The Marketing Departments Have It All Wrong

Successful marketing is an incredibly useful tool to get consumers to buy your product, and the world of entertainment media is no exception to that rule. There are countless examples across all forms of media of just how important marketing (or lack thereof) can be to a product's ultimate financial success. While video games have proven to be an incredible gold mine, often generating more income than Hollywood movies, the industry as it exists now is far from sustainable. Publishers need to pour tons of money into development for today's consoles, meaning that there is an extremely high risk if the product fails--which is why we see fewer original IPs and a market that is dominated by big-budget sequels. And therein lies the biggest problem of the games industry: the publishers don't understand how to market their product. "But I see Call of Duty and Halo ads all the time!" one might retort. It's true; publishers do a pretty good job of pushing their biggest brands and creating financial juggernauts. Unfortunately, that means a select few games are basically driving the entire industry, a situation that doesn't need an insightful analyst to realize that it's not exactly a formula for long-term survival, let alone growth. The problem is exacerbated when companies insist on pumping out new titles for these brands year in and year out, which not only burns out the developers and creativity, but dramatically accelerates what is known as "franchise fatigue" for the consumers. Just look at what happened to Guitar Hero and Rock Band: what were once the financial gems of the industry for their ability to not only move millions of units of games, but also high-return plastic instruments, are now a toxic asset that has become dead in the water just as fast as it rose to glory. (In case you're wondering, Activision published a whopping 25 Guitar Hero SKUs in 2009 alone--a year that also saw revenue in the overall genre drop 50% to $700 million from $1.4 billion the year before).

Once a breakout hit, Guitar Hero is now
only a shadow of its former glory

Now, one could easily argue that the music game genre's catastrophic collapse had more to do with Activision's greedy higher-ups than with a marketing department failing to successfully handle so many similar products. But this argument only circles back to the underlying trend that is the fault of the marketing departments: they are not marketing the right product. We've already gone over how publishers focus on select franchises and try to pump out as much money as they can from these names. The fact of the matter is, they are promoting the wrong names, period. Rather than promoting the game brand itself, the publishers should be promoting the "brand" that is the talent behind these games. A bit altruistic, you might say, but let's take a closer look by peeking over at the much-compared medium of movies. Certainly there are cases where movie studios are able to push a brand to sell a movie (Star Wars, James Bond, pretty much any movie based on a comic book come to mind). But if you think about the way most movies are promoted and hyped up, it's usually one of two things (or a combination): the director and the actors. These studios often bank on big-name talent to bring consumers to their product. People already know they are probably in for a good movie if Steven Spielberg is the director or if Russel Crowe is the lead actor. These kinds of "stars" do not exist in the games industry--which is entirely the fault of the people who promote the games. Of course, game development is inherently more team-oriented and less based on individual talent, but that is why the industry should start focusing on promoting its specific studios as its stars.

If you don't know Bungie, you certainly know
 its most successful creation.

To some extent, this has already happened. Sort of. People who follow the industry closely know the name "Bungie" carries a whole lot more weight than "Saber Interactive" because they already know what Bungie's accomplished and know what they bring to the table. Bungie hasn't announced so much as a title or even genre for their next game, but gamers are already salivating for it. The real money, however, is not in the people that already know what games they are going to buy, but rather the mainstream market that pretty much bought their Xbox for Call of Duty, Halo, and Madden... because that's all they know. You're average Joe probably doesn't know the difference between an Infinity Ward Call of Duty game and a Treyarch Call of Duty game. The existing practice obviously devalues the developer, but that's not as important to the publisher's bottom line as the eventual sales, so they promote the game brand--which they have more control over--instead. However, incentives exist for publishers as well. If publishers start promoting their studios rather than just the game brands, they'll be able to create completely new IPs (and to them, potential new series/franchises) on the backs of those developer names alone (i.e., without the high financial risk usually associated with a new IP). They don't have to waste money explaining why Game X is the next big thing while not-so-subtley hinting that its sequel is already in the works and will be even bigger. Instead, they can simply say, "this is the newest game from Bungie." Boom, millions of copies sold, done deal (the studio has to actually make a good game of course, but a studio that is able to consistently feed its creativity is far more likely to be working as hard as it can).

