League (NFL) to create virtual reality content for four upcoming games. Using Voke’s TrueVR technology, the tech company will produce 360-degree highlights starting with the Denver Broncos at Jacksonville Jaguars game on December 4, followed by the New Orleans Saints at Tampa Bay Buccaneers on December 11, the Jacksonville Jaguars at Houston Texans on December 18, and the Dallas Cowboys at Philadelphia Eagles on January 1.
Voke will work alongside NFL Films to produce the in-game and postgame highlights, which will be hosted by NFL Network reporter Courtney Fallon and former NFL wide receiver David Nelson from each game site. The duo will introduce the experience and will be calling the plays and providing analysis of the 360-degree highlights.
Fans will be able to access the NFL VR experience for free in the NFL channel within the Voke app. “Virtual reality has the potential to bring a unique perspective to our fans to complement the different ways they currently enjoy the game today,” William Deng, director of media strategy and business development at the NFL said in a statement. “We look forward to working with Voke as we continue to experiment and create new experiences in this emerging medium.”
Dr. Sankar Jayaram, co-founder, president and CEO of Voke
Voke co-founder Sankar Jayaram told [a]listdaily that the company will use between 48 and 72 of its proprietary cameras arranged in grouped arrays at multiple positions on the field. NextVR recently created 360-degree content with the NFL, but Jayaram said Voke’s technology is fundamentally different.
“Our TrueVR technology is based on multiple pairs of stereoscopic lenses stitched together in real-time,” Jayaram said. “This provides true stereoscopy through the entire field of view and also allows for significant customization for various types of sports and entertainment events. In addition, our technology provides an undistorted 2D panoramic, user controlled experience for smartphones, tablets and computers.”
Jayaram said 360 is a completely different medium and should not be thought of as just enhanced video. “360 opens up a large number of possibilities for new fan experiences, in addition to capturing everything all the time on the field,” he said.
Since being acquired by Intel in November, Voke has upped its game. “The Intel Sports Group is focusing on next-generation fan engagement through the digitization of sports,” Jayaram explained. “VokeVR fits really well into this focus. We have put plans in place for significant growth to support a large number of events to be covered worldwide in the next 12-24 months. There are also significant synergies with existing Intel technologies that we are already beginning to exploit.”
While NFL experiments with 360-degree video have focused on highlight reels so far, that could change in the future. “I believe all future engagement of fans with sports and entertainment will be in a medium very different from what we have today,” said Jayaram. “It will definitely be surround experiences.”
Jayaram said new platforms such as Google Daydream View and Sony PlayStation VR will result in larger audiences for the VokeVR experience. In addition, these platforms will need really good experiences to take advantage of their capabilities. These lead to very good synergy between VokeVR experiences and these platforms.
Ubisoft Films, New Regency and 20th Century Fox are preparing to launch the Assassin’s Creed movie globally on December 21. To promote the feature film based on Ubisoft’s bestselling video game franchise, AMD, Alienware, Fox Innovation Lab and Practical Magic have partnered to promote the feature film through an exclusive five-minute virtual reality experience that is available on Facebook 360 today.
There’s also a takeover of The Game Awards green room (now dubbed the red room) in Los Angeles tonight, where kiosks featuring Oculus Rift and AMD-powered Alienware Aurora PCs will showcase the 360-degree experience. Beginning Friday, similar kiosks will tour across the country in AMC Theaters in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin and New York City through January 1, 2017.
Jeff Elefterion executive vice president of domestic marketing at New Regency said Assassin’s Creed is the perfect fit for a VR experience, not only because of its origins in the gaming world but because of the very nature of its unique and fascinating storyline.
“The main protagonist in the film, Cal Lynch, is hooked up to a machine called the Animus, which virtually transports him to another time and place to experience the life of his ancestor,” Elefterion said. “What could be more perfect in terms of applying that concept to a VR experience?”
Chris Sutphen, director of product marketing at Alienware, told [a]listdaily that in addition to the theatrical marketing campaign, the company will be sharing information and getting the word out in email and social media.
“We’re gamers too, so we know it feels a little validating when a game-related intellectual property enters mainstream culture,” Sutphen said. “We’ve seen it with game-related movies for years, and we’re seeing it with eSports today. We feel that these are moments to celebrate with other gamers because they represent milestones in the story of video game culture.”
