For years, SoundCloud has been the go-to service where musicians and listeners can connect, and now the company is ready to put itself in the same league as Spotify and Pandora.
SoundCloud Go was revealed earlier this week–a subscription service that will run for $9.99 per month ($12.99 on mobile) after a 30-day trial period. With it, the service is promising “more tracks from emerging and established creators,” as well as the ability to listen offline. This deal comes as part of a Universal Music Group partnership, which was announced earlier in the year.
The ad-free service will help creators “reach more listeners in more places, and do so in the most diverse content ecosystem in audio streaming.” And it assures its users that “the totally free SoundCloud you know and love will always be here. You’ll still be able to reach the platform’s 175 million unique monthly listeners, whether they’re SoundCloud Go subscribers or not.”
The move has already found a number of high-profile partners, including Netflix, Jeep, HBO and Pepsi–all of which should contribute to a much bigger revenue for the company. That said, not everyone is thrilled with the subscription model.
Dave Wiskus, a member of indie rock band Airplane Mode, wrote a letter explaining how indie artists will struggle to benefit from the service. “You’ve been running ads for a while now without paying us. I guess I wrote it off as a temporary measure to keep the lights on,” he notes. “I could accept that. But now you’re charging people for access to our songs, rolling out the red carpet for the major labels, and saying you’ll get around to us eventually . . . So not only are you getting our music for free and paying us nothing, we’re actually paying you to take it. What an excellent deal. For you.”
Many aren’t viewing this news in a positive light. Matt West, director of digital integration for Ayzenberg, stated, “SoundCloud is not only entering a crowded marketplace, but they’re running the risk of losing their most vital, active and engaged audience–music creators and tastemakers.
“The reaction from artists has been the loudest. The most notable complaints are from creators who have been paying for SoundCloud Pro accounts, only to discover that their music will now go behind a paywall,” he continued. “The subscription service essentially runs counter to the main attraction of the platform: music discovery. The general sentiment seems to be a sense of abandonment of independent artists in favor of major labels and brands, even though it has been those same artists and creators who have helped make SoundCloud a relevant platform.”
So the challenge for the next few months lies with making this new subscription model into something meaningful while balancing the free service. It’ll also be interesting to see what happens to indie artists, but considering how important they are to SoundCloud’s plans, their concerns will likely be addressed in the near future.
A variety of companies have been jumping into eSports lately. Twitch recently announced a new venture with Super Evil Megacorp to create a mobile eSports league featuring Vainglory; TBS is still set to introduce a Counter-Strike competitive series this summer; and even ESPN is getting into eSports, despite previous objections to its appeal. Now, Chinese eCommerce company Alibaba could be showing the largest interest in these tournaments to date.
GamesIndustry International reports that the company has paired up with Singapore-based YuuZoo to create a new eSports initiative in China, and that it could see investment in over 1,200 different events for this year alone.
YuuZoo has a great deal ofexperience putting eSports activities together, including the Electronic Sports China Cup and China Internet Gaming, both of which were tremendous draws.
This deal, with an investment worth 100 million yen ($15.5 million), would put YuuGames in charge of AliSports’ World Electronic Sports Games (WESG) tournament, as well as its various eSports Club Competition Centres, with 20 located throughout China. The first tournament will kick off this month, with a 35.6 million yen ($5.5 million) prize pool.
“Sports is a multibillion dollar business in China, with massive growth potential,” said Zhang Dazhong, CEO of AliSports, in a statement. “That is why Alibaba is investing heavily in this vertical. Linking sport and technology enhances the quality of life. That is what we want to do through AliSports.”
While 1,200 various eSports events may seem like anoverload, keep in mind that China has over 100 million eSports fans.
We’ll see what kind of success comes from the deal in the months ahead, but considering how wildly competitive gaming has grown over the past few years, it should be a key investment for Alibaba.
MLG has graduated to Nationwide Arena (home of the NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets) with this weekend’s Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Major Championship in Columbus. Mike Sepso, senior vice president at Activision Blizzard and former president and co-founder of MLG, sees a future where NFL stadiums will host eSports events in the U.S.
With $1 million up for grabs at this weekend’s first-ever North American CS:GO Major event, Sepso talks about the goals of Activision Blizzard as it attempts to appease hardcore fans and introduce new fans to eSports.
How is MLG’s first stadium event different from anything in the past?
We’re going to go outside of the screen, whether it’s a Jumbotron at the stadium or the screen at home. The next-generation eSports experience will be more interactive, and more than just a video screen.
At Nationwide Arena, you’ll be able to see the LED screens reacting to what’s happening in real-time through some new technology we’ve developed. Our product strategy is related not only to the live fan experience, but also the over-the-top streaming platform. You’ll see more of it there later this year. We’re testing across both this weekend to provide an additional layer of data to the viewers.