This is a bold proclamation that might seem like a too big of a step for the industry's tepid publishers. Luckily, there is already an example of this practice achieving mainstream success. For years, Rockstar was known for one game franchise and one game franchise only: Grand Theft Auto. Anybody who's reading this knows that those games don't need any introduction. It's a game brand that practically prints money. Or is it? Last year, Rockstar unleashed their latest project, and it wasn't a game about urban crime. Rather, it was a brand-new game set in the Old West. It was called Red Dead Redemption and went on to sell millions upon millions of copies and is heralded as one of the best games of last year. While the game is technically a sequel, it shares no ties to its under-the-radar predecessor, which wasn't even originally developed by Rockstar (the former Capcom game was dumped and Rockstar swooped up the rights, pushed it out, then geared up for the project it really wanted to do). How could what is essentially a new IP make such a splash right out of the gate? Because Rockstar was able to promote the Rockstar brand instead of the game's brand. Very clearly above the title, and before every trailer and commercial, reads a line that says, "Rockstar Games Presents." As in, "Rockstar Games Presents Red Dead Redemption." At the very least, pushing their name on the front of the box puts their name out for the future, so even if you didn't know they made GTA, you'll know they made RDR when they ship their next game (which, by the way, is L.A. Noire, which will also carry the "Rockstar Games Presents" tag on its box).

By doing this, Rockstar has taken steps to promote the Rockstar brand. Suddenly, the company has two mega-blockbusters, yet its next two games (L.A. Noire and Max Payne 3) are not from either of those franchises. They have been able to succesfully promote the Rockstar name, which allows them to explore game ideas in all sorts of stories and settings, rather than endlessly iterating on GTA until consumers finally get sick of it. Not only that, but when Grand Theft Auto V eventually does drop, it will come to additional applause and fanfare for returning from a long absence, which generates all sorts of hype on its own. And in the meantime, Rockstar is still making a pretty penny on other, brand new titles, because people know that it's not just that GTA is a good game, it's that Rockstar is good at making good games. Being able to say "from the studio behind Grand Theft Auto" is an incredibly powerful marketing tool, and one that is scarcely used in the game industry--somewhat baffling considering how often you hear similar phrases in movie trailers. Promoting the talent will allow developers to create all sorts of new games, which will stave off franchise fatigue, foster creativity (which is good for the entire industry), and reduce the dependence on big-budget sequels. This process means more creative freedom for developers, a wider portfolio for the publishers, and a whole wealth of different experiences for the consumers. It's a win, win, win. Us "hardcore gamers" already know the great studios. It's time the rest of the world finds out as well.

Bite-Size Review-- Transformers: War for Cybertron

Let's just get this out of the way: War for Cybertron--from Darkwatch and Bourne Conspiracy developer High Moon Studios--is far and away the best Transformers game on the market. If you are or were an avid fan of giant shape-shifting robots, you should not hesitate to at least give this game for a spin, and in fact, I'm betting you already have. For everyone else bred on the Modern Warfares and Halos of the world, is War for Cybertron worth taking a break for?

The answer is yes, but there are a couple of catches. For one, the single player campaign leaves much to be desired. It's "solid" and has its high points, but for the most part both campaigns (there are separate Decepticon and Autobot storylines) are generic and repetitive. The enemies are the same bland models over and over, save for a couple of interesting boss fights where you actually get to fight recognizable foes. You can select one robot from a choice of three before any mission, but the choice does little to mix things up. Worse, while High Moon has brought Cybertron to life with a myriad of moving parts in each level, they are naught but decorative and the levels themselves are totally bland corridors that all look the same and are filled with the same aforementioned bland enemies. I did not get a chance to try out the 3-player co-op mode which no doubt would've made it more fun, but the core experience is just...well, boring. To cap it off, the narrative is slow and shallow, hardly fulfilling the promise that we'd be seeing the full-fledged Cybertronian War.