The Assassin’s Creed VR Experience puts players in the role of a new assassin and features a cameo from Michael Fassbender, who produces and stars in the big screen film. The VR experience tells an original story that was filmed on the movie sets across London’s Pinewood Studios, Malta and in Los Angeles. It focuses on the Spanish Inquisition but also gives fans an up-close 360-degree video of the Animus (a kind of virtual reality time traveling machine) that was created for the big screen adventure.
“The Radeon Technologies Group worked closely with the developer for the content, Practical Magic, assisting them with technical advice, supplying them with hardware, early driver access and engineering support for optimizations,” Roy Taylor, corporate vice president of alliances at AMD, told [a]listdaily. “James Knight, virtual production director for AMD RTG whose credits include Avatar, I Am Legend and Spider-Man, helped the Practical Magic team and worked closely with them too.”
Taylor said the Radeon Technologies Group Loom technology is an advanced solution for real time stitching for 360 VR video.
“It is proving exceptionally popular because of its high performance and excellent quality,” Taylor said. “Optimized to be used in conjunction with AMD Radeon Pro professional graphics both were supplied for the making of the Assassins Creed VR Experience. In addition, the target playback performance was aimed at the popular Polaris RX 480 and RX 470 VR Ready graphics solutions used by Dell/Alienware and which will form the most popular graphics solution for location-based experiences and home users around the world.”
Ubisoft has sold over 80 million copies of Assassin’s Creed to date, although there’s no new game this year. Instead, the big screen feature and this virtual reality experience will have to satiate fans of the sci-fi series.
“This VR experience will give gamers a chance to experience the Assassin’s Creed universe in a way they haven’t been able to before,” Elefterion said. “This is not the game. And it’s not the movie. It is an immersive experience that will hopefully build on the already legendary fascination with this unique property by making the viewer feel as if he or she is part of what they are watching.”
Virtual reality is continuing to gain steam, thanks to a huge influx of investment from companies like Facebook, Sony, Microsoft, Intel, Samsung, HTC and AMD. Experiences like this have opened up new marketing opportunities for companies like Alienware.
“This is an important moment in PC gaming. HTC Vive and Oculus Rift have proven that PC offers the best VR experience,” Sutphen said. “And we see a real opportunity to let people know that an Alienware rig is the perfect computer to power these VR experiences. PC gaming is getting even more attention from the general public because of VR.”
Disney, ABC Television and Mandt VR have partnered together to bring an unforgettable experience by capturing The Wonderful World of Disney: Magical Holiday Celebration across several 360-degree videos. Mandt VR helped create the 360-degree video experiences, which transport viewers to the pageantry and fun of the event. Audiences can watch from their mobile devices or computers for a front row seat at the concerts in addition to riding the floats and theme park attractions.
The Wonderful World of Disney: Magical Holiday Celebration aired on ABC on Thanksgiving Day (November 24) and Disney Parks Presents: A Descendants Magical Holiday Celebration aired the Friday after on the Disney Channel. The final show, The Disney Parks’ Magical Christmas Celebration will air on Christmas Day (December 25) on ABC.
Neil Mandt, the Emmy-award winning TV and film producer and Mandt VR CEO, recently spoke with [a]listdaily about working with Disney to capture the magic of the high-profile event in 360-degree video.
Neil Mandt, founder and CEO of Mandt VR
How did Mandt come to work with Disney for these 360 experiences?
We’ve had a long history of working with Disney on a multitude of projects—the Christmas parade in particular. Mandt was involved in the production of the telecast of it in the previous two years. This year, they changed the show up a little bit, focusing a lot on Thanksgiving, and wanted some 360 effort. They turned to us because we have a history of working with them successfully.
What do the experiences include?
There are several short-form videos that have been created that capture the live performances of a lot of the artists that were performing there. Some of the artists range from Boyz II Men, to Flo Rida, to OneRepublic and [then] the parade itself.
We did a ride-along with Forever In Your Mind. The experiences range from being at the show watching the live music performances to actually being involved on a float, as well as some of the park rides like River Rapids—with Forever In Your Mind on the ride.
How did Disney and ABC help promote these experiences?
It was on the front page of ABC.com and it was also pushed out to VR platforms like Oculus and HTC Vive. It was also on the ticker of the show itself.
Why do you think Disney chose this event for 360 experiences?
It’s their most important property in that it shows their park. They do an annual holiday special, and this is the perfect way to take the existing content experience and move it into the next level. People want to be there and they want to be associated with the park. The 360 experience allows people to have that immersive experience. So, this was a very organic move for them.
