2012年5月10日星期四
2012年5月8日星期二
2012年5月7日星期一
A New Target Audience: The Mobile Social Gamer
“There is a tectonic shift in the landscape of video gaming” writes Flurry, Inc., a San Francisco-based provider of mobile analytics on iOS and Android. “The era of marketing singularly to the 18-34 hardcore male gamer is officially over” reads their latest analysis on mobile social gamers, noting the impressive growth of both iOS and Android in relation to the rest of the market. The data makes for some interesting reading, and the emergence of a “mobile casual gamer” (someone who plays games on their mobile device for fun) is becoming ever clearer. And iOS is the one who’s taking the biggest “bite” out of portable platforms.
So who is this mobile casual gamer? Taking an average across the demographics, the person is: 28 years old, female (53% chance), North American (64% chance), has a household income of $66.1K, holds a bachelor’s degree (61% chance) and is white (66% chance). Surprised? These figures came from the answers of 63 727 individuals.
The rise in growth of the female base lies in parallel to that of traditional gamers, where only 40% are female. Notably, on the age front, 47% lie between 13-25, 48% between 26-44. Europe still boasts 30% of all mobile social gamers, but North America has a clear advantage in the market, probably due to the inception of games and technology that it receives before the rest of the world.
Personally, what is most striking lies on the education front. The US average of holding a bachelor’s degree or higher? A mere 28%. That average more than doubles, to 61%, when you attach the newly-coined “mobile social gamer” phrase to the data. The myth that iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad users are merely cash rich is exactly that: a myth. Developers take heed, for this data reveals something profound: the main market – a target audience for most – has an educational advantage in comparison to the rest of the world.
Furthermore, the report notes that “[mobile social gamers] use social games far more often than they watch prime-time television shows, and using for 25 minutes per day, are heavy users of this interactive content.” One of the ratings 148Apps uses for games is re-use/replay value: how enjoyable is the game the day after you’ve played it, and the day after that etc. Although those 25 minutes may not be consumed by one particular game, the ability for a game to present new challenges and difficulties is essential if a target audience is to be sustained (think about thesuccess of Flight Control, which changes every day).
Developers, take note. For “mobile social gamers are the new mass-market powerhouse.” The old cliché picture of a young, male gamer is far, far away from the truth.
Death to the non-interactive cutscene, say top game writers
In Gamasutra's latest feature, several venerable game writers discuss the slow-but-steady erosion of passive, non-interactive cutscenes, and why game stories should be more like plays instead of musicals or films.
Examining how storytelling in games has evolved in recent years, Valve Software's Chet Faliszek, writer for the Half-Life and Portal series, says that today's gamers are less likely to sit through non-interactive cinematics: "I think players have less and less patience for sitting through a cutscene, waiting for the story to unfold."
Irrational Games president and BioShock writer Ken Levine agrees, and also says that developers should strive to remove as many jumps from one mode of interactive storytelling to another -- say, from a player-controlled sequence to a dialogue tree.
"Modal switches are strange in a narrative," says Levine. "I think the closest thing is probably Broadway musicals. They switch from acting out a scene to singing a song, and that's a bit of a leap to make because it's so different. It's a form that you have to get accustomed to, whereas stage plays take less acclimation because they're consistent."
He argues that games -- and their narratives -- should be a play and hardly, if ever, a musical.
Thomas Grip, head programmer for Frictional Games' acclaimed survival horror title Amnesia: The Dark Descent, believes game should never be films, either: "There is a big difference in our relationship to a protagonist when you are a passive observer compared to playing as that character."
"I think the jump to a cutscene removes much of the empathy that you might have in a movie," Grip adds. "Because of this, I believe games can never become as emotionally powerful as movies, even if the cutscenes are done exactly like film. This means that in order to improve the medium, other methods need to be used."
Examining how storytelling in games has evolved in recent years, Valve Software's Chet Faliszek, writer for the Half-Life and Portal series, says that today's gamers are less likely to sit through non-interactive cinematics: "I think players have less and less patience for sitting through a cutscene, waiting for the story to unfold."
Irrational Games president and BioShock writer Ken Levine agrees, and also says that developers should strive to remove as many jumps from one mode of interactive storytelling to another -- say, from a player-controlled sequence to a dialogue tree.
"Modal switches are strange in a narrative," says Levine. "I think the closest thing is probably Broadway musicals. They switch from acting out a scene to singing a song, and that's a bit of a leap to make because it's so different. It's a form that you have to get accustomed to, whereas stage plays take less acclimation because they're consistent."
He argues that games -- and their narratives -- should be a play and hardly, if ever, a musical.
Thomas Grip, head programmer for Frictional Games' acclaimed survival horror title Amnesia: The Dark Descent, believes game should never be films, either: "There is a big difference in our relationship to a protagonist when you are a passive observer compared to playing as that character."
"I think the jump to a cutscene removes much of the empathy that you might have in a movie," Grip adds. "Because of this, I believe games can never become as emotionally powerful as movies, even if the cutscenes are done exactly like film. This means that in order to improve the medium, other methods need to be used."
2012年4月18日星期三
2K Sports: an America's Hottest Brands Case Study
In the uber-competitive category of sports video games, how do you get gamers to part with $60 to buy your latest and greatest iteration when they're perfectly happy playing last year's release? If you're 2K Sports, maker of the National Basketball Association (NBA) 2K video game, you stoke passion and inspire competition amongst your base.
The game beats out similar titles by goliaths Electronic Arts and Sony, and last year sold a record two million units, 40% more than in 2008. For eight years running, the 10-year old basketball franchise has been the No. 1-rated NBA simulation game, according to Gamerankings, an aggregator of game review scores.
