Ubisoft's Murray Pannell
The publisher's new UK head of marketing on the platform mix, the media landscape, and why he left Xbox for third party action
Back in March Ubisoft announced that long-time Xbox marketing man, Murray Pannell, had taken the role with the publisher as head of marketing for the UK.
Shortly before E3, GamesIndustry.biz sat down with the man himself to find out why he left Microsoft, what his thoughts are on the platform mix and how the changing media landscape is bringing new challenges - and opportunities.
Well, I spent six and a half years at Microsoft on Xbox, so I was very platform-focused, loved the brand, loved the product. But I think after that time I was becoming blinkered to industry counterparts - so I came to the conclusion that if I was going to stay in the industry, and develop within it, I probably needed at some point to get broader platform experience.
So rather than the competition always being Sony and Nintendo, I thought it was probably better to go join in the fight and enjoy some of the products that those platforms also deliver.
Microsoft has done a great deal in the last few years to broaden out its portfolio, but I was conscious of not really being involved in some of the great things that Nintendo is doing, for example - not just on Wii, but also on handhelds, because Microsoft has got relatively little experience in that area.
For me, professionally, it's probably important to dabble in that area, and get some more experience.
It was fine - where I've become unstuck recently is getting to grips with some of the really broad appeal titles that Ubisoft is delivering. The Imagine range, for example, is targeting 6-12 year old girls - now I'm lucky enough that I've got two daughters in that age bracket, so I kind of understand them as a target audience, but I've certainly never actively marketed to that audience.
These are great learning opportunities for me, and I don't profess to be an expert in that area, but that's certainly one of the reasons why Ubisoft was appealing.
There are some great titles coming - something like Assassin's Creed 2 is undoubtedly going to be a massive seller for us. By all accounts, in terms of the community buzz that's around that title, every time we do something around it everyone jumps on it.
So we have high expectations for that, certainly, but likewise, there's a bunch of our Games for Everyone titles that are going to be exciting too - we've got a new Rabbids game coming, we're trying to develop that franchise and really develop some unique property around the Rabbids themselves this time. Plus we'll be continuing the great work done on the Imagine range, and puzzle games, which are fundamentally a great revenue source for us.
Well, I've worked on the Halo franchise for three iterations, so I know there's always a balance to be struck between creating a demand from a marketing point of view - and also the consumers themselves creating that demand. Consumers wanted Halo 2, and Halo 3 even more, and maybe the games didn't quite deliver to the expectations, but I think there are instances where you have to be a little bit careful about managing expectations.
I think what's important for Assassin's Creed 2 is to allay the fears of whether or not it will be repetitive, a la the first version. I'm sure that will be resolved, and when people get to see some of the innovations, the changes to the gameplay, the way that the development studio has listened to the feedback - there's no doubt about it, Ubisoft has some incredible development talent, and the best talent is on this game.
I have little doubt that it will perform to high expectations.