Do you think this signals a move from Disney to further embrace VR to promote its parks, shows and movies?
One-hundred percent. We’re living in a digital age now, and VR is on the front edge of 360 content. It’s just coming into play, but it works with existing players like YouTube and Facebook. As we look at the 2 billion smartphones in the world that have access to YouTube and Facebook, these players will automatically integrate and play 360 content. We’re already seeing high viewership, and they’re showing a higher return of viewership than non-360 videos. In this digital age, as people are pushing their content through multiple platforms—from digital, on mobile and through television—audience is really what matters, and 360 video and virtual reality video are gaining audiences.
I would say that over the coming years, you’re going to see Disney come up with a whole myriad of ways of implementing 360 content in their overall storytelling and message. They were very interested in being a part of it and really wanted to be as forward-thinking as possible. Our initial plan with them was to do three videos, and that got expanded to five once they saw the capabilities. I would see them looking to fire on all cylinders in the years to come, and I would expect nothing less from Disney. Disney does things at the highest level.
Is there a reason why a short-form format was used?
It’s where the audience is. You can’t do a 360 experience on television sets except through certain apps like Littlstar. But the majority of people who consume content through TV can only access the 2D experience. Then the people who can see the 360 experiences are looking on mobile and computers. Those people are not watching long-form content on Thanksgiving Day or Christmas Day on a mobile device. They’re just looking at short-form content.
So, it’s consistent with where the audience is at this particular moment in time and what the tech will allow. As we see more 360-compatible devices and VR goggles come on the market, we’ll see an uptick in the length and comprehensiveness of the 360 program.
Something like The Wonderful World of Disney seems like it’s best experienced as a family. Does the solitary nature of 360 video and VR seem contradictory to that?
I would say that this is complementary content. Teenagers and millennials view content on mobile as well as on their iPads and computers. They also like to watch things in bits and pieces. This is really meant for that sort of programming, and part of what makes VR unique is that isolated experience, where I get transported to someplace else. I think this is fine for people in the short term.
It also allows people to share the experience. If I was watching on my goggles, I could talk to someone and say, “now you try it.” So, we’re seeing a lot of shared experiences with goggles, especially if you’re talking about short-form content. I can watch it for three minutes, then you can watch it for three minutes. It’s very palatable compared to watching a half hour show then handing over the goggles, and then we would have lost each other’s attention.
How do you think television events likeThe Wonderful World of Disney will help grow VR technology?
Awareness is the key element in that. Having the TV audience aware of 360 content is very helpful.
What do you hope audiences will come away with after watching these 360 experiences?
I hope that people enjoy them and see the polish that 360 content can offer viewers. It’s definitely different—you’re able to look around and get a sense of the entire experience, where you have to look at whatever the director tells you to look at in traditional television. In 360, you can let your eyes meander around and have a more immersive experience, even on your mobile phone.
So, it’s my hope that people get hooked on it and say, “I want to see more.” It’s my belief that that will happen. I believe that once people see good quality 360 and VR content that they will want more of it.
Remember, this is an enhancement. It’s a new medium. It’s not meant to replace television, it’s in addition to it. There will be different ways of telling stories in VR and 360 than with television, but there’s still going to be a place for that screen on the wall for people to have a collective viewing experience.
With platforms such as Twitch, Facebook Live, Periscope, YouTube and others, live events are becoming into an increasingly popular way for brands to engage with audiences. Two UK companies, Attention Seekers and Done & Dusted, saw the growing potential of live events in the video game industry. The two companies recently announced that they have combined their expertise to form AD+D, based in Santa Monica, California.
Phil Tucker, AD+D co-owner and executive producer; Attention Seekers CEO
Attention Seekers has a deep understanding of the video game space, having created bespoke video content for the industry. Done & Dusted is renowned for its work on spectacular live shows such as the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, the London 2012 Olympics Opening and Closing Ceremonies and tours for artists such as U2 and Katy Perry. By combining Done & Dusted’s expertise in creating live events with Attentions Seekers’ experience and credibility in the gaming world, AD+D will take live video game events such as consumer experiences, media briefings and eSports competitions to a whole new level.
AD+D co-owners, Phil Tucker and Simon Pizey, spoke to [a]listdaily recently about the formation of the company. Tucker is an executive producer at AD+D and CEO of Attention Seekers. Pizey is the joint CEO of AD+D in addition to being the CEO of Done & Dusted. The two are joined by Jason Wiltshire, executive vice president at AD+D. Together, they will bring a new level of flash and professionalism to gaming events, developed from a gamer’s standpoint.
