Marketing of Video Games - The Video Game Industry: Formation, Present State, and Future - page 53

from actors. Previous experience had showed them that the “hive-mind” of
thousand of gamers can solve the most complex puzzles. The later success
of I Love Bees is associated with subsequent sales of Halo 2 . That is, within
hours after Halo 2 was launched, it sold 2.4 million copies, reaping $125
million in sales. Even if the ARG was only one, amongst numerous, promo-
tion activities, we believe that the novelty and interactive aspect, and the
buzz created, made this an important part of the success. The persons that
participated in the ARG before the launch of Halo 2 had the opportunity
to experience the story of that game, on a fi rsthand encounter, and be part
of the buzz that surrounded that game.
We saw the internet was creating a kind of try-before-you-buy mental-
ity . . . People expect to receive some value in advance of having to hand
over their hard-earned cash. And so this whole concept was about how
to create that emotional kind of attachment and demonstrate the value
and quality of that experience before you buy the video game or a ticket
to the movie. (Weisman, cited in Handy 2005, 7)
There have been more ARGs developed with the objective of promoting
products such as fi lms, cars, TV series, political message and sports events.
One of the fi rst was The Beast (2001) and was a promotion for the fi lm
A.I.: Artifi cial Intelligence . This game was limited to a small geographical
area, but it was a starting point for what we believe could be a very inter-
esting interaction with consumers. With the penetration of technology we
believe that we will see more of these kinds of promotion campaigns in the
near future.
GAMES AS PROMOTION
Although the promotion of video games is part of the ef ort of placing
games in the hands of customers, the product itself—the game—can also
be made into a carrier of promotional activities. Through dif erent types of
in-game advertising, game developers sell advertising spots to a third party,
just as in the physical world. In a manner similar to one being exposed to
products through ads in fi lm and TV, video games can be used in almost
the same way—and maybe more ef ectively because games are interactive.
The idea of promoting brands and products in games is not new in itself;
this possibility was already present in early soccer games (mimicking the
ads displayed on the side of the soccer fi eld). What has changed is the intro-
duction of a dynamic, in-game advertising, where the ad can be customized
to the gamer and third party. For example, depending on what games one
plays, a third-party organization can target an individual as its audience.
As most games today have a digital connection to the publisher or devel-
oper it enables customizing content.