A prime example of Symbiosis: Halo and Mountain Dew

Promotion through Symbiosis can be seen in many different forms, but in this case, the photograph above shows how video game publishers, use other products in relation to the gaming experience to promote the game and help sell the off-product. As you can see here to encourage sales and profits in Mountain Dew and promote Halo 4, they have teamed up as a form of marketing through symbiosis. The partnership is relative as many hardcore gamers will spend hours upon hours gaming and so the addition of an energy drink will help keep them awake and hydrated while they play. This is why the partnership is very strong and will hopefully massively increase profits for both companies/platform holder.

Top 20 Game chart 2012: MVC

From the table above we can see that from the Top 10, 3 of the top 6 of the major games were published by EA games (Fifa 13, Need for Speed and Medal of Honor), one of which, as just mentioned, is their multinational Fifa franchise which makes a remarkable return every year, making the game chart in the top 10 every year. This is no surprise as they go overboard on marketing and as is visible in the table, it is the game that is available across the widest range of platforms at hand, allowing the largest range of convergence/symbiosis to market and increase profits of the game. Also it is the only game to still be sold to the PS2, which is unlikely for new blockbuster games these days, maximising profits and sales further,which may be a contributing factor in the rank of 2nd in these game charts. The reasoning behind this is that EA are branching out to countries such as India and Brazil where the PS2 is still a very popular, leading console, making Fifa a top rated game in these countries. You can also see that there is only one game that is only available for purchase for the Xbox 360. This shows that through the market, established IP's have the most success compared to new IP's from: Forza  Horizon,- only available on one established platform out ranking games such as Dishonored (published by Bethesda Softworks), the only new IP in the chart for this year, that ranked 10 and available to 3 different platforms. An example of this would be Assassins Creed, ranked first being a highly successful, well known franchise. This shows that most publishers are more confident and comfortable creating/re-releasing an established franchise to ensure success than spending profits producing a new IP on the risk that it won't sell. However, it is still apparent that new IP's are well sought after and still very popular as Dishonoured still topped games such as Resident Evil 6 which is a well established franchise and available on all 3 major selling platforms; Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. One thing I particularly noticed was that a good selection of the top 20 games are targeted at a more mature audience through the violence and tasks/aims throughout the games such as Assassins creed, Resident Evil and Medal of Honour. Most of the new big releases these days are targeted at this age generation of around 18+ however there are still major blockbuster games that are aimed at a younger demographic that are amongst the best selling new games that are set to be Christmas hits this year such as the renowned Skylanders: Giants and a lesser known but still successful Moshi Monsters: Moshlings Theme Park.

Conglomerate Map for Grand Theft Auto IV

Conglomerate Map for Skylanders

Farmville 2

After it's release date on the 5th of September of this year, Farmville 2 has hugely taken storm on Facebook, who sponsor "The Ville" franchise, with over 60 million monthly users which I believe is down to Zynga's use of strategic viral marketing. It is clear just how effective this is, just by logging into Facebook you are thrown advertisements left right and centre promoting the new sequel to the huge successor Farmville, which has managed to keep casual gamers returning for more, with 64,700,000 people playing it every month! The main and obvious most effective technique that Zynga used to market Farmville 2, was that they aimed the release and game-play  to their existing users which was a very smart move considering the figures mentioned above. This is clearly seen even by them naming the new 3D social game "Farmville 2" that is very familiar to every current active user under the Zynga name as it something that they are comfortable with and that they know what the franchise's capability to make a good game is. This is what set off Rockstar's call of duty sensation, however, that was on a much larger scale. Furthering this by using viral marketing techniques to advertise the new release on the likes of Facebook (sponsors), where typical Farmville players will notice the title, attracts a lot more users as they will recognise the franchise. From having a little play on Farmville 2, it was very obvious that the game is a social interaction driven game and they don't let you forget it. Throughout the time I played there was so many screen pop ups encouraging me to add my Facebook contacts as neighbours to allow for extra farm points/cash that you needed to buy specific features in the game. Doing this is a very smart technique, although irritating, to not just get your friends involved and current users, but to promote and expand the recognition of the game by adding and getting contacts involved that have never heard of or played Farmville before, expanding the audience and increasing users in the game and profit for their franchise.

Zynga: How do they make their money?

Zynga games are supported by direct credit card payments and  business partnerships. The company develops games for social networking sites such as Facebook which are free to play, Android and also mobile platforms such as Apple IOS. A core feature to many of their games involve the gamer to resolve/become immersed in gaining "energy" to allow them to reach a final mission/goal, maybe by the help of other players' interaction can only then, they continue, or through purchasing ad-on features/extra components to aid them to carry on, through micro-transactions that Zynga generate the majority of their money from. Running out of "energy" in the games is a limiting factor for the players and this is were Zynga's business support mechanisms take advantage.  Players can accept credit card offers, take surveys or buy services from Zynga's partners in order to obtain game credits. This in turn allows the player to become a holder of premium funds that can either directly helpful or be exchanged for the vital aid/ components to complete the "mission" of the game. However these game credits can also be purchased through direct cedit card payments or microtransactions through Paypal. The fee for game credits that can be bought in the game are $5.00 in exchange for 21 game credits.

