Marketing of Video Games - The Video Game Industry: Formation, Present State, and Future - page 51

be more closely aligned with the publisher segment of the industry. It may
appear as if its expenditures are substantially lower than publisher spend-
ing (12 per cent compared with 47 per cent for EA). It is not just percent-
ages, however, that are important, but magnitudes as well—probably more
so. In that regard, recent expenditures were quite comparable (1.77 billion
for Nintendo compared with 1.65 for Electronic Arts. Expenditures for
Microsoft and Sony, of course, are spread over larger sectors of business
so it is hard to make anything out of publicly available data, especially the
case of Sony. Experience from the fi eld, however, indicates they are players
dedicated to success.
Traditional theory in promotion indicates approaches tend to be both
ei cient and ef ective when the media matches with segment use. In this
regard, there is a problem reaching gamers—they tend to spend their spare
time gaming. Consequently, industry observations suggest the best promo-
tion to this segment is the development of a better sequel than the one the
target presently is playing. 16 As this piece is being written, Call of Duty:
Modern Warfare 3 (Activision Blizzard) has announced record dollar sales
(Snider 2011). Sequence loyalty, of course, accounts for a lot of these sales,
but there are also indications newer segments are being drawn in as sug-
gested by unit sales. These incremental sales undoubtedly have been af ected
by a heavy TV support of the launch.
Among traditional outlets, television has been most popular—in part
because of ease of using trailers, in part because of the match with target
segments. The Madden games, for instance, are a “natural” for promotion
in the U.S. on ESPN. As the industry reaches out to other segments, cinema
is being used more. Nevertheless, the industry still relies heavily on “buzz”
to af ect sales, especially during introduction (Zackariasson and Wilson
2009). One respondent put it this way:
The media is a big part of marketing plan. Depending on the type of
game and asset availability, we are going to use the press one year before
release dates, sometimes two years before. That is the only way you can
create “buzz”. We also go online to give viewers assets with which to
create buzz in their communities. Communities, the fans, are also really
important in marketing. With our [his] most recent success, we had
exclusive testing for the fans. That led to a lot of conversation worldwide
because they were truly fond of the game. We found that they could be
used both as a channel to get messages out, but also as feedback on fea-
tures. That helped us create and keep up a buzz around the game.
The same respondent also indicated that good, old-fashioned shelf space is
important in getting sales, which means working more closely with retailers.
We are trying now to involve them [retailers] more, for one thing, by
informing them of where we are going with each product. There are