"The importance of cross media convergence and synergy in production, distribution and marketing"
As yesterday's posts, many of these posts are going to be very much stream of consciousness splurging of whatever points I think we have discussed or anything else you need to be aware of but make sure you know some key terms and know what examples you can mention. By all means, use what I write here but go explore - nothing I mention is anything you can't find yourself - YouTube, official websites, Facebook pages - it is all out there so go live it up!
What is cross-media convergence? The use of different media for one product to help towards one shared goal.
How can it help production?
PS3 and Xbox having lots of different media tech involved - technological convergence - so it becomes not just a games machine but an entertainment hub - how would this impact on the audience? The shift from the boy's bedroom to the family living room. Especially with the family's brand new HD flatscreen TV - get on there Lovefilm, Netflick, iPlayer!!! What effect would this all singing family funbox have on sales? Maybe this is why this generation of consoles in the loooooooongest in gaming history? Use all of this - you know all this already!!
How can it help distribution?
Games are distributed on lots of different platforms - maximises profits for the gamemakers. Ensures a large audience. Different platforms can offer different functions - see R* branching out to handheld devices - Chinatown Wars on DS and iOS - and now GTA III and Vice City being released on handheld! Lots of fingers in lots of pies, is our Rockstar!!
Same with Skylanders - love the Wii/PS3/Xbox game? Well not buy one of the series of iOS products - from the shooting gallery Skylanders Air Patrol, the free "cowclicker" of a Farmville clone Skylanders Lost islands - free to play social game with lots of paid-for adds on to go pester Mum and Dad for - and then there's Skylanders Battlegrounds - slightly more expensive but more game for your buck. And what's that? Cross-platform compatibility for all of your figure collection? Oh thankyou Activision, you do spoil us!! They also expand into the internet - Skylanders website, with no doubt has web 2.0 links such as Facebook integration, offers the chance to show off your Skylanders collection to your friends, ensuring that the Skylanders brand exists across all media.
Zynga games benefit from cross-media convergence also due to the fact they can be played in Facebook, Zynga's own game playing site or on a mobile - to ensure you can play their often-addictive games wherever you are in the world! Now tell 10 friends and send them a gift to receive one back etc etc etc
How can it help marketing?
The more media your product has a presence on the more your product gets 'out there'. Rockstar will make good use of their Facebook and Twitter spaces to get those vital viral communications out there. You bet any little snippet of news will get shared or retweeted again and again, with little to no effort from the R* team themselves! Cinema and TV advertising is also powerful. Cinema ads can be tailored to the audience of the film to ensure potential ad power is achieved - this is common sense: Before a brainless one-man killing machine against the world of a action movie - would they have a slow-burning strategy game or would they have a cinematic trailer for Call of Duty? You know which one they would use! Similarly, before fantasy yarn The Hobbit they showed big budget cinematic trailers for similarly fantasy-based MMORPGs games World of Warcraft: Mists of Panderia AND Runescape. Runescape's free to play isn't it? This shows the impact of cinema and the convergence with video games
R* make good use of the Rockstar Games Social Club as well - an online site where players can look for added content, news about games and challenges to carry out in-game - you will see that all of the games we have looked at have great websites to lure players in.
Minecraft was promoted through the use of YouTube - this is free yet very effective. These consisted pretty much of the crew playing the game with some minimal commentary over the top to explain what the hell this 'social lego' kind of game was that defies many of our gaming expectations. No score, no levels, no bosses, no dialogue, no HD realism etc etc etc
No comments:
Post a Comment