What would you say is the significance to having the Major Tournament take place in the Nationwide Arena?
It’s a big step for Counter-Strike in North America. Traditionally, the game has been dominated by Europe, but we’re seeing four NA teams qualify for the first time, and the excitement and passion of the fans here is second to none.
How will this test impact the future MLG eSports experience?
These enhanced features will just be a test so people can watch in multiple ways. We’re in the experimentation phase and want to see what different cohorts of our audience are interested in. We don’t want to do anything other than increase the value of the current audience for the core fans. MLG has always been good at communicating with the core community, and we think some of these new features will give them something new to interact with.
In what ways have MLG tournaments grown and evolved over the past few years?
We’re always looking for ways to improve the live event experience and the broadcast. Obviously, the biggest difference for this event is that it’s our first in a traditional sports arena, but we’re also using that space to integrate the staging more closely with what you see in-game and we’re testing out an enhanced viewer experience at MLG.tv/csmajor that pulls real-time situational data to offer insights into the top players that directly relate to what’s happening in the moment.
How are you opening up eSports to the more mainstream audience?
For the more casual fan, it provides a greater depth of knowledge of what they’re watching, especially through the non-technical parts of this conversation that celebrate the players and personalities.
One issue with eSports versus any traditional sports is that while you watch the game, you don’t see the people playing. We need to put celebrating these players a bit more into focus, and bring them into the forefront through their personalities and stories. This is all very early, but this new set of capabilities is just the beginning.
How are you learning from traditional sports?
We’re not reinventing sports here. We’ll use successful models from traditional sports, including up-close and personal storylines and pieces like ESPN does so well. We’ve been doing that. One of the interesting storylines in Columbus is that it’s the first time North American CS:GO teams are competing up to the level of European teams.
Will you give more control to the home viewers of what they’re seeing?
In the future, we’ll test a feature to switch from player to player in a match. We’re going to take a programmatic approach to see which changes gets the most traction with the fan base and which ones drive the storylines. This first time out is all about getting feedback from viewers at home.
What do you attribute to the meteoric rise of CS:GO in eSports?
CS:GO is specifically built for eSports. All of the in-game productization and third-party marketplace around it are a big part of its success. Valve is smart about how they’ve worked with the fan base and leagues to establish a firm base for some of the biggest and best eSports operators to come in and build something great. A lot of the live and broadcast enhancements we’re able to do quickly because the game was built for us to access data in real-time. That allows the MLG product team to build interesting experiences around that. The game is well-suited to tap into the current ecosystem around eSports.
What do you think it is about CS:GO, a four-year-old game, that keeps viewers hooked?
It’s been consistent in terms of gameplay, and Valve has done a great job within the community and game to keep engagement levels high.
MLG has graduated to an NHL arena. Is an NFL stadium far behind for the U.S. market when you look at the ESL attracting 113,000 people to the Intel Extreme Masters World Championship in Katowice, Poland earlier this month?
We’ll take a more unified look at the numbers at Katowice; sometimes people take a little license with how they report attendance numbers. But a football stadium isn’t that far away. The next obvious step for us is an NFL stadium.
A big part of this Nationwide Arena event was to see who’s attending. We wanted to see if fans were flying in from all over the world or if it’s more like the NHL or NBA and drawing in the local market audience. For Columbus, we received a very high percentage of ticket purchases from the larger Columbus market–way more than we had anticipated. Maybe the U.S. is catching up to Asia in terms of having a mainstream enough fan base–even in Columbus–so we can sell out a 9,000 seat arena. This opens up the opportunity to do more arena events, not just once or twice a year.
How many viewers and attendees are expected to watch the Major Tournament live?
We have sold out the arena, so we expect over 9,000 fans each day.
How has the transition from MLG to Activision Blizzard been for you?
When I joined Activision Blizzard, Steve Bornstein and I sketched out a grand strategy on how we could use all the resources of the company—not just the IP, but the global reach, balance sheet and deep understanding of brand management. With my background in the eSports world and Steve’s in the traditional sports world, we’ve outlined a strong strategy for market leadership that will help drive eSports forward by creating more mature, sustainable, business models for all aspects of the industry.
Activision Blizzard as a company (and now with King, we have the global mobile reach that business has) can help lead the industry, and be a much more open platform for the rest of the industry to organize something that’s more sustainable and easier to understand. If we can do that successfully, the entire industry will benefit, as well as fans and players.
Our sustainable investment hypothesis for how this works is to invest more back into the fan experience. That’s why we have these enhanced viewing tests. We’re less than a quarter into this acquisition happening, and we’re moving quickly.
