Sony’s Kobayashi Talks ICO, The Last Guardian

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Sony’s Japan Studio VP Yasuhide Kobayashi let loose a few details at this week’s DICE Summit Asia regarding the critically-acclaimed ICO and hotly-anticipated third game in the trilogy, The Last Guardian.

From GI.biz:

ICO sold about 270,000 units in the US, but Kobayashi explained his belief that it could have performed better: “If the packaging was designed differently, we think it would have sold more – in fact on the internet many people have said that the Japanese version was better.”

And it was then that he referred to the ICO team’s latest project, The Last Guardian, and revealed that the name of the game was selected specifically to appeal to the North American and European markets.

Is Kobayashi giving just a little too much credence to the box art? ICO is considered by many a classic, and the Japanese box art that accompanied it doesn’t look like it would have given it any better a shot in America.

As for The Last Guardian’s naming, Kobayashi went on with somewhat bitter-sounding remarks about the US and European markets, criticizing consumer sentiment that has gamers playing the same old game, just in different ways.

“The concept of a game shouldn’t be complicated,” he said. “For instance, those people in the US market are very happy to release a game that is something similar to something that’s come before, because they think it is easier for people to understand.”

“But actually we don’t like this – it’s like you’re simulating, following suit, combining two titles into one. It seems the definition of a new title is different in the US and Europe to Japan. It means a new genre, that’s what we call a new game.”

Japan’s glory days as the world’s most innovative territory has long since passed, with Western studios creating the majority of sales and interest from around the world, but we still find Kobayashi’s comments surprising considering some of the territory’s games that are trotted out year after year (how many fantasies have been the final one ).  Thoughts

Feature: E-Marketing Best Practices

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Guest writer Paul Hyman contributes this feature on the importance of e-mail marketing to generating business and engagement around our products. With 15 years of experience, Mr. Hyman is regularly featured in Gamasutra and Game Developer magazine, and runs www.OpenMoves.com/games , an e-marketing boutique. Reprinted with permission, originally on Casual Connect.

With rare exceptions, the e-marketing goals of game developers are typically to generate repeat business, create communities around their games, and drive traffic to their websites. Regular, consistent e-newsletters are one of the best tools to achieve such goals and following best practices is the foundation of e-newsletter success. Here are a couple of tips to make your e-marketing efforts as effective as possible.

TIP #1: Relevancy in Four Easy Steps
Relevancy is really the bottom line for all e-mail marketers. When information is appropriate and meaningful to the reader, it leads to higher open rates, more click-throughs, and (ultimately) a more loyal following. There are four easy steps for achieving relevancy:

1. Make sure you write about what your readers want to read! Do a Who cares test on your ideas to confirm that the content is helpful and educational to your readers and not just to you.

2. Make sure your database is populated with all the demographic and behavioral info you can find, and then build your e-mail strategy around this segmentation. For example, you may want to separate your customers, your prospects, and your industry referral sources into separate groups. Market specifically to each group with content that s relevant to them and you’ll get optimal results from each campaign.

3. Determine both the right frequency for your audience and when to deliver your message. A rare few may want to hear from you every day; others will enjoy hearing from you on a regular basis, (perhaps monthly); and some won t want an e-mail until you have something specific to offer. Know your audience and adjust your frequency accordingly.

4. Test and retest your creative. Try a variety of tactics. Intrigue and entertain them. Don’t ever let your message get boring!

TIP #2: Clean Up Your Act A Good Reputation Is Everything
You know the old saying: A reputation takes a lifetime to build and a moment to ruin. Observing best practices is key to establishing and protecting your e-mail reputation. One way to do this is to avoid changing your IP address, if you can. Spammers are famous for frequent IP shifts, and consequently, e-mails from IP addresses with no volume history are much more carefully scrutinized and controlled. In contrast, if you always use the same, unique IP address for your e-mail marketing, you should be able to ensure high deliverability even if you re mailing to a large database.
I also recommend that you monitor your reputation data directly or through your e-mail marketing provider. Check your complaint and hard-bounce rates and avoid sending e-mails to spam traps (email addresses created by ISPs which function solely as lures for unsolicited email). Be especially careful if you re planning to make changes to your e-mail program. Do limited test runs beforehand, specifically with the type of content or frequency of the proposed campaign. There are so many ways to establish and protect your reputation and even more to unknowingly ruin it. When in doubt, have a professional review your process.

Paul The Game Master Hyman has covered the video games industry for over 15 years; he currently writes for Gamasutra.com and Game Developer magazine, among others. As editor-in-chief of www.OpenMoves.com/games an e-marketing boutique he creates e-newsletters for such game-related companies as Ninja Kiwi, GameTap, FOG Studios, and Digital Artist Management. E-mail Paul at paul.hyman at casualconnect.org.

