Scott Steinberg: The Rules of the Game
How developers, publishers can succeed in 2011
You've also got to provide meaningful incentive for staying involved with these games and bringing titles to others' attention. For example: The need to visit a friend's virtual nightclub to keep it thriving, join forces to battle an otherwise unstoppable boss or score some filthy lucre in your favourite computer game by playing a round of Fable: Coin Golf.
When advising our partners today, we don't just counsel the importance of acknowledging new trends and dressing titles to succeed, given a marketplace now crowded by thousands of competitors on dozens of emerging platforms. We also advise how vital it is to provide hands-on trials, reach a broad audience and create not just tiered pricing plans/multiple entry points for all users, but also think of games as living, breathing platforms that offer continued incentives to interact and collaborate.
By far, the most effective form of marketing in 2011 is turning players into evangelists and constantly rewarding them for these efforts by actively providing value-adding updates and channels through which to influence titles' ongoing evolution. Some developers do this by providing badges, achievements, exclusive in-game content, crowdsourced initiatives (e.g. community design contests), inside access to developers and other perks.
The wisest ones go one step further by intentionally embracing users as an active extension of their team, turning players into a combination sounding board, real-time focus group and extension of the creative services department. In other words, regardless of which industry trend you choose to pin your hopes on going forward - apps, virtual worlds, glasses-free 3D, zero-cost Web games, etc - some basic principles still apply.
Quality is paramount. Value is essential. Social elements are mandatory. And an ongoing commitment to operating your game like a service, and facilitating active two-way dialogue between developers and fans (even if simply through the ongoing release of new content) is of central importance. And while quirky, indie games; traditional PC and console outings; and classic MMOs all still have a place in today's gaming world, realise.
As the actual biggest and most salient trends in gaming – fragmentation of users across platforms and devices; a growing preference for proven, trusted brands; and the increasing shift to more transient, less loyal gaming habits – reveal, it's a brave new world for all contenders. Developers, publishers and retailers who wish to survive it are faced with a simple choice: Get ready to rewrite the playbook, even as you toss the old one out the proverbial window.
Where does the future of gaming lie? Write in with your questions for games industry analyst Scott Steinberg. Select queries will appear in his next column in future months.
Scott Steinberg heads videogame consulting firm TechSavvy, which advises developers, publishers, investors and media corporations on business strategy, product testing and market analysis. A frequent game industry expert witness, he's also the author of Video Game Marketing and PR and host of videoseries Game Theory. He frequently appears as a technology and gaming analyst on broadcast networks like ABC, CBS and NBC, and has contributed to 400+ outlets from CNN to Rolling Stone. For more, see www.scottsteinberg.com.