Motorcycle racing fans got their chance to fulfill their need for speed when SBK16 Official Mobile Game released last week for iOS and Android devices. Developed as the official game for the 2016 Motul FIM Superbike World Championship, the game is the latest addition to the SBK series on mobile, which has over 20 million downloads worldwide.
The Motul FIM Superbike World Championship is known as one of the top motorcycle racing series in the world, with over 400 million viewers worldwide. More than 100 riders, representing 22 countries, take part in the 13-event racing series. Unlike most other professional racing sports, the motorcycles are based on production models that are available for sale, which makes the motorsport series a means of showcasing vehicles manufactured by Yamaha, Honda, Kawasaki, Ducati, BMW and others—thus the mantra, “Win on Sunday, sell on Monday.”
The SBK16 Team at Digital Tales spoke to [a]listdaily about the new game’s release and how it ties with the sport.
When asked how the studio’s partnership with the 2016 Motul FIM Superbike World Championship began, Marco Boldini, sales manager at Digital Tales said, “We leveraged a previous relationship with the former WSBK licensor, the Italian FG Group, which was subsequently acquired by Dorna Sports. Our first contact with them dates back to the original Superbike games series on console and PC that was actually developed and marketed by some members of the current Digital Tales team.”
As to whether there were any cross promotions between the game and the event, Boldini said, “Yes, the game will be totally free to play through the rest of the 2016 Superbike World Championship, which is until the end of October.”
Alessandra Tomasina, Digital Tales’ marketing manager, added “Basically, we reconnected with them [the Superbike group] a few years ago and showed them Ducati Challenge, our first license-based motorbike racing game for mobile devices, which was climbing the iOS and Android charts worldwide at the time. Luckily, that was also the time when mobile gaming was gaining ground, and the Superbike license holder was looking into expanding its audience to the younger generations. Since the Superbike brand had not received the mobile game treatment yet, they found a partnership with Digital Tales appealing and here we are!”
Tomasina also commented on the importance of catering to mobile gamers the sport. “Mobile gaming is definitely here to stay and it is slated to get bigger and bigger. The way we see it is that it is introducing a new breed of gamer, rather than simply taking gamers away from other platforms—we see a future where mobile, console and PC gaming will coexist peacefully or even complement one another.
“As a matter of fact, SBK16 is appealing to hardcore and casual gamers alike, in addition to motorsports fans: they are all brought together by the use of very personal devices with multiple purposes, including entertainment, but they have very different needs and tastes, which makes it pretty difficult to please them all! That is why, on top of offering a flexible and customizable control system, we introduced a wide array of game modes—ranging from a faithful reproduction of the Superbike World Championship for WSBK fans to Quick Races for bite-sized gaming sessions on the go.
“There weren’t many realistic motorbike racing experiences on mobile before SBK Official Mobile Game, so we think we are targeting a relatively untapped market niche.”
When asked whether Digital Tales would use influencer marketing to promote SBK16, Tomasina replied, “Definitely. We are collaborating with Dorna in order to promote SBK16 more aggressively across their official channels and through social media. The WSBK riders are an easygoing lot; they have proven to be down-to-earth professionals and some of them have already supported the game in the past.”
We also talked to the game’s designer, Fabio Respighi, about whether the thrill of motorcycle racing can be fully captured on a mobile device. “We really hope so!” he replied. “Capturing the thrill of Superbike racing on a mobile device is definitely harder than on a home console or a PC; although mobile devices become more and more powerful every year, their performance is still limited compared to dedicated home entertainment systems, their screen is smaller, and their audio output is less immersive.”
“We have learned that you must share their passion for the sport in order to offer them a truly engaging experience,” said Respighi. “Superbike fans love speed, competition, horsepower, adrenaline, skill and challenge—and the SBK16 Official Mobile Game strives to take the above values to the digital domain while providing a slick and realistic racing simulation.”
Lastly, we asked if Digital Tales has given any thought to using virtual reality to expand the experience. Respighi said, “Not only have we given it a thought, but we have already developed a demo running on Samsung Gear VR! We are currently sharing it with selected partners and showing it at industry events around the world, as we are actively looking for gamers’ feedback and potential investors or publishing partners for a VR edition of our SBK Official Mobile Game.”