What are AD+D’s goals?
[Tucker]: This exciting evolution in the video game industry is that the live space is becoming more valuable. We’ve seen audiences that are en masse and look to the calendar year to gather, and there are many more opportunities game companies can have in generating meaningful moments that are above where their normal marketing beats would sit. We are looking to empower the game industry and bring our professionalism to help understand what is true authenticity when it comes to creating live moments. It’s not just about taking something that has worked traditionally on television or what would have worked in a standard touring event format—it’s about taking this time to invent new interesting formats that will build to a bigger moment where we place live engagement at the front and center.
Simon Pizey, AD+D joint CEO; Done and Dusted CEO
Can you describe what this new format might be like?
[Wiltshire]: We’re all gamers, and that allows us to bring that authenticity into projects because we look at it from the gamer’s point of view as well as our producer’s. Whether it’s media briefings, game launches or competitive gaming, we’re always thinking about it from the gamer’s standpoint.
[Pizey]: One thing that will become an even more important part of the narrative building to these live moments will be the gamer’s journey and the storytelling that fits behind a lot of the players. Whether that’s for competitive gaming, eSports, there’s a whole array of storytelling mechanics that are currently not used within the gaming industry. It’s not just about rewiring the events to become more engaging and taking some of the tricks D&D put together in delivering live stage shows, but also in creating more of the preamble and promo building up to these events—through which we can start to develop meaningful methods of engagement that would end go up on television or Twitch.
[Tucker]: The real opportunity is with the gamers at home and the max views online. How do you think about them? How do you entertain them? How do you give them what they want? I think, more than ever, there’s an appetite for creation in this space while keeping authenticity, because we know gamers see through people making content for them that don’t understand games.
Jason Wiltshire, AD+D executive vice president
This year featured a number of live gaming events, including EA Play. What is the video game industry missing out on?
[Pizey]: I think it’s doing a good job of talking to its core audience. One of the important factors when the game companies invest so heavily in establishing these events is letting it talk to the core audience—let it become a place of gathering and celebration and show competitive gaming. But then also acquire an audience. Live is a great way of capturing the imagination and creating that “circus comes to town” moment. We all know that video gaming is intertwined within our lives, but these are great opportunities for gaming companies to make a real show that is engaging to an audience that they might not otherwise get to connect with.
We offer a level of elevation that would make that event reach out to other broadcast outlets or connect with a broader audience. We love what the games industry is doing—they’re fantastic steps and a real empowerment—but we believe we can add another layer to help make more of those moments.
[Tucker]: I think there’s a huge opportunity there. Yes, eSports is coming on stride, and all the game companies are putting on bigger and better eSports activations, but we still look at the percentage of gamers. You look at some of these big AAA titles and they have a massive audience, and the amount that participates on the eSports side of things is small percentage—whether it’s viewing and certainly when it comes to playing. The core eSports model is very often what’s applied to these big mainstream titles when actually, there’s opportunity for ramping up entertainment and aiming it at the more mainstream audience.
How do you grow a Twitch, YouTube Live or Facebook Live broadcast to a broader audience?
[Tucker]: I think there are lots of ways to do that. We see lots of live activations that aren’t promos that are aimed at an audience beforehand to generate that groundswell of excitement. Also, it comes in the way that we approach content and how competitive gaming could be. Console games are accessible to a mainstream audience, but when it comes to a live eSports broadcast, “are they as accessible?” is the questions we should be asking ourselves. As part of the mainstream audience, what excites me? What’s my reason for watching? What’s my investment? I know, when I go and watch a football match this evening, that there’s investment, narrative and entertainment there.
What are thoughts on VR livestreaming?
[Tucker]: VR is a very exciting space. We’re currently working on a VR project that allows us to have a mixed reality live studio space. So, when you look at that room, it has that “wow” impact. It offers those who are watching, either in the room or from a remote location, a varied experience within the program. You’re talking to enhance that layer of experience.
[But] we’re all hoping that we take our time with VR, and it’s not a desperate rush to create a gimmick that goes down too soon. We ultimately believe that VR offers a valuable experience to live engagement, so you want the format to have a consistency and an experience that you can trust and return to.