The core gameplay, however, is very good--a fact that resonates in the game's fantastic multiplayer offering. High Moon has included a wealth of the standard game modes, including a Horde/Firefight-like endurance mode called Escalation, and there are customization options throughout. You can tweak the design of your very own Transformers based on the character models in the game, plus a few unlockable bonuses. Furthermore, you can customize loadouts, abilities and perks, and you can unlock extra configuration slots in each of the game's four classes. You earn experience by class, steadily unlock more of the options listed above, and each class can be leveled up to 25. Max out all 4 classes and you can start all over again in the Prestige-esque "Prime mode". Most importantly, the match-to-match gun play versus other human beings is extraordinarily fun. Essentially, WFC injects a bit of Bad Company 2's class system into Modern Warfare 2's multiplayer suite, and then tweaks everything to fit into the Transformers mold. The only complaint with the multiplayer is that it was hard to stay in the same room with people as I consistently would get disconnected after 1 or 2 matches, but the game is so fun that this is a minor, albeit irritating, complaint.

To wrap up, if you're looking for an entertaining interactive story to fill in the doldrums of your summer, then look elsewhere. However, if you are bored of the military shooters that have inundated the market, or would just like to try out something new that incorporates the best parts of your favorite multiplayer shooters, then look no further than Transformers: War for Cybertron.

OVERALL GRADE: B

Call of Duty: Black Ops revealed

To nobody's surprise, Activision revealed this week that the next game in their ubiquitous Call of Duty franchise, subtitled Black Ops, will be developed by the folks at Treyarch (Call of Duty 3, Call of Duty: World at War), and will be released this November 9th.

Activision is undoubtedly eager to move forward with the franchise after the highly-publicized fallout with Infinity Ward. Still, there's not too much solid info aside from the teaser trailer (posted below). The heavily-rumored Vietnam setting seems to be present given the clips of jungle environments, although much of the trailer is in a modern-looking medical facility, perhaps hinting that the missions will take place as flashbacks.

According to UK retailer GAME (via Joystiq), Vietnam will not be the only setting as the game is said to cover off-the-records missions in multiple Cold War locations (sound familiar?). The official website also promises a full-fledged reveal coming soon (probably right before E3 in June). We'll have more details as they become available, but catch the teaser below:

Modern Warfare 2's first map pack coming March 30

Infinity Ward Community Manager Robert Bowling has revealed (via his twitter) a new viral marketing campaign for Modern Warfare 2. The website says that a cure for "mapathy" will be arriving on March 30--at least if you are playing on Xbox 360. Basically, that means we will be getting our first MW2 map pack at the end of this month, although no details were given. Stay tuned over the next few weeks and we'll update you when we learn the details on the maps themselves and whether or not we'll be getting some new Spec Ops missions.

Update: 1up Community Manager Tina Sanchez has hinted (also through twitter) that Call of Duty 4 favorite Crash will be part of the first map pack. No confirmation from Infinity Ward just yet, but we'll keep you posted.

Update 3/13: An early Xbox Live Marketplace listing has revealed that the upcoming map pack will be titled "Stimulus Package" and, in a record for the Call of Duty series, will contain FIVE (5) maps. Three of these maps--Bailout, Storm, and Salvage--are brand new, while the other two are remakes/returns of Call of Duty 4's Crash and Overgrown. Judging by what has pretty much become the standard, expect "Stimulus Package" to cost 800 MSP ($10), although that is as of yet unconfirmed.

Update 3/14: Xbox360Achievements.org has reported that the Stimulus Package map pack will actually cost 1200MSP ($15). So much for getting a good value by getting 5 maps! Classic Activision milking its customers.

Infinity Ward shakeup; Call of Duty brand shuffled

BACKGROUND

Infinity Ward was originally founded after the core team behind the Medal of Honor series left EA because the publisher wanted to milk the franchise. The Los Angeles-based studio has created some of the best first person shooters of the past decade, including Call of Duty, Call of Duty 2, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, and Modern Warfare 2. As parent company and publisher Activision has begun capitalizing on the Call of Duty franchise by using multiple studios to develop the games (the other being Call of Duty 3 and Call of Duty: World at War developer Treyarch) tensions have risen between them and Infinity Ward. Last year, IW reportedly even refused to let Activision check up on Modern Warfare 2 milestones; the game itself has since become the most succesful entertainment property of all time. In addition, Infinity Ward had negotiated a contract with Activision to retain creative control over post-Vietnam era Call of Duty games as well as secure a go-ahead to develop a new IP.

