TAcTICS YOOKA-LAYLEE PLAYTONIC GAME’S KICKSTARTER PHENOMENON IS FINALLY HERE!
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It’s about more than just looking at what’s on the surface...
TACTICS EDITOR IN CHIEF Ryan Janes WRITER & ART EDITOR Katie Gibbs
CONTACT US tactics@fancensus.com +44 (0)1628 483 554 Fancensus 99 High Street Marlow Bucks SL7 1AB
What a first quarter it has been ladies and gentlemen. I’d be inclined to say perhaps one of the best ever. The number of top quality titles have come thick and fast proving that the start of the year continues to be a strong battleground for big releases. April and May are looking to continue this momentum leading into E3. Speaking of timing of releases, have you ever wondered how much the perfect spot can affect a product’s presence? Why is it we refer to the summer as the drought of releases? Is it better to launch a game at the end of the year or start? It’s something on Katie’s mind as she investigates this very issue. The Switch has been making headlines (both good and bad) but lets not forget the technological wonder that is VR. I think it’s safe to say that 2016 can easily be labelled as the year of virtual reality. Three hardware debuts and plenty of buzz, it looked like VR would pave the way forward. Now that all the dust has settled and we look into 2017 and beyond have things become a little more muted? Are press and public as excited for this brave new world? Kickstarter superstar Yooka-Laylee is finally in stores after much hype and anticipation. Gamers will be excited to get their hands on the final product while I focus on the epic journey this game has had along the way; it is a rather interesting one not only from a press standpoint but also social media too. Despite shifting away from the stellar opening quarter of 2017 the next few months still hold ample opportunity for products to make a name for themselves and with E3 just a few months away you can be sure to expect the unexpected too. Ryan Janes
MAY 2017 / #3
TACTICS
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This Month In Tactics... 6 Virtual Reality Has it become virtually redundant?
8 On the Horizon 9 Monthly Leaderboard PR Leaderboard Front Page Leaderboard YouTube Leaderboard Twitter Leaderboard Facebook Leaderboard
14 Yooka-Laylee
From bears, birds and Kongs to lizards and bats.
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18 Review Rundown Mass Effect Andromeda Persona 5
20 What Statistics are Vital?
A journey through the minefield of setting campaign KPI’s.
22 One More Thing...
Choosing your release slot.
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MAY 2017 / #3
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Virtual Reality
has vIrtual realIty become vIrtually redundant? Ever since the technology remerged in the early 2010s, virtual reality has constantly found itself front and centre with both press and public. Whether it’s been demoes at trade shows, reactions from critics or simply just updates on the technology’s future it was impossible to ignore its strong presence. This would only continue to soar higher with the launch of not one but three VR devices last year (HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and PlayStation VR). It seemed virtual reality was here in a big way. Fast forward to present day though and momentum appears to have slowed somewhat, with that fierce electricity surrounding the tech early on now very much calmed to a lesser spark. Could VR be on the decline already? From a press standpoint at least we can already start to see presence waning. Over the last five months the number of products that feature VR in one way shape or form to make it into the top 100 most covered games can be counted for the most part on one hand (two at a push). Even then some of these games are ones that aren’t built from the ground up for the tech but instead have or will have an extra mode thrown in like Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare and Tekken 7. (Refer to the chart on the next page). Resident Evil 7: Biohazard stands out as the one big success story here, a game that dominated the PR charts during its launch month and
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from day one has been smart at demonstrating its VR potential to the public through effective demos and a clear message - VR improves the experience rather than tacks a throwaway one on. It’s surprising that we haven’t seen more efforts like this. It’s not just the press that appear to have shifted their focus onto other things, searching Twitch reveals very little in the way of VR associated streams topping the audience charts. Even the gamers playing a VR title on their channel are lucky to be seeing much more than ten or fifteen viewers at a time. Likewise YouTube paints a very similar picture. Just looking at the most recent week at the time of writing (week 13 2017) there isn’t a single VR product in the top one hundred most viewed video games. In fact the strongest performer was again Resident Evil 7: Biohazard albeit with a pretty lacklustre one million views. Even reflecting on the first 12 weeks of the year, Resident Evil appears to be the only VR focused game bringing in the big numbers, its launch week in particular drawing nearly two thousand videos and a massive 340 million views making it the most watching game of that week. The VR scene wasn’t always so quiet, if we rewind to the launch of the PlayStation VR for example games like Arkham VR, Driveclub and the device itself all had strong
MAY 2017 / #3