[Wiltshire]: VR is great, but the install base isn’t huge from the live events point of view. But it’s getting bigger all the time, and it’s certainly on our radar.
[Pizey]: In my head, I think there’s no hurry on it. I’m really interested in seeing what happens next year, but I don’t feel that we necessarily need to be at the vanguard of VR. I’m quite happy to be a bit of a spectator and see where it’s going because it’s a slightly Wild West, where everybody is chucking stuff at the wall to see what sticks. Some bits that I’ve been involved with work and some not so much. The next year is going to be fascinating.
The frontline for virtual reality (VR) product marketers can be found in the VR app storefronts. This is the first place that anyone who owns the hardware is going to look for content, and therefore it’s a critical place for marketing. More than that, these VR app stores are evolving rapidly, and some of the innovations to these app stores may even lead to changes to other app stores.
At the Oculus Connect Conference, Dan Morris, head of digital store for Oculus, went into detail about the company’s plans for the Oculus Storefront to an overflow audience of rapt developers and marketers. “We are linked, and we’re going to succeed or fail together,” Morris said, noting the Oculus content ecosystem is indeed interlinked like its biological counterpart. “The store is a pivotal place where discovery occurs,” Morris said. Oculus is highly motivated to make the store successful and to provide all the best support for marketing that it can, because ultimately revenue is driven through the store. That’s why Morris aims to make the store “the most delightful experience we can.”
Oculus assumes rightly that if the store is working well for developers and marketers, then more great content will come to Oculus and more hardware will be sold. “Solve for developers, and everything else gets solved,” Morris noted.
There are two basic approaches to putting apps into a digital store, Morris explained. Apps can be put in programmatically with an automated system, or they can be put in via a curation process using people who are experts in the field. “The downside is it (curation) is a very narrow bottleneck for so many apps to come through,” Morris acknowledged. Of course, the programmatic method can lead to problems as well. Oculus is using both, trying to find the best compromise between the two. Oculus wants to be sure that all VR apps meet a minimum technical and quality standard, because otherwise that wouldn’t be good for the Oculus Store or for the market in general.
While Oculus plans to curate the store “forever,” it also wants to take advantage of programmatic tools. “We thought long and hard about the quality metrics that we want to reward,” Morris said. “We have instituted models that are working right now, to try to show us the kind of apps we might not have looked closely at initially, but are being played a lot by users, generating money on a per user basis at a good rate, and others.” Morris said they will be tweaking these metrics over time, but they will try not to be overly programmatic.
“We have been fixing, building, and changing some things based on our conversation with you (developers), ” Morris said. “We’ve taken a lot of action recently to make the Store operate much better. “That’s not only improving and speeding up the app approval process, but making it much more detailed so developers know what to do in order to get the app approved.
“Here we are in VR, in this marvelous 3D space, totally immersed, and our store is still pretty much 2D tiles floating in a grid,” Morris acknowledged ruefully. “It feels like we should do a bit better than that. We certainly aim to do better than that.” The Store is working well, users are downloading apps and spending money, but Oculus plans to take better advantage of the space to create more opportunities for browsing. “A rich media storefront that really gives the user a sense of what they’re about to see before they download the app is something we want to arrive at pretty quickly,” Morris said. One thing they are tinkering with is bundling apps into packs, like an Exploration Pack, that give apps more of a chance to be downloaded and launched.
One interesting addition to the Oculus Store is the Gallery Apps section, where the technical standards are relaxed to showcase some exciting, experimental stuff. “When we see apps that are worthy of people’s attention, but not the kind of thing we would stick at the front of the store, we really think there deserves to be a place in the store for apps like that for discovery,” Morris explained.
This is also a chance for experimental apps to earn some money while they are still in the process of development. Even though the apps may have issues, Oculus feels the current audience, at least, is “pretty adventurous and interested in this kind of thing, and as long as they’ve received a very clear explanation of what they’re getting themselves into, they’ll actually be very interested to see what’s in there.”
Morris stressed that the customer experience in the Oculus Store is critically important. Customers should have a delightful experience, a strong sense of what to expect, and a wide range of VR experiences. For developers, Morris feels Oculus owes developers a clear set of acceptance criteria data developers can act upon, ongoing contact, and most of all an exciting store presence. “These storefronts really should be dazzling places to get a glimpse into what you guys have built,” Morris said.