WHAT'S GOING ON NOW

Reportedly, Activision had suspected Infinity Ward President Jason West and CEO Vince Zampella of engaging in secret talks with a rival publisher (EA has been named in court documents) to leave the Activision-controlled studio and start a new indie house. Earlier this week, West and Zampella had been called into a morning meeting with Activision brass and had been missing for the rest of the day. By nightfall, it had been revealed through Facebook and LinkedIN that West and Zampella had been let go of. Meanwhile, the same day Activision had quietly filed an SEC Report saying that two employees had been found "in breach of contract" and fire for "insubordination" by the publisher.

The following day, Activision CEO Bobby Kotick met first with the remaining Infinity Ward leads, followed by a second meeting with the entire studio. After the meetings, the company released a statement confirming the departure of West and Zampella and revealing the future of the Call of Duty franchise. Per everyone's expectations, this fall will see the release of a new Call of Duty game from Treyarch (rumored to be set in either Vietnam or the greater Cold War). In addition, newly founded Sledgehammer Games (established by former Dead Space boss Glen Schofield) is preparing an "action-adventure" Call of Duty game for 2011. An internal memo also claimed that Infinity Ward was still "central to the franchise" and hints were that the Sledgehammer project was separate from the "main" 2011 Call of Duty (or Modern Warfare) game.

THE FALLOUT

Activision likely wanted to keep cashing in on Infinity Ward and was pushing the studio to either do Modern Warfare 3 or the subscription-based Call of Duty that has been rumored for months already. IW likely pushed back, wanting to move in a new direction, such as developing their promised new IP. Past examples of (proverbially) bloody departures by studio heads usually lead to the departure of several key staff as well, so don't be surprised if people start leaving Infinity Ward once West and Zampella announce what they will do next.

In the mean time, Zampella and West have followed a lawsuit against Activision that has tremendous implications for the Call of Duty and Modern Warfare brands. Firstly, they demand in excess of $36 million of Modern Warfare 2 royalties be paid to them; Activision would have paid these this month if their employment had not been terminated. The pair accuses Activision of themselves "breaching contract" among a few other allegations (read the entire court filing here). They also are seeking to regain control of the Modern Warfare brand, defined as any Call of Duty in the post-Vietnam era. Activision in turn has said they are "disappointed" by the lawsuit, calling it "meritless". It'll likely take some time for the legal process settles this one, but we'll be keeping an eye on the situation and keep you updated on what happens.

Review-- Modern Warfare 2

Let's get down to the facts: Modern Warfare 2 is the most-anticipated game of all time. This is not hyperbole, but an empirical fact, exemplified by the fact that it became the most pre-ordered game in GameStop's history as well as shattering just about every video game sales record there is. The game is so big that it has transcended the Call of Duty brand that birthed it (used purely as a marketing tool for the uneducated) to become its own monster. At the end of the day, Infinity Ward's money-printing blockbuster lives up to the hype, besting its predecessors in just about every facet of the game.

Right when you turn it on, you notice that Modern Warfare 2 has gotten a much cleaner tweak to its presentation, and the main menu appropriately splits into three distinct choices that reflect the three separate pillars of the game: Campaign, Special Ops, and Multiplayer. In accordance with this approach, my review will similarly be broken into those same three sections.

CAMPAIGN

Though ignored by many addicted to the genre-defining multiplayer, it is actually the campaign mode that made Call of Duty famous in the pre-Modern Warfare days. Infinity Ward created their first fictitious, non-historically-based campaign in Call of Duty 4 and the result was one of the best single player experiences in gaming. Likewise, i-dub had huge expectations for the follow-up (and their first direct narrative sequel), but the final product is without a doubt the weakest of the three pillars.

That is not to say that it is bad, because the campaign mode is anything but. It starts off a little bit slow but quickly evolves into a very fast and frenzied experience. Pacing is good and the difficulty and length of the levels is just right, including the signature Veteran difficulty mode. Each level offers its own unique twist to the overall game design and individually, each level is loads of fun and an incredible thrill ride from start to finish. Where the campaign suffers is in its incohisiveness. While the levels themselves are fun to play, from a narrative standpoint they make absolutely no sense.

