Despite the current(?) recession in the US, the videogame industry won’t seem to be affected, at all! Videogames sales have just gone up, and with the latest big release GTA4 it got yet another boost. The numbers just points up, and the industry grow every year, and even you thought last year is hard to beat, many new big games will be (or already have been) released this year. And the biggest conventions haven’t been yet, so many surprises can be excepted.
AdAge.com wrote a good artivle about this, and pinpointed some sides of games and how marketers in other industries could learn from videogames. They touch on some of the current trends like a growing interest in the easy accessible Casualgaming market, “new” business models including micro transactions and in-game advertising.
I’m all in favor of studying other fields and businesses to find ideas and inspiration do develop how we work. But its important not to forget that the most important thing ever is a top-notch product in the beginning. This is how Google grew, their Search technology was the best and just through non paid word-of-mouth marketing they build one of the biggest brands of today.
Videogame is a entertainment medium first and foremost. When thing won’t go as planed or your just down, it can be a blast to escape reality for a few hours through a game. Even when your sick and don’t have the energy but still can use your thumbs videogames can ease the pain. But its important to remember what kind of product a videogame is, an experience that you actively participate in. And depending on the kind of game you play, an emotional bond emerge between you and the world and its charaters. This is one of the features which differentiate videogames from other “products”. Though many of the good lessons AdAdge.com wrote of (What marketers can learn from video games
), I think it can be difficult to see how they could transfer to other industry’s. But I think in general industries, companies and big brand holder simply have to be more relaxed, focus on making a hell of a product. Don’t work to hard trying to “create” word-of-mouth, social marketing or emotional connection with the consumer.
I think gamers (and even non-gamers in some sense) associate games with a fun enjoyable emotion. And that’s the no 1 selling point, a positive emotion! One which can’t be faked totally. Yes marketers will try to create that feeling through advertiment. But as soon as a real emotion is born, it you can’t compete with a fabricated messaged.
Still the success saga of the videogame industry growth in recent years, contain many new ways of doing businesses and innovations. People working in development is dedicated at heart, often work with more passion and more hours when the rest of us. Its very much a business culture thing. The videogame industry is the prime example of the millennials phenomenon, with a new type of culture, the same culture found in Google and other new young businesses. Study and learn.