As for business intelligence, Morris promised that the Oculus Store would be delivering more actionable data in the future. “We’re actually taking some people and making an investment in a reboot of this [their developer dashboard], so that you’ve got a more granular sense of what’s happening in different territories,” Morris said. He also noted they would be looking at that data globally as well to share trends and provide insights into where the market is headed. “We’re starting to gain some insights and see some trends in the use of VR across hundreds of apps,” Morris said. “At this point, it’s time to start turning that into knowledge you guys can use.”
Boston-based startup VirZoom has launched its $400 virtual reality exercise bike, VirZoom, for PlayStation VR. The bike is now compatible across Oculus Rift, HTC Vive and PSVR. The company was co-founded 18 months ago by serial entrepreneur Eric Janszen and Eric Malafeew, who spent 15 years at Harmonix as a chief architect, making games like Dance Central and Rock Band.
Malafeew told [a]listdaily that after spending so many years motivating people to dance and play music through game peripherals, he wanted to harness users’ emotional response to VR and motivate them to move.
“The idea came about where we could use games and VR to motivate people to move, and it’s actually easier to offer more motivating than ever before because VR is so emotional,” Malafeew said.
Spencer Honeyman, director of business development at VirZoom, told [a]listdaily that the product is being marketed to both the casual gamer and the fitness enthusiast.
“It’s like a Wii Fit for VR,” Honeyman said. “Our focus isn’t a spin class customer, but someone who wants to get in a workout but wants it to be fun. Ninety percent of people don’t like jumping on a bike at the gym, so they watch TV to distract themselves from what they’re doing. Instead of distracting you, VirZoom motivates you and you’re getting a good workout without realizing it.”
To date, the bike has been featured at tradeshows and events, including at the Vive booth at CES and GDC along with the Sony booth at E3 this year. VirZoom is also supplying gaming and fitness influencers with the bike so they can get the word out. “Word-of-mouth will be key to explaining how much fun it is to play and exercise,” Honeyman said.
Honeyman said VirZoom is focused on the consumer market with the bike, which is now available at retailers like Best Buy, Target, GameStop and Amazon. Come January, the bike will be available at retailers for customers to try it out before purchasing it.
The bike comes with a free VirZoom Arcade collection of seven games, which have been designed by the studio from the ground up to get users pedaling. The suite of arcade games includes Cowboy, Race Car, Tank, Pegasus, Helicopter, Kayak and Cycle. The last three games on this list are designed for online multiplayer, while the single-player games offer leaderboards and ghost challenge modes.
“Every month, we’re adding new levels for existing games and we’re also working on completely new game concepts,” Honeyman said. A free SDK comes with the bike for developers to make games.
Honeyman said the vision for VirZoom is to create an exercise game platform and the world’s first virtual sport. “We envision this technology and IP translating into the real world with specialized software motion controls,” Honeyman said. “We’re looking at different hardware platforms for higher-end bikes and the consumer market with the first announcement coming at CES.”
The idea would be to take the VirZoom Arcade games and tailor them to higher-end exercise bikes at health clubs. The first gym partnership announcement will be made at CES in January.
“In the early stage we want to establish community online, but our goal is to create a real physical eSport in the future,” Honeyman said. “We think games like Cycling are well suited for online competition.”
Ultimately, competitors exercising at one gym could be competing online with those at another. Malafeew added that all of the games for VirZoom Arcade have been designed for extended lengths of time, and they’ve been created to be comfortable in virtual reality without motion sickness, thanks to extensive testing with 500 early adopters over the past year.
Streamline connects livestream broadcasters with their audience in new and exciting ways by having viewers interact with in-game events. The game was revealed at last September’s TwitchCon and marked the launch of Twitch Prime, a service that connects the Twitch livestreaming platform with its owner, Amazon. Users that signed on with Twitch Prime within 30 days of the announcement got the Streamline and a number of other digital extras for free.
More recently, Proletariat Inc., the developers of Streamline, has been working with Twitch to develop the Bounty system. A purchase button appears during a livestream of the game, giving viewers an opportunity to purchase Streamline via Twitch. Additionally, the broadcaster gets 30 percent of the sale, giving streamers an additional revenue source and more incentive to show the game. On top of that, Proletariat gave Streamline away for free last week on Steam as a limited-time event.
The CEO of Proletariat, Seth Sivak, spoke with [a]listdaily recently to discuss the company’s partnership with Twitch to promote Streamline and how the developer is tapping into the special relationship between broadcaster and audience.
Seth Sivak, CEO of Proletariat Inc.