It’s that time of year again—when the internet is flooded with April Fools’ Day pranks. Some are so good that it’s hard to tell whether they’re real or not. And a lot of companies, including IGN, Bandai Namco and Google, outdid themselves this year.
Here’s a quick roundup of the ten best “pwn’d” jokes we’ve seen this year.
Google Express
Google’s always looking for new ways to innovate in delivery, so why not parachutes? With Google Express, consumers can order items to be sent right to them through air drops, including water bottles and axes. Take that, drones!
Star Wars On Netflix
There has been a longtime discussion of a potential Star Wars series produced by Netflix. Well, IGN decided to make good on that with a fun April Fools’ prank involving a fake teaser trailer for the series, featuring signature character, Darth Maul, getting into a lightsaber fight. Sorry fans, but this isn’t the real thing.
Dark Souls III–The Movie
Bandai Namco has been putting a strong promotional push behind its forthcoming action/horror game Dark Souls III, which is set to arrive on April 12th. However, it decided to have some fun with it today, turning the game into an advertisement for a cheesy ’80s horror film. On VHS, no less.
With Deadpool’s creative marketing, it can be hard to tell what’s a joke and what’s not. That’s why Fox decided to be pretty obvious by advertising the home release of the blockbuster comic book film for a pair of forgotten media formats. Along with the real Blu-Ray and digital release on May 10th, the film will also get a “non-existent special edition” on VHS and LaserDisc. What, no Betamax?
Hulu Datr
Sitting back and relaxing to streaming shows is a great pasttime, but Hulu wants to take it a step further by introducing a way to meet up with others. It’s fake, of course, but imagine the possibilities if you could meet that special someone while marathoning Parks and Recreation?
Sony Develops Ghost Catching Device
In a clever April Fools joke that ties in with the Ghostbusters reboot coming this summer, Sony announced the development of the world’s first real-life ghost-catching device, the Proton Pack. Alas, it isn’t real, but one can dream.
Samsung’s Internet Of Trousers
All things are connecting to the Internet these days, so why not pants? Samsung jokingly introduced the Internet of Trousers, which comes with a number of innovative features, including Wi-Fly, the Get Up! Alert (if you’ve been sitting too long) and the novel Keep-Your-Pants-On mode. We’d buy a pair.
The Duolingo Pillow
Why sleep on an ordinary pillow when you can have an educational one? Duolingo’s humorous new pillow device has a number of features to help people learn a second language in their sleep, including a Cerebral Cortex Cushion and Auditory Cortex Transmitters. Granted, the dreams would probably be a little weird…
The Mark Zuckerberg H & M Collection
Why just read about Mark Zuckerberg when you can dress like him? H&M’s new wardrobe line provides the same kind of cool shirts and jeans that the Facebook co-founder and CEO regularly wears. If you’ve ever wanted to look like a billion bucks, here’s your chance. Just kidding!
Quilted Northern Rustic Weave
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRlBtabKRFM
Finally, for those of you who prefer toilet paper the way it used to be, Quilted Northern has an answer for that: its new line of Rustic Weave toilet paper. Handcrafted to feel like it was made in the 1800s, which brings being retro to an all-new level.
Bonus: Google Cardboard Plastic
Want a view so amazing that everything looks completely real? Then Google Cardboard Plastic is the answer, encasing consumers in an experience where they can check out 3D surroundings and walk anywhere within a real world. It’s almost like you’re just wearing a clear piece of plastic.
Twitch has been on a roll with its latest promotions, from introducing a new cooking channel with a Julia Child The French Chef marathon, to partnering to create a new Rocket League eSports tournament. Now, the livestreaming service is turning its attention to mobile eSports.
The company has announced a partnership with developer Super Evil Megacorp to build a new eSports framework over the next three years, all based around the hit mobile game Vainglory, which has amassed over 150 million minutes watched on the streaming channel in the past year. The recent Winter Championships also drew in a record audience, with over 1.5 million viewers.
As part of the partnership, a new tournament is underway, with three-person teams competing in the Spring Championship for a chance to win part of an $80,000 prize pool.
This is a phenomenal deal for not only Twitch and Super Evil Megacorp, but mobile gaming in general. With that, [a]listdaily sat down with Twitch’s director of eSports operations, Nick Allen, to get more insight behind the partnership and what kind of impact it’s expected to make.
First Rocket League and now Vainglory. How do you decide on the right business partners for eSports tournaments?
It’s a combination of a few things: the game being great, the game’s community being strong and its desire for competition, and the developer’s appetite to make design and business decisions with competitive gameplay in mind.