The story is mostly conveyed through detached conversations on loading screens, but unless you read the Wikipedia plot summary you still won't be able to understand what the hell is going on. After you do figure it out (again, only thanks to Wikipedia), you realize that the muddled story is acceptable at best as it gets lost in its own plot twists and fails to ever develop any real sense of tension or urgency. It just all feels so fake and doesn't carry the realistic, this-could-actually-happen weight that Call of Duty 4's story had, not to mention the fact that it lacks a proper conclusion. All in all, the campaign is assuredly fun, but a poor example of video game narrative.

SPECIAL OPS

Special Operations (or Spec Ops) is the newbie in this trifecta of cool, but is a very welcome new addition to the formula. In essence, Spec Ops is a sort of challenge mode that blends the Campaign and Multiplayer sections. Spec Ops truly shines when played with another player in two player co-op, either online or on the couch, with some levels even splitting to two players into completely different, complimentary roles, such as having one player gun their way to an extraction point while the second lays down support fire from an AC-130 gunship. These levels all stand alone as mini-missions with no storyline to tie them together and just give you one goal that you need to accomplish in about 5 minutes, sans checkpoints.

Each mission has a certain amount of stars you can earn, based either on the difficulty you play on (Regular, Hardened, or Veteran) or, in some cases, meeting certain criteria (such as getting faster times on a snowmobile time trial). Missions are then grouped into packages of 5 missions, with only the "Alpha" group being available from the outset and the rest unlocking as you earn more and more stars. There are also many Achievements tied to this progression, and the short-but-sweet nature of the missions keeps you coming back to get those extra stars on the harder difficulties. Thanks to being a pure gameplay assortment, the missions all offer their own objectives and the variety is astounding, despite reusing many locales from the campaign. Flying solo on Spec Ops is okay, but played co-op, it becomes fantastic.

MULTIPLAYER

And here is perhaps the most important of the three pillars, at least in how it relates to the proportion of time spent playing this game. The still-industry-leading multiplayer from Call of Duty 4 is back, but improved in almost every conceivable way. The graphics have been given an upgrade and the beautiful levels are a sublime assortment, with only a couple duds and many that truly shine. This is by far the best assortment of levels in any of the Call of Duty games.

Loadouts have also been given a boost with the expansion of the gun roster and available attachments, as well as the explosion of the secondary weapon category to include many, many more options. A bunch of new perks have been added, as well as a whole slew of "equipment" in place of frag grenades, which are merely one option in that category. In addition, there is now a whole assortment of Killstreak Rewards to unlock with various streak requirements, letting you select any 3 to go into battle with. Deathstreaks have now also been added to give struggling players a boost when a match frustratingly doesn't go their way. As a little bonus, Infinity Ward has also created a system of "emblems" and "titles" to affix to your gamertag, rewarded based on the way you like to play the game.

The revolutionary experience system is also back, this time going all the way up to level 70, plus once again ten levels of "prestige". It has been tweaked somewhat, however, as most experience points have been multiplied by a factor of ten. There is also noticeably more experience required to actually level up, but this is balanced by a whole slew of new challenges, including many challenges that go far beyond just 3 tiers and into the 6 or 7 tier range. A host migration system has also been added to prevent matches from just ending when the host drops out or when they are really laggy.

Perhaps the only knock against the multiplayer is Infinity Ward's complete ignorance of the beneficial little tweaks Treyarch introduced in World at War. For example, you can't break down leaderboards by playlist to see how you rank against your friends in a particular mode. There are also no vehicles (though many would argue that's a good thing) and destroying enemy Killstreak Rewards doesn't give a boost to your team (although it does net you a little extra XP). These are extremely minor quibbles, however, and the multiplayer package in Modern Warfare 2 is leaps and bounds beyond anything in the market, including Halo and Call of Duty 4. This game is peerless in the multiplayer department, and that fact will show as numbers start coming out about the number of its players on Xbox LIVE as well as the sure-to-break-records map packs that will come in 2010.

CONCLUSION

Modern Warfare 2 is exactly what you'd expect it to be. It's Call of Duty 4, but improved in just about every aspect. The multiplayer alone is a tremendous value, the campaign is fun and does its job, and Spec Ops is an unexpected though very welcome new addition to the family. It is by no means flawless, but it is still everything you (and Activision) want it to be: the biggest blockbuster in the history of video games. Period.

