Below is my personal analysis of our game with regards to how we would market it post-production. I find it is very useful to be able to remove yourself from your work and look at it from someone else's point of view. One of the most important views to understand is that of your target audience. Our target audience is comprised of FPS and Action gaming genre fans which already enjoy this type of game - however due to our historical nature to our game there is the potential of enticing non-gamers to give our game a try out of their interest in the history surrounding our plot, or the epic war-time romance featured in our narrative, or the ambitious split of gameplay between linear and open-world activities.
Strengths
British history and culture forms the basis of out game; this means that we will be likely to have a competitive edge over similar games by championing our ‘British Identity’ in UK markets.
W.A.R. has a simultaneous plot seen through 3 different characters eyes. Not only is a greater perspective of WW2 achieved through this gameplay style, a more poignant narrative can be displayed. Similarly set games are yet to achieve such a balance between the character’s real-lives and high-octane warfare.
Our game has a unique plot; a German land invasion. This has been written as realistically as possible to what could - and what was expected to – happen. The classic ‘fight-the-enemy’ game story is coloured with the confusion tactics employed by the Home Guard and other British forces, the camaraderie of the British public and the unusual realities of Britain at War in the 1940’s.
W.A.R features completely new IP (Intellectual Property) which is rare in current game markets and could be used to great advantage in the marketing for the game.
Weaknesses
The subject of World War 2 in games is a vast and unvaried sector of the FPS genre. It is very
easy to fall into clichés or generic FPS gameplay traps. Keeping your game original is key.
Our clearly British perspective of storytelling in the game may alienate consumers from other countries. Tackling the taboo subject of WW2 with for example a German market would present a lot of problems and could potentially estrange a large portion of Western Europe due to its storyline if not sensitively handled in the game’s design.
The FPS genre of gaming is home to the largest selling console games of all time and so a certain level of quality of experience and game-finish is expected and predicted by our target audience. You are likely to be compared to the existing IP’s such as the Call of Duty franchise which is a world-wide hit.
Opportunities
Working to our strengths as a game; New IP, British-based storyline etc. we should focus a lot of our marketing for the game to make it a hit on British soil. As I have mentioned above, other game markets will each have their own challenges – challenges which will be more easily overcome with a strong and positive reception from UK gamers. In other words, if we can win over British consumers, we can then move onto the USA and later European markets.
Our game aims to take away some of the false fantasising of warfare without removing any of the fun. As our plot should accurately propose what could have happened in WW2 had events played out slightly differently, our game could potentially be used as a supplementary tool for learning.
Much like the Assassin’s Creed series used the ‘database’ feature of their game to pack the title full of useful information on Renaissance Italy and it’s inhabitants – so too can we market our game as a instrument for historical inquiry.
Threats
If not marketed correctly, our game could easily become lost in the plethora of other WW2 games released every year. Therefore a detailed and focused marketing and promotional plan needs to be drafted in order to pique the interest of gamers already saturated with first-person shooters and historical strategic war-games.
As we are entering such a common genre of game, it is likely that the reviews will be highly critical and will probably compare us to the aforementioned franchises. The overall finish and quality of the game must aim to be impeccable in order to avoid typical reviews of ‘lag’ or ‘repetitive gameplay’.
Another marketing ‘faux-pas’ we could easily fall in to is that our choice to have the main protagonist of the game to be a woman as an attempt to create a ‘girl-friendly’ or even worse; a ‘girls-only’ war game. If too much emphasis is placed on this feature, consumers are likely to assume at least the former if not the latter before even buying the game.
Strengths
British history and culture forms the basis of out game; this means that we will be likely to have a competitive edge over similar games by championing our ‘British Identity’ in UK markets.
W.A.R. has a simultaneous plot seen through 3 different characters eyes. Not only is a greater perspective of WW2 achieved through this gameplay style, a more poignant narrative can be displayed. Similarly set games are yet to achieve such a balance between the character’s real-lives and high-octane warfare.
Our game has a unique plot; a German land invasion. This has been written as realistically as possible to what could - and what was expected to – happen. The classic ‘fight-the-enemy’ game story is coloured with the confusion tactics employed by the Home Guard and other British forces, the camaraderie of the British public and the unusual realities of Britain at War in the 1940’s.
W.A.R features completely new IP (Intellectual Property) which is rare in current game markets and could be used to great advantage in the marketing for the game.
Weaknesses
The subject of World War 2 in games is a vast and unvaried sector of the FPS genre. It is very
easy to fall into clichés or generic FPS gameplay traps. Keeping your game original is key.
Our clearly British perspective of storytelling in the game may alienate consumers from other countries. Tackling the taboo subject of WW2 with for example a German market would present a lot of problems and could potentially estrange a large portion of Western Europe due to its storyline if not sensitively handled in the game’s design.
The FPS genre of gaming is home to the largest selling console games of all time and so a certain level of quality of experience and game-finish is expected and predicted by our target audience. You are likely to be compared to the existing IP’s such as the Call of Duty franchise which is a world-wide hit.
Opportunities
Working to our strengths as a game; New IP, British-based storyline etc. we should focus a lot of our marketing for the game to make it a hit on British soil. As I have mentioned above, other game markets will each have their own challenges – challenges which will be more easily overcome with a strong and positive reception from UK gamers. In other words, if we can win over British consumers, we can then move onto the USA and later European markets.
Our game aims to take away some of the false fantasising of warfare without removing any of the fun. As our plot should accurately propose what could have happened in WW2 had events played out slightly differently, our game could potentially be used as a supplementary tool for learning.
Much like the Assassin’s Creed series used the ‘database’ feature of their game to pack the title full of useful information on Renaissance Italy and it’s inhabitants – so too can we market our game as a instrument for historical inquiry.
Threats
If not marketed correctly, our game could easily become lost in the plethora of other WW2 games released every year. Therefore a detailed and focused marketing and promotional plan needs to be drafted in order to pique the interest of gamers already saturated with first-person shooters and historical strategic war-games.
As we are entering such a common genre of game, it is likely that the reviews will be highly critical and will probably compare us to the aforementioned franchises. The overall finish and quality of the game must aim to be impeccable in order to avoid typical reviews of ‘lag’ or ‘repetitive gameplay’.
Another marketing ‘faux-pas’ we could easily fall in to is that our choice to have the main protagonist of the game to be a woman as an attempt to create a ‘girl-friendly’ or even worse; a ‘girls-only’ war game. If too much emphasis is placed on this feature, consumers are likely to assume at least the former if not the latter before even buying the game.
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