Twitch has been working with Super Evil Megacorp in the past at events like PAX East. What prompted your team to enter into a full eSports partnership with the company? Does this mean we’ll see even stronger promotion for the game at events?
After working with Kristian and SEMC for a few months around Vainglory and their events, we saw the company continuing to invest and make good decisions toward building a competitive culture around their game. Combined with how the game was growing and its amazing community, we both agreed we should take our relationship to the next level. One of main goals for this partnership is the overall growth of Vainglory, which means getting as many eyeballs on it as possible. With that in mind, you’ll see more promotion!
What does Twitch think about the way the Vainglorycommunity has grown over the years?
The game has been around for about a year and frankly, before Vainglory, mobile first eSports didn’t exist. In the short time it’s been around, we’ve seen rapid growth on Twitch, which is very exciting.
Mobile is wide open right now. There are considerably more touch screens in the world than PCs, meaning the opportunity for growth is that much higher–meaning this partnership could turn a corner for not just mobile eSports, but eSports as a whole.
Will Vaingloryhave a big presence at this year’s TwitchCon event in San Diego?
We’re still figuring out what TwitchCon will entail this year, so it’s too early to say!
Do you think we’ll see more of a growth in mobile eSports over the next few years, or will console/PC based titles continue to be the top draws?
Given that there are over three billion touchscreen devices and only around 800 million gaming PCs, mobile eSports definitely has the potential to become a leader in the space.
Superheroes are living large. This month, we saw Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice hit theaters as well as the release of season two of Netflix’s Daredevil. That’s in addition to a long list of blockbuster comic book movies and shows that include Deadpooland the upcoming Captain America: Civil War.
Soon, a different kind of comic book show will be making a return. Powers, based on a comic book series of the same name, is the first original-scripted show produced exclusively for the PlayStation Network, and takes place in a world where certain individuals (referred to as Powers) have fantastic abilities like super strength and invulnerability. They gain fame and become huge celebrities, but don’t necessarily develop a moral compass. The Los Angeles Powers Division is a police force comprised of normal (un-powered) human beings who specialize in superhuman crimes, but some must deal with deep flaws of their own. Especially the lead character, Christian Walker (Sharlto Copely; District 9, Hardcore Henry), who was once a superhero but lost his powers.
The show premiered last year with its first episode available for free on YouTube, but the rest of the season was broadcast over the PlayStation Network, and could be watched on a PlayStation 3 or 4 (with a PlayStation Plus subscription) or computer with a season pass purchase. The entire first season of this dark and mature-themed show is now available for viewing online through the PlayStation Store and Crackle–a streaming service, similar to Hulu, that’s a subsidiary of Sony Pictures Entertainment. It will ready audiences for the action-packed premiere of season two on May 31.
John Koller, vice president of platforms marketing at PlayStation, talked to [a]listdaily about what viewers can look forward to in the second season, and what happens when great power doesn’t always come with great responsibility.
How was Powers chosen as PlayStation Network’s first scripted original series?
We evaluated several scripts before deciding on Powers, but felt that the comic book tie-in was a natural fit for our audience. Since games are at the core of everything we do, it’s important for all of our content to be gaming-inspired and relevant to PlayStation fans.
What has the general response been to the first season of Powers?
Excitement about the series and its creator–famed Marvel writer Brian Michael Bendis–helped make Powers the most successful show ever on PlayStation Network (PSN), outperforming all other current-run shows and reruns available on PSN.
What are some of the challenges in promoting a series that’s exclusive to the PlayStation Network?
The primary challenge we initially faced was how to broaden viewership, while also giving something special and unique to PlayStation Plus members. We feel our Plus members are a priority, so we created the first exclusive window for them. We then solved the broader viewership challenge by launching the first episode on sites across the web, including YouTube and IGN, to allow the non-Plus members a taste of PlayStation original content. This effectively broadened viewership to a range of Plus and non-Plus members.
How important is a scripted series like Powers to growing the PlayStation console and PlayStation Network’s audience?
Fundamentally, PlayStation is a company driven by great narratives and fantastic storytelling. Powers fits perfectly into the PlayStation brand, helping solidify our position in the market as the best place to play. We know the PlayStation brand is a big part of why PS4 has been so successful, and the best way to continue this momentum is through authentic, rich, content and experiences.
There are some very popular superhero-themed shows on both television and streaming. What do you think makes superhero shows so attractive, and how does Powers stand out?
We’re really in the midst of a superhero resurgence, which is great news for those of us who grew up with favorite shows like Justice League and Super Friends. What makes today’s shows unique is that most of them tackle current day and relatable issues, which brings the idea of a superhero world closer to home. The Powers story establishes early on that a large range of superheroes live amongst us, but it questions how we all coexist. In the Powers world, not all superheroes are for good or for evil–some are just for themselves and their own self-interest. It’s a very mature view of culture, making viewers question how they would respond if they lived in this dynamic world.