Overall Grade: A+

Modern Warfare 2 box art revealed, 'Call of Duty' returns

Developer Infinity Ward and publisher Activision (now Activision-Blizzard) struck gold in 2007 when they released Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. After the franchise's brief return to its World War II roots in Treyarch's Call of Duty: World at War, Infinity Ward revealed its follow-up earlier this year in Modern Warfare 2, which had notably lacked any mention of the words 'Call', 'of', or 'Duty' in any of the marketing, interviews, and trailers for the game. Well, IW's community manager Robert Bowling has posted the first pictures of the game's box art on his Twitter, and lo and behold the 'Call of Duty' brand is being slapped on the game after all. I guess Activision came to their business senses after a report that suggested awareness for the game was only half of what it should be without the series moniker, so it would only help them to re-include it on the box and likely in future marketing. The original point of dropping the brand was likely an Infinity Ward initiative to distant themselves from what has become a yearly milking title for Activision between IW and Treyarch, but the game as always been promoted as a true sequel to CoD 4. Check out the snapshot of the box below. It's actually somewhat humorous how they've actually shrunk the name so its just barely a Call of Duty game.

New Modern Warfare 2 Trailer!

Infinity Ward has been teasing for a couple weeks that they were going to debut the full-length trailer for Modern Warfare 2 during the NBA Eastern Conference Finals on May 24 (last night). The trailer was a sweet treat during the commercial break of a phenomenal Game 3 that saw the Magic going up on the Cavaliers 2 games to 1. More on the NBA Playoffs later... here is the trailer:

Rumors about Call of Duty 7 already surfacing

Call of Duty: World at War has a new map pack coming out in June. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (assuming it still carries the CoD name) is hitting this November. Not content to stop there, publisher Activision-Blizzard is already prepping the next entry in the franchise. 

According to a 1up News report, the 7th main entry in the Call of Duty franchise is under development at Treyarch under the same lead as World at War, Noah Heller. Reportedly, Activision is seeking to license music from Cold War-era locales such as Vietnam, Cuba, Africa, and the Soviet Union. This suggests a Cold War era game (kind of like the flashback Chernobyl sniper level in CoD4), but rather than focusing in one or two locations (such as an obvious choice in Vietnam) the team is looking to feature a broader range of Cold War-related conflicts.

While the concept itself sounds very intriguing, the big picture question for Activision is do they really need to be doing this to such a stellar franchise? Keep in mind this is the publisher that has ruined various franchises by trying to pump too much money out of them (see: Tony Hawk, Guitar Hero). Maybe it would be better served to give the franchise a year off after Modern Warfare 2. Of course, it must be noted that in the official trailer (see below) MW2 does not even bear the "Call of Duty" brand, so maybe Infinity Ward is trying to distance themselves from the franchise for fears of said exploitation.

Either way, you've got to feel bad for those guys at IW since they originally came to Activision with the original Call of Duty to escape the yearly exploits of their Medal of Honor games by Electronic Arts. How ironic then that EA of recent years has shown to be very sensitive to the creative side of game design and has taken very explicit steps to not ruin the long-term potential of various franchises by exploiting them in the short-term. Only time will tell where we go from here, but my money is on the general public getting Call of Duty fatigue after this year's Modern Warfare 2, no matter how intriguing a worldwide Cold War game sounds.

Call of Duty: W@W Map Pack 2 announced

Activision-Blizzard has just announced the latest map pack--simple titled Map Pack 2--for acclaimed shooter Call of Duty: World at War.

Just like Map Pack 1, MP2 will feature 3 new multiplayer maps and one new Nazi Zombie level (Zombie Swamp). From IGN.com:

"The three multiplayer maps include Banzai, a jungle map featuring a waterfall, Corrosion, a beat up train yard, and Sub Pens, a bombed-out sub base. The Zombie map is titled Shi No Zuma -- the Zombie Swamp -- and it features Perk machines, the new Wunderwawffe DG-2 and flaming Hell Hounds." 

Map Pack 2 is currently slated for June, though no specific day was given. It's good to see Treyarch continuing to support their superb shooter even with the future of the franchise already on the horizon.