Dutch Retailer Boycotts PSPgo

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From EuroGamer:

Holland’s largest specialised retail outlet, Nedgame, has decided not to sell the PSPgo this October. And, the shop explained to Eurogamer Holland, there are a handful of reasons why.

The hefty price-tag of 249.99 being one of them. That’s 80 more than the PSP-3000 costs, a difference Nedgame believes the new handheld does not justify – the smaller screen is picked out as an example.

Nedgame also mentioned its discomfort at Sony creating a monopoly on the software sold on PSPgo.

Retailers make the most profit on the game sales, not the actual console, and since the PSPgo doesn’t have a UMD drive and all the software is downloaded through Sony s store, this loops out retailers completely.

Eurogamer also mentions a Spain-based retailer may follow suit, although there’s no inkling an American retailer will do the same.

They have a point though, because there is little incentive for a retailer to carry the PSPgo, a console that helps makes those same retailers obsolete through digital distribution.

Fringe Promo Poster Is A Game

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From The Live Feed:

It’s not just a poster, it’s a treasure hunt! This second season “Fringe” ad contains hidden objects from the show’s past and future mythology, 16 in all (click image for full-size). The use of the hole adds a strong element of mystery. One amateur critic described the poster as “a Photoshop disaster.” But any ad that keeps you staring at it while giving you reasons to watch the show is well done.

Not exactly video game related, but it’s a good look at how other parts of the entertainment industry engage their most passionate users. If you’re a fan, see if you can find all sixteen gems

 

How EA Sports Is Changing Video Game Marketing

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Ad Age has a great article on EA Sports and its efforts to change the marketing of video games from the traditionally seasonal path to one that is much more perennial.

From Ad Age:

In 1999, EA Sports, publisher of the Tiger games, ramped up ads and PR for about six weeks before the game launched and for a few weeks after, with typical gamer-magazine print and sports TV buys. Today EA Sports develops a marketing plan for each platform and type of content and runs it all year.

“The cycle for marketing has changed. We call it “the Tiger 365 experience,” and it’s every day, 24/7, whether that’s in the living room, while on the train or while in the office on a conference call,” said Craig Evans, EA Sports director of marketing. “The fire and fanning mentality just won’t work anymore.”

The article goes on to discuss different methods of distribution and expansion for each game, begging the question of whether a subscription model is appropriate for EA Sports franchises (it is).

Cost of goods are also factoring in, as development becomes more expensive and can easily be mitigated by downloadable content charged at low rates.

Resident Evil Movies Keep On Coming

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From Bloody Disgusting :

While Sony Screen Gems is prepping for Resident Evil 4: Afterlife, the 3D sequel slated to arrive in theaters August 27, 2010, Bloody Disgusting has learned exclusively (and confirmed) that the studio is already looking forward to the fifth film. While Milla Jovovich is confirmed for Afterlife, it’s got to be getting expensive and (increasingly) difficult to keep her onboard, even though she is married to producer Paul W.S. Anderson. Instead of moving forward with the ongoing story, the studio is planning a quasi-reboot, which is tentatively titled Resident Evil Begins.

The combination of horror and Jovovich s star power has given Resident Evil consistently strong showings in its first three installments.  The fourth should prove interesting with the 3D take on things, and the fifth sets up a possible annual return for the series on the silver screen.

So that s five movies with future installments most definitely planned off of a series that is less popular than other games-turned-movies Doom and Super Mario Bros.  Good work, Capcom and Sony Pictures, in leveraging the horror fad with the right demographic and filmmaking, along with games that keep the series on people s minds.

Sports Gamers Play 200-300 Hours Per Game

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From Kotaku:

EA Sports’ Dave Littman – producer on NHL at EA Canada – has told us that “The average EA SPORTS gamer spends 200 to 300 hours playing their favorite sports game each year”. That figure is a combination of both online and offline play. And is for just one game.

With a devoted userbase like that on sports games, it s no wonder companies like EA are now charging for everything from an elite Madden mode to in-game powerups. We just think this lends to our argument of sports games being ripe for a subscription play.

PS3 Repositioning Itself As All-In-One Entertainment Solution

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Speaking to the LA Times , SCEA Senior VP of Marketing Peter Dille said the new marketing push for the PS3 is all about positioning it as the ultimate all-in-one solution.

“We have been a game company for years and we would never walk away from that, but research confirmed there is a larger proposition under our nose,” [said Dille]. “We wanted to reposition as a total entertainment solution. We felt like we can really own entertainment.”

The article goes on to give analyst opinion that Sony’s chances at doing this is far better today than they were in previous years.  The advent of multi-featured technology like iPhone has opened up a new consumer acceptance that Sony hopes will fade into the PS3.