The first season of Powers released as weekly scheduled episodes. Has any thought been given to releasing an entire season at once, the way Netflix and others do?
We wrestled with this decision because there are good outcomes that can come from both approaches. Ultimately, we decided the upside of people talking about and advocating to friends about the latest Powers episode between show drops outweighed giving the viewer every episode all at once. We continue to build equity in Powers and we believe that scheduled episode releases helps build this momentum.
What lessons were learned from season one that will be applied to the next season?
We learned quite a bit. The production teams and executives at Sony Pictures TV are incredibly talented and have been through many show launches–such as Blacklist, Breaking Bad and Preacher–so they have a real sense for good writing and overall talent. We learned–with their direction–that good writers are the key to a great production. Investing heavily in top script writers was the first big decision we made entering season two, and it will be noticed immediately by viewers.
This season has so many intense twists and turns that will really leave the viewer wanting more. We also learned the value of continuity at the showrunner level, which is why we brought back Remi Aubuchon, one of Hollywood’s best executive producers, and gave him the reigns to shape Powers along with creator Brian Michael Bendis’ vision. I can’t wait for viewers to watch.
How did Tricia Helfer and Enrico Colantoni become involved with Powers?
Both Tricia and Enrico are well known in the gamer community for their work on hit shows, and we all believed that involving them with critical roles in Powers would bring both great acting talent and broad appeal to the show. Tricia plays Agent Lange, an ex-love interest to detective Walker, who plays a hardened FBI agent in charge, and who has, let’s say–unique powers. Enrico plays senator Bailey Brown, who used to be a Power named Cobalt Knight. I think viewers are going to love what both Tricia and Enrico bring to the cast.
Any hints on what else fans can expect from season two?
Bendis has created Powers to challenge many of our beliefs, one of which is: What if those without powers could wield as much power as those who do? The story is intricate, dynamic and is well produced. This season will be really special.
Virtual reality’s ability to seize both the public’s imagination, and that of the various entertainment businesses, is undeniable. Much of the reporting out of the Game Developer’s Conference centered around VR, and we’re likely to see that repeated at other upcoming conferences and events as VR hardware hits the market this year. The collective weight of billions of dollars of investment has so far generated massive interest, even though revenues are yet to be realized.
One thing is clear, development time and resources are coming from a broad array of small to medium size developers, mostly funded by investment from venture capital and from the makers of VR hardware. Big game publishers in mobile, console and PC are staying on the sidelines for the most part. They’ve got more predictable places to invest their time and development resources than in the uncertainties of VR titles, so this makes sense.
Yet, shouldn’t all kinds of game makers be looking to capitalize on this obvious excitement for VR? Isn’t there some way to add the luster of VR to existing brands without betting huge sums of money? There are, in fact, several things that game publishers at every level can do to take advantage of VR’s appeal without actually creating their own VR game.
VR as a marketing tool
One of the immediate ways to utilize VR is as a tool for marketing your products. We’ve seen this already with companies like McDonald’s and Marriott taking great advantage of the sizzle of VR to draw interest and engagement for their own products.
For games, Sony announced a partnership with LucasFilm and Electronic Arts to bring Star Wars: Battlefront to the PlayStation VR. “Battlefront is going to be one of those games that will really show gamers what it means to be in the world of VR,” said John Koller, vice president of marketing at Sony Interactive Entertainment, per Forbes. “It’s very special. And just by the nature of it being designed as a VR experience, it’s going to be very different than the PlayStation 4 game.”
It’s not clear, at this point, what will be in this game or how it might connect to the existing Star Wars: Battlefront game. But it’s clearly an important step for Sony, and the company has already gotten a great deal of marketing mileage from this announcement. Electronic Arts has benefited too, with its existing game generating terrific media attention and a nice glow from the connection with VR.
Licensing to VR; ports to VR
One easy and inexpensive way for a publisher to take advantage of VR is to simply license its brand to another company to create a VR game. The VR developer gets the benefit of the brand equity, while the publisher gets the benefit of a VR game without the expense of creating it. The next step in this path is porting an existing title to VR, which like other ports would be done by a third-party studio under contract. While such games usually aren’t great ways to utilize a new platform, they have the advantage of being inexpensive and somewhat more predictable as far as revenue goes. At least, it will once the market for the platform is established well enough to allow for revenue projections.