Can you tell us what Streamline is about?
We built Streamline to be an action multiplayer arena game that has deep Twitch integration. The idea came from thinking about how you design games with the viewer and broadcaster in mind—building a game that can both help broadcasters create great content while being fun to play, as well as engage viewers in new and interesting ways.
What are some of the things viewers and players can do?
We built a viewer interaction platform called Streamote. The way it works is that viewers go to Streamote.tv [with a link to] the broadcaster they’re following and it has Twitch’s video and chat along with a handful of interactions. They include voting for changes to the rules of the game; turning on slow motion or low gravity; they can place bets on which player they think will win, which uses a loyalty point system that’s controlled by the streamer channel; and play games against other viewers, and the most popular one is bingo based on what the broadcaster is doing. For example, a double kill is a bingo tile on the viewer’s board. Each one has a unique board and they can play bingo against each other as they’re watching along the way.
How did you come to partner with Twitch to include the game with Twitch Prime subscriptions?
We’ve been working closely with Twitch as part of their dev success initiative for a while, and what ended up happening is that we started to talk with them early in the year and they became really interested. They wanted to support this type of game and developers, who are starting to think about doing more with the Twitch audience and community. When the option came up to partner with them as part of Twitch Prime and be the first game to be put up for sale on Twitch, we jumped at the opportunity to do that.
It came out of an early partnership with them. We really want to push this space forward—to make games with the idea that social video and Twitch specifically could be a platform for developers and games could be played on that platform in a new way.
What inspired the idea of putting in the Bounty system?
That was straight from Twitch. Since Streamline is the first game to use the Twitch launcher, which you get when you download the game from Prime, they said “hey, we really want to get your game out there. So, what if we put it for sale on Twitch and provide a bounty for broadcasters so they can share in the game’s revenue as it’s sold?”
For us, that was really exciting. I think it’s something a lot of game studios have tried to do in various ways, as far as partnering with broadcasters, and it’s an interesting way to sell games. It points to the direction some people are starting to go as far as going to influencers and broadcasters. So, that’s a way for broadcasters to benefit as well. We were totally on board with the idea, and we love the idea of helping broadcasters make more revenue.
Does the “Buy this game” button work with archived, on-demand video of a broadcast?
No, it only appears when the broadcaster is playing it live. That’s the only way to access it, but there is a permanent buy button on the game’s details page within the game directory on Twitch.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgPvQXGUAoY
Last week, you gave Streamline away for free on Steam. What was the strategy behind that?
The challenge with a multiplayer-only game is that you want to get a lot of players in. So, we decided: “How about we drive some players in?” One of the challenges with a game like this is that you need to see people streaming it to understand how people are playing. While the game is in Early Access, we figured it would be a good time to experiment with some of this. So, we decided to do this and see what would come out of it. It’s been really good. We picked up a huge number of players, which is really exciting, and we’re looking into all their feedback.
We use Twitch as the primary login right now, so we’re starting to understand what it means to use a Twitch identity as the primary login for games and how it works with services like Steam.
Having the game shown at TwitchCon was a huge promotion. Did it help to promote the game on Steam, and how are you approaching the platform?
We reached out to folks on Steam and talked with them. The Steam community is really interesting because they’re so active. Our community page there is definitely a core piece, similar to our channel on Twitch, which is also a core part of our community. A lot of the work we’ve been doing on Steam has been reaching out to groups that do livestreaming and working with them to get copies of the game, try it out, and give us feedback on it while it’s in Early Access.
How are you working with influencers?
We’ve worked with a bunch of broadcasters to give them keys to give away, as well as spending time in their channels and their communities—giving them the game and giving them access to the developers to talk through the game and get their feedback. That’s one of the things we do several times a week.
We have a group of people here who spend a lot of their time watching as new broadcasters and our current community play and getting feedback. We have tons of video on the game itself, so we spend a lot of time seeing what we can learn from it.
In your opinion, what makes a game ideal for livestreaming?
A handful of things, but I think the biggest thing for streamers is giving them more opportunities for shout-outs to viewers. So, we tie things that are happening on the viewer platform to the in-game UI (user interface) so that the broadcasters can see it without needing to look at another window. We have Twitch chat integrated into the game, which can help with that. There’s also creating exciting and funny moments—something to commentate on—by giving them variety and an easy way to create content. Multiplayer helps a lot because it helps broadcasters create little narratives about the people they’re playing with and loop through that.