As it tries to outdo itself each year, 2K Sports' NBA game is about bringing players closer to their NBA heroes and diving deep into the league's competitive culture. Last year, players could enter a contest that gives them a shot to be drafted by real-life NBA stars in a fantasy league. For its latest release, 2K Sports is challenging players to do their best, rewarding top players of its current game by letting them enter a private, exclusive online area, enabling them to more easily find qualified, like-minded players for an online game.
The one thing gamers can count on is getting an experience that simulates real life: 2K Sports' NBA games bring a dose of uncanny realism to game play, where graphics and animation mimic in detail everything from Kobe Bryant's trademark scowl to the signature moves of an entire team.
"For the fans, it's all about fanatical realism," said Jason Argent, 2K Sports' VP-marketing. "What we do is bring incredible attention to detail, and that extreme realism multiplies the pleasure of the game for the true sports fan."
As 2K Sports taps into what makes NBA fans tick, it's also beating a different path to market to its youth audience, finding that it's more effective to provoke them than to sell to them, hence the series tagline, "take over."
"We're not really trying to shape their views," said Mr. Argent. "It's not about talking at our customers; it's challenging them and supporting them. We want to spur competition, so we ask: 'How will you take over this year?' It's not a selling tactic; we're showing how customers can enjoy the product."
How has the recession affected Y2K's NBA sales? With its latest iteration having shipped recently, Mr. Argent said if current sales of the game keep up, they will trounce last year's numbers. Video-game sales have been hit by the recession though there was a small uptick in September after six months of double-digit drops, according to NPD Group.
The game beats out similar titles by goliaths Electronic Arts and Sony, and last year sold a record two million units, 40% more than in 2008. For eight years running, the 10-year old basketball franchise has been the No. 1-rated NBA simulation game, according to Gamerankings, an aggregator of game review scores.
As it tries to outdo itself each year, 2K Sports' NBA game is about bringing players closer to their NBA heroes and diving deep into the league's competitive culture. Last year, players could enter a contest that gives them a shot to be drafted by real-life NBA stars in a fantasy league. For its latest release, 2K Sports is challenging players to do their best, rewarding top players of its current game by letting them enter a private, exclusive online area, enabling them to more easily find qualified, like-minded players for an online game.
The one thing gamers can count on is getting an experience that simulates real life: 2K Sports' NBA games bring a dose of uncanny realism to game play, where graphics and animation mimic in detail everything from Kobe Bryant's trademark scowl to the signature moves of an entire team.
"For the fans, it's all about fanatical realism," said Jason Argent, 2K Sports' VP-marketing. "What we do is bring incredible attention to detail, and that extreme realism multiplies the pleasure of the game for the true sports fan."
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| Jason Argent, VP-marketing, 2K Sports |
"We're not really trying to shape their views," said Mr. Argent. "It's not about talking at our customers; it's challenging them and supporting them. We want to spur competition, so we ask: 'How will you take over this year?' It's not a selling tactic; we're showing how customers can enjoy the product."
How has the recession affected Y2K's NBA sales? With its latest iteration having shipped recently, Mr. Argent said if current sales of the game keep up, they will trounce last year's numbers. Video-game sales have been hit by the recession though there was a small uptick in September after six months of double-digit drops, according to NPD Group.
2012年4月17日星期二
Personalized In-Game Advertising In Upcoming Titles
"In-game advertising provider Massive Inc., acquired by Microsoft in 2006, has signed up or renewed contracts with several publishers, notably EA, Blizzard Entertainment, THQ, and Activision. Eagerly anticipated games like Need for Speed: Shift will feature the technology that continuously collects 'anonymous' information about users, sends them to the Massive database for analysis, and downloads advertisements to be shown in the game. All that happens insidiously, without the users' explicit consent and out of their control, which raises further concerns about privacy, security and quite frankly, customer abuse. Would you feel concerned about software that collects personal information and sends it so that you get more personalized ads in a game you paid for?"
"The technology has already been implemented, and was present in older titles. For example, Far Cry 2, released in October 2008 by Ubisoft Montreal, had it. You could discover that if you cared to read the manual up to the last pages: 'This game incorporates technology of Massive Incorporated ("Massive") that, when activated, enable the presentation of in-game advertisements and other in-game objects which are uploaded temporarily to your personal computer or game console and changed during online game play. As part of this process, when Massive technology is activated, Massive may have access to your Internet Protocol address. Your Internet Protocol address, and other basic anonymous information, available to Massive are temporarily used by Massive for the general purposes of transmitting and measuring in-game advertising.' However, it seems the technology was not used at the time, for some reason. This time, be assured it will be. How are we supposed to react to something like this? Shouldn't it be called adware? And, gratified by the success of this technology, what would be the next logical step of companies like Massive? Wouldn't they seek new publishers and use it in other software?"
"The technology has already been implemented, and was present in older titles. For example, Far Cry 2, released in October 2008 by Ubisoft Montreal, had it. You could discover that if you cared to read the manual up to the last pages: 'This game incorporates technology of Massive Incorporated ("Massive") that, when activated, enable the presentation of in-game advertisements and other in-game objects which are uploaded temporarily to your personal computer or game console and changed during online game play. As part of this process, when Massive technology is activated, Massive may have access to your Internet Protocol address. Your Internet Protocol address, and other basic anonymous information, available to Massive are temporarily used by Massive for the general purposes of transmitting and measuring in-game advertising.' However, it seems the technology was not used at the time, for some reason. This time, be assured it will be. How are we supposed to react to something like this? Shouldn't it be called adware? And, gratified by the success of this technology, what would be the next logical step of companies like Massive? Wouldn't they seek new publishers and use it in other software?"
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