Cross-game connection
When a new platform really gets going, publishers will begin to see the usefulness of connecting the new platform to their existing ones via games that cross over in some way–usually with gear or characters. Many mobile games now fall into this category, as publishers develop mobile games that connect with console games so you can stay engaged with the game and brand when you’re away from your console. These companion apps might let you rearrange your inventory, change outfits, or go shopping for new gear on mobile devices, then play your revised character in the hardcore console game.
Similarly, VR games could be made to offer a special experience that carries over from your existing console or PC game. Perhaps there could be a certain battle mode available in VR, or a special location you can experience, and then you could bring your character back out with new items or more experience points. Such a connected VR game would add marketing luster to the basic console game, and give it a special way to stand out (if competing games didn’t have such a mode). Perhaps Sony’s VR Battlefront may do this.
While many virtual reality games and experiences focus on taking people to far-off places and worlds, Ubisoft and Red Storm Entertainment decided to use the technology to bring people closer together with the announcement of Werewolves Within. The virtual reality game, which launches this fall for platforms like the Oculus Rift and PlayStation VR, lets five-to-eight players gather around a campfire to play detective. Set in the medieval village of Gallowston, players are challenged to use their skills of persuasion and deduction to find out which among them is a werewolf. At the same time, werewolves must find ways to throw off suspicion.
The virtual reality experience is enhanced with the ability to secretly whisper to other players, and special technology that animates the avatar according to the player’s movements and voice inflections. When taken together, the social-multiplayer game feels very much like a physical social gathering.
David Votypka, senior creative director on Werewolves Within, talked to [a]listdaily about social gaming in virtual reality and how to properly detect a werewolf in your midst.
What inspired the development of Werewolves Within?
A small team at Red Storm had been working on social multiplayer gaming for some time before we started working on it in VR. In the fall of 2014, we took one of those prototypes and got it running in VR. This had us seated across a table from each other, and when we saw the movement of the character model being driven by real human motion (as opposed to pre-made animations), we immediately felt like we were there with another human being. We had just experienced shared presence for the first time, and it was profound.
Soon after, a team of us built a prototype focused on classic social deduction-style games. I chose this direction simply because I wanted to start by leveraging an already proven social gameplay formula, so that we and others could solely evaluate the prototype based on the merits of how effective VR is as a social gaming medium. The results were very compelling, and everyone we played it with had the exact same reaction. As time went on, we felt it was worth turning this into a full VR game by creating our own version of a social deduction game, complete with unique mechanics that can only be realized with VR.
What convinced you to develop a social multiplayer game, considering Red Storm’s history with action games?
While a large part of the studio has been working on action games such as Far Cry and Tom Clancy’s The Division, a small team here had been focused on social multiplayer gaming–prior to VR–as part of an research and development mandate we agreed upon with Ubisoft HQ a couple of years ago. Our initial goal was to increase the depth and variety of social dynamics in online multiplayer gaming, and to empower players to use their social skills online.
We built a few different prototypes with original designs that largely focused on social deduction experiences. These ranged from paper prototypes, to a full-on board game, to 3D digital prototypes. They generally featured a hidden traitor or potential traitor of some sort, with gameplay that centered around building trust through cooperation, while having a risk of betrayal. We learned a lot and had some compelling social gaming come out of this work. Ultimately though, the idea of allowing players to truly use their social skills online was somewhat elusive until VR resurfaced and gave us a powerful new toolset to leverage.
Can you explain how VR is becoming an ideal social platform, and how Werewolves Within takes advantage of that?
The concept of social presence, in a digital environment, wasn’t really practical before VR. In order to feel like you are sharing the same digital environment with another person, your mind needs to be convinced that you are there, and that the character you are looking at is another human being. It’s difficult to explain until you try it for yourself, but I’ll just say that your brain can tell the difference when looking at a pre-animated character, versus one that’s being controlled by the actual movements and body language of a real person. Because of this, VR has the potential to open up all sorts of social experiences, in games and otherwise. Additional technologies are being explored such as VR headsets being able to track facial expressions, as well as tracking the eyes of the user. Social VR is already compelling, and it’s only going to get better as time goes on.
With Werewolves Within we can deliver a multiplayer video game that has its gameplay driven by verbal discussion, player personality, and social interaction. While gameplay of this type in the physical world has been around since the dawn of humanity, it is now possible and compelling in the digital space. The technology also allows us to include unique gameplay mechanics that utilize the VR hardware such as physically leaning over to whisper to the player next to you in the game, or literally standing up to perform a monologue. In digital format we can hide and share information with players in ways that aren’t possible in the physical format of social gaming, and many of the role abilities in Werewolves Within leverage this benefit.
How does the positional tracking and voice inflection technology work?