Also advertising sponsorships are sold by Zynga and in February of this year teamed up with Hasbro to create products based on Zynga brands which we be available to purchase in the upcoming months to winter. Zynga also started running sponsored stories and Facebook adverts on their website. This revenue will be split between Facebook and Zynga themselves. 

The release of Skylanders: Giants!

Being a huge a Spyro nerd when I was younger, owning a Spyro game on nearly every console I owned, the new release of Skylanders: Giants looked really interesting to me even though I didn't buy or play on it's worldwide success predecessor Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure, which was renowned as the No.1 kids toy of 2011. The new set to be pre-teen game success was released just a few days ago on the 19th October in Europe and October 21st in North America. The developers - Toys for Bob and n-space (Nintendo 3DS), and publisher- Activision, massively allowed the expansion of popularity of the game by releasing it on various different platforms that were clearly target audience driven (aimed at pre-teens) with the console choices being; Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Nintendo 3DS, Wii and the soon to be released Christmas hit; The Wii U (as mentioned in a previous blog post). It is no surprise that this anticipated sequel is said to be even more successful which is hard to outdo from Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure generating nearly £350 million and the sales of close to 30 million Skylanders toys in 2011.

The Skylanders franchise pushes the boat on new thought out technology that works so cleverly to sell the game using symbiosis by merging a line of cross-platform toy figures with a video game world. This is done through the consumer/player being able to purchase over 40 new collectible figures as well as importing characters and their progress from the first game, as they are compatible with the same IP . However, it will also include a set of interactive characters that feature new light technology integrated into the toys. These are known as Lightcore characters that when placed on an electronic "portal", called the "Portal of Power", will cause the base to light up on contact with objects etc within the game. This is possible through the integration of a microchip in the base of the figures, no batteries or power source required. This makes the game very unique and up standard as we move into the 8th generation of gaming. The symbiosis between the two platforms are a perfect profit generator as the player, as just mentioned, can still use their current "portal" and characters from Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure, but new consumers/players or those wishing to use the new characters must purchase a "Starter pack" or a "Booster pack". For these packs on the Nintendo Wii would cost you £49.99 for a "Booster pack" and £64.99 for a "Starter pack", and the individual characters being priced between £10-15. These figures alone just for the Wii show just how much profit can be attained easily from the combined popularity of the franchise and heavy pricing. Another unique factor of the game which I believe will mostly be apparent for the Wii, is the newly addition of difficulty modes. With the Wii reaching out to younger/family audiences with most of the games being around 3/6+ age ratings, Skylanders: Giants has opened new doors and audiences by having not only easy difficulty modes for casual gamers, but adding medium, hard and even a stage called Nightmare Mode that would appeal and be more relative to more hardcore gamers, expanding the audience further.
This also lead to the addition of game modes that can be played. Skylanders: Giants has definitely increased the sense of player individual achievement which all gamers strive for when trying to complete an RPG by adding individual toy quests to strengthen their own power. Not only single player mode is available either. Co-op, battle-mode (competitive PvP) and online multiplayer with drop out- drop in mode. This encourages social interaction and an online community for communication.

Skylanders: Giants has primarily been marketed through viral marketing with the creation of their own YouTube channel promoting different aspects of the game and their many TV advertisements. This use of viral marketing allows Activision and Toys For Bob to reach out to a much wider audience by getting them captivated in the small snippets of new exciting footage and game-play up until the day of release. Also this way of marketing is a prime technique in capturing the attention of their young target audience of 7+. This is because the largest percentage of the population who spend the most time watching television is between 7-15 years meaning they are more likely to consume the adverts, successfully attracting their target audience who will want to buy the game. Having a young target audience will allow Activision to grasp and expand their audience and popularity through may different forms of cross media convergence as an attraction.
Compared to Rockstar marketing their GTA franchise through Guerilla and viral methods, the two are carried out very differently. Rockstar spend most of their money drip feeding information to the specialist and mainstream press, co-operative marketing with Microsoft and retail, TV press and billboard advertising, whereas Activision throw a lot of their money into the productivity side of the franchise such as the production of the figurines, the add on packs (starter and booster) and making captivating advertisements boasting all of the amazing components to expect with the game. With Rockstar this is all kept very secretive and undisclosed to get their audience talking about the game before it is released. Both are very effective ways of marketing on different platforms and with the obvious triumph of the GTA franchise we can only wait and watch Skylanders: Giants gain worldwide success!