From the viewer perspective, we went with third-person to make it much easier for people to understand what’s going on. We also spent a good amount of time with how we handle UI elements and general feedback around the game to make it easy for a viewer who jumps in to know what’s going on. That’s one of the biggest challenges, since not all viewers are there at the start of the stream and they don’t stay for the entire time. You need to find ways to quickly onboard them into what’s happening to give them context into what’s going on or they’ll jump ship.
There are a lot of competitive games out right now, including Overwatch, Battlefield 1 and Rocket League. How does Streamline stand out among them?
The Twitch integration helps a lot as far as having a different feel for it and making it a game that can engage audiences in a new way. The other piece is making a game with solid mechanics that we haven’t seen very often. We have freerunning movement, and it’s not a first-person shooter, so it’s a different variety and style of play than you would see in Overwatch.
There are tons of competitive shooters, and what we’re going for is the competitive feel of a sport—more like Rocket League or Splatoon. When you look at those types of games, you’ll find that there are less of them out there, and I think there’s a huge opportunity for them because there are things people watch besides shooters.
What do you think is the potential for Streamline to be adopted as an eSport?
I think it’s very difficult to design for eSports or force a game in that direction. We’ve seen a lot of developers try that, and it’s hard. That really has to come from the community that’s built around a game, how they engage with it, and how they continue to interact with the game. We’re not necessarily going to rule it out, but our focus is on how we can discover what makes this experience interesting.
There’s something special that happens when you’re playing a game with a broadcaster in front of an audience, especially an audience that you may know and have an identity with, that we haven’t seen before. I think we’re just starting to tap into it and there’s a bunch of things you can do there. There could be a competitive aspect that comes out of it that fits into an eSports model, but that’s something that’s harder for us.
Pizza Hut, owned by Yum! Brands, continues to expand its marketing footprint with gamers. The restaurant chain has partnered with Microsoft to cross-promote the $300 Xbox One S console. Pizza Hut is giving away 1,140 free consoles as part of its $20 Triple Treat Box offer, which includes two medium one-topping pizzas, an order of breadsticks and a Hershey’s ultimate chocolate chip cookie.
Every pizza box also includes an entry code for a chance to win an Xbox One S and custom Pizza Hut-designed red controller, as well as an offer for $10 off an Xbox One game. Additionally, all customers are entered into a grand prize drawing that includes an Xbox One S, Samsung SUHD TV and a surround sound audio system.
Doug Terfehr, senior director of partnerships at Pizza Hut, told [a]listdaily that from previous marketing campaigns, which have included Xbox, the company has learned that the gaming audience is very engaged and loyal to the brands they like.
“We’ve had previous successful partnerships with Microsoft Xbox, and we liked the idea of timing this around the holidays when families are not only busy and on the go, but also looking for the hottest gifts,” Terfehr said. “The Triple Treat Box and chance to win an Xbox One S combine that into one.”
Pizza Hut recently launched a television commercial promoting the Triple Treat Box and the Xbox One S. It’s part of a cross-company marketing partnership that has Microsoft promoting Pizza Hut across its website, social channels and dashboard.
“As popular as gaming has been for a long time, it only continues to grow,” Terfehr said. “We understand that, and we think we understand what the community wants from a pizza company. A great pizza, with a great deal and something that could make their gaming experience even better.”
In addition to the current Xbox promotion, Pizza Hut has been the title sponsor for the past two Rooster Teeth RTX fan experiences, which targets gamers and has eSports competitions. The company was also the title sponsor for the Endemol Beyond digital series, Legends of Gaming. In recent years, Pizza Hut has worked with Major League Gaming, as well as eSports teams directly.
“Entering early into the more competitive gaming space has worked well for Pizza Hut,” Terfehr said. “We are fortunate to have partners who have helped us integrate organically into the community. We anticipate doing more and more in eSports in the future.”
Pizza Hut has worked with Microsoft to allow Xbox 360 and Xbox One gamers order pizza online without having to leave their favorite games. The app was an immediate hit when it launched in 2014, selling over $1 million of pizzas in the first four months.
“The ordering behavior of gamers is similar to that of most consumers—they want convenience,” Terfehr said. “Our mission is to make it easier for them to get our pizza, and that’s true for all consumers.”
Terfehr said Pizza Hut will continue to look for new opportunities to connect with gamers as well as eSports fans.
In your opinion, what makes a game ideal for livestreaming?