The position (and orientation) tracking is all done by the VR headset which is fed to the game. We then take this data and network it to the rest of the players which allows everyone to see where everyone else is looking. In addition, since the position of a human’s torso is largely driven by their head and neck, we are able to accurately portray where each player is leaning, i.e. whether they’re sitting upright, leaning forward, or to the side. All of these factors contribute the perception of looking at a real person.
Regarding voice inflection, hand tracking was not in the initial design or plans for the game, so what we did instead was to include automated speaking gestures that are driven by the player’s voice input. The technology actually came out of our pre-VR social prototypes, which is an algorithm that chooses speaking gestures based on various properties of the voice input that is received and analyzed in real-time. For example analyzing patterns of intensity and pitch will determine whether the avatar should play a subtle speaking gesture animation, or a more exaggerated one. Ubisoft Barcelona also built technology that analyzes the player’s voice input to create real-time lip sync animations and play logical facial expressions based on voice analysis. All of this tech helps support the believability and natural feeling of the social interactions amongst the group.
What are some of the things to keep in mind when searching out a werewolf?
Looking for long pointy nails and overly hairy hands! No, actually there are a number of strategies. For example, werewolves can use the whisper mechanic to their advantage. If two players whisper together and one of them is a werewolf, then after five seconds the werewolf player will sniff out the other player’s role. So, werewolves are generally quite inclined to whisper with others which can be something to watch for. Secondly, each townsfolk player has an ability to gain a little bit of information, and if the group shares information they gather it usually helps narrow down the possibilities of who the most likely culprits are. Assuming, of course, that the people sharing the information aren’t lying to put you off their trail!
How quickly do you think virtual reality will catch on?
I can’t really speculate on a date, but I will say that more and more people are becoming convinced that it’s not a question of if, but when. VR has already caught on for many people, namely those that have had the chance to try it and have tried quality experiences. The VR hardware manufacturers are doing great work in making compelling VR possible and empowering software developers to deliver great content, which is most definitely our goal at Red Storm and at Ubisoft.
A non-traditional marketing program for a non-traditional streaming channel. Sounds like business logic to us.
Netflix has come a long way, going from being a DVD rental distribution network, to popular streaming channel, to one of the leading providers of original programming. Its original program offerings include House of Cards, Orange Is the New Black and various Marvel superhero-themed shows. It’s managed to amass an impressive audience of millions of viewers, which continues to grow with its lineup for the past month, including an all-new Pee Wee Herman film (Pee Wee’s Big Holiday) and the highly anticipated second season of Marvel’s Daredevil.
So how does Netflix advertise its movies and shows? Not the traditional way. While TV commercials have done well to promote its lineup, the company has taken a unique route with advertising them, including the following:
Making Marvel comics mature
Where most of Marvel Studios’ productions are produced for fans of all ages, Netflix’s slate of shows based on popular comic books have a much more mature approach. Daredevil and Jessica Jones have violent and sexual themes that are better suited for adult viewers, while forthcoming shows like Luke Cage and The Defenders will probably follow suit.
While this may turn away younger Marvel fans, it caters to an incredible audience of older comic book lovers that make up a huge demographic for the streaming service. As a result, Netflix recently extended its deal with Marvel, which will introduce a number of characters that will be getting their own shows, among them being Spider-Man 2099, Moon Knight and The Punisher, who makes a blood-soaked debut in Daredevil’s second season.
Reaching a global audience
Where most companies struggle to find ways to cater their content to other countries, Netflix has dialed in a system that has given it huge appeal in international markets, reaching 130 new countries over the past year alone. It has broken down region-related issues, while offering the same level of diverse programming that appeals to its mainstream U.S. audience.
“We found not just approaches that will make Netflix better for those signing up in the 130 new countries, but in fact better for all Netflix members worldwide,” the company noted. “Our global journey is just beginning and we look forward to making our service dramatically better over time.”
A custom look
Netflix has put a lot of work into its imagery so that users can more easily discover and connect with the content they love. That includes a design that could feature the appearance of actors that are in their favorite show, or drawing in newcomers with the introduction of a new program.
“We have 30 seconds, 60 seconds or 90 seconds to capture your interest,” Netflix chief product officer Neil Hunt told Variety. “It’s best to catch the viewers’ attention with something that will draw them in, or risk losing them to another service.”
That, paired with customized recommendation lists that caters to what audiences like to watch, make Netflix more of a personable service than most on the market, helping add to its appealing marketing campaign.
Netflix has gone through a lot of advertising changes over the past few years, but thanks to savvy business decisions, the right level of programming and a unique promotional push, the company has proven that the non-traditional route of getting consumers on board is quite effective. There’s plenty more to come in April, when shows like the new Danger Mouse and the new season of the comedy The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt are set to premiere.
With yesterday’s launch of the Oculus Rift, we’ve officially stepped into the virtual reality era, which is an industry that has already gained over $1 billion in investment this year. But while high-end headsets offer incredibly realistic experiences, it would be a mistake to overlook the tremendous impact of mobile VR viewers like the Samsung Gear VR (developed in partnership with Oculus VR), which sells for a much lower price of $99 and operates using smartphones. Although accessibility remains a tremendous draw for viewers like the Gear VR or Google Cardboard, the experiences are often said to be of a lower quality than ones on premium headsets.
http://www.hulu.com/watch/919428
That perception could change with the help of companies like SilVR Thread, which uses proprietary technology to create stunningly realistic experiences on mobile VR. Its first experience, Adrenaline Rush: Learn to Freestyle, lets users take to the slopes from the view of a professional skier, and was included with the launch of the Hulu virtual reality app (Hulu VR) for Gear VR last week. The app lets viewers experience VR videos in addition to Hulu’s regular streaming shows and movies, which are shown a giant virtual movie screen. What makes SilVR’s content stand out is the incredible sense of realism and physical presence its technology creates because it replicates human vision. Although this technology makes for fantastic entertainment, it also has tremendous potential as a VR marketing tool.
Tai Crosby, founder and CEO of SilVR Thread, talked to [a]listdaily about virtual reality, how it could be used for marketing and experiencing what it’s like to ski like a pro.
How does SilVR Thread’s content stand out from other VR experiences and 360-degree videos that are available?
We’re pioneering physical presence in live action VR, meaning actually seeing, hearing, and feeling through the perspective of another. We are different than any other VR in the market. You not only see 360 around the landscape but you’re in the action, because with our technology, the user can look down and see what ‘feels’ like their own body. It’s a game changer to know what it’s like to walk in someone else’s shoes.
So, imagine being in the body of a pro athlete or climbing Machu Picchu step-by-step. How do we do it? With SilVR Thread cameras and software, the live action that’s filmed is turned into an incredible and transformative 3D VR experience, with full situational awareness and positional sound. It’s literally as real as being there.
Can you describe one of SilVR Thread’s experiences?
The content just released on Hulu’s new VR platform is a thrilling and intense skiing experience that was live shot from the perspective of a professional skier. It’s in full stereoscopic 3D VR with spatialized positional sound for true physical immersion and absolutely unlike anything else in VR. We always tell people “prepare yourself your mind will believe that you are flying down the mountain.” As they go over a jump in the terrain park, it’s fun to see them actually jump.
Adrenaline Rush: Learn to Freestyle is available for the Gear VR. Can we expect SilVR Thread content to come to other platforms?
Absolutely. We’re working with a number of partners in marketing from sports to film to tourism. We are also working on exciting learning and training applications. All of whom are bringing or really wanting to bring content to all headsets and mobile VR platforms.
How can marketers best put SilVR Thread content to use?
It’s well known that experiencing something first hand is far more effective than just seeing, hearing or reading it. For companies with products or services, VR is a huge ‘wow’ factor for reaching consumers. Because SilVR Thread technology extends VR further with physical presence and positional audio, marketers can literally put the product or service into the consumers’ hands resulting in greater branding opportunities. The experience is so much more connected, it triggers really great emotional and physical reactions with viewers leaving them talking about the experience for days.
Here’s are a few marketing examples only achievable with SilVR Thread’s unique technology.:
Imagine checking out the latest Nike basketball shoes while shooting hoops right next to Lebron James, or even more specifically as Lebron James.
Or being the first fan to tour the new Disneyland Star Wars park ahead of its opening next year, experiencing the new rides, shows, and attractions as a Jedi.
Or with the simplest example of selling a bicycle, in the days of radio, you could describe the bike, or with a TV you can watch someone ride the bike, or with 360 video you can watch someone ride the bike in circles around you. With SilVR Thread, you actually experience riding the bike yourself–and your brain believes it’s real.
In what ways do you see VR technology continuing to grow in the coming years?
The world hasn’t experienced a visual communication medium leap forward like this since the original invention of film at the beginning of the last century. In fact, our company name pays homage to the silver threads woven into early, high quality cloth movie screens.
In our work in VR so far, we’ve discovered tremendous benefits and opportunities for us all to learn, communicate, and connect. Imagine the shared understanding it can foster, and the unparalleled learning opportunities. We’re excited to be an early pioneer.
How is MLG’s first stadium event different from anything in the past?
What inspired the development of Werewolves Within?
How does SilVR Thread’s content stand out from other VR experiences and 360-degree videos that are available?