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presence on YouTube. The story is very similar for the rest of 2016 post Oculus and Vive launch. So why is it the wind appears to have been taken well and truly out of VR’s sails? With gamers now having experienced first-hand what the world of VR can actually do, has it been a case of the mystery of it all being more intriguing than the actual reality? Perhaps. We’ve seen this sort of thing happen before with the Wii U, a console that debuted strong largely thanks to its ambitious and unique gimmicks but soon faded into the background not long after launch. VR was brand new last year. It was fresh. A device can only get by so long on that note alone before it needs to show more of its hand. Another potential factor could be a lack of strong software supporting the devices. Outside of Resident Evil 7: Biohazard for PlayStation VR in January there have been a serious absence of big releases that make use of the technology past, present or future. Even for those future titles that we know about like Fallout 4 or Farpoint, they appear to have very little presence leading up to their release. That isn’t to say there haven’t been solid experiences to come from any of the three devices. Just looking at the list of top rated VR titles launched so far in our system reveals that quality isn’t an issue (plenty in fact have seen average scores in the 80s) – a potential issue may be that it’s almost entirely comprised of games from independent developers. I’m not trying to devalue the worth of strong independent support, not for a second, however as is the case
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VR t
Itle
s aver wIth t age h rev e stro I e ng wS AudI cor est Osh e I
Rez
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> 88 % Ite Rob > 87 o Re % cal Res l > Iden 86% t Ev THUM Il 7 > 86 PER % > 84 Sup % erh ot V R > I Exp 84% ect Y ou T ElIt o Die e: Da nge > 80 rou % s > 79% InfIN
with consoles big publisher backing plays such a major role in success. It’s why Nintendo always brings back Mario or Microsoft have begun a new trilogy for the Gears of War series. While we may see the odd attempt here and there from publishers like Ubisoft, 2K and Warner Bros. their output feels very restrained, spin-off and bite-sized experiences as opposed to games with grand scope. I understand there’s always concern for a publisher when it comes to a new piece of technology still yet to prove it’s worth but releasing underwhelming attempts that the audience will see right through and claiming failure isn’t the way to go about things. As remaster-friendly as CAPCOM have been as of late, at least they committed to the tech with one of their biggest IPs available. And it appears to have paid off well for them. Then again it’s been hinted at that VR could be adopted by other industries such as education, medicine and even public attractions. Alton Towers and Thorpe Park have already implemented the technology into their latest attractions. Perhaps this is where VR may hold a stronger position? Still all concerns aside, VR is barely crossing the one year mark with plenty of time to prove itself and with E3 mere months away then it would be the time to truly show consumers what the future holds. Ryan Janes
TACTICS
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On The Horizon...
May ‘17
Lethal League
10/05
Injustice 2
Prey
15/05
Get Even
05/05
Rime
26/05
26/05
Other releases...
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05/05
World to the West
PS4
26/05
Guilty Gear Xrd REV 2
PS4
11/05
Attack on Titan: Escape From Certain Death
N3DS
26/05
Samurai Warriors: Spirit of Sanada
PS4
12/05
Birthdays the Beginning
PS4
26/05
Ultra Street Fighter 2: The Final Challengers NS
16/05
Don’t Starve Mega Pack
PS4, XBO
30/05
Star Trek: Bridge Crew (VR)
16/05
Farpoint (VR)
PS4
16/05
The Surge
PS4, XBO
19/05
Akiba’s Beat
PS4, VITA
19/05
Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia
N3DS
19/05
Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds
VITA
19/05
Operation Babel: New Tokyo Legacy
VITA
23/05
Utawarerumono: Mask Of Deception
PS4
26/05
Disgaea 5: Alliance Of Vengeance
NS
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PC, PS4
MAY 2017 / #3
Monthly Leaderboard PR Week 12 - Week 15
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Mass Effect and Nintendo Switch have continued to dominate the PR chart, with one finally releasing this month and the other becoming one of the fastest selling consoles. More details about Project Scorpio were announced this month and its placement, as well as its predecessor’s show that Xbox still have a market following. Persona 5 is the only other releases for this month making the chart, with Yooka-Laylee just missing out by a few spots.
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Prey (2017) 1,500 Activities
10
Xbox One 1,600 Activities
Persona 5 1,800 Activities
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Injustice 2 1,600 Activities
Overwatch 2,300 Activities
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The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2,100 Activities
4 Destiny 2 2,400 Activities
Project Scorpio 2,400 Activities
2 Nintendo Switch 4,100 Activities
Mass Effect Andromeda 4,200 Activities
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It seems that March/April has been a quiet time for releases and our PR chart reflect this, as we look forward to upcoming May releases of Prey and Injustice 2, and later Destiny 2. Star Wars Battlefront 2 just misses out on a place this month, having only been announced the weekend before going to print, but already on over 1,400 activities it looks like it is a strong contender for next month’s chart.
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Monthly Leaderboard Website Front Page Presence Week 12 - Week 15
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150 SPOTS
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Mass Effect has shown itself as the clear winner in terms of front page website coverage, gaining almost twice as many primary placements as its competitors. The rest of our top ten are fairly consistent with each other averaging in the 50-150 category. All the titles featured are recent or upcoming games except for one: Overwatch. Despite being released in May 2016 Overwatch has continued to grace the top 10 of our PR charts week after week and that is reflected here. To still be gaining primary spots on the front page of websites almost a
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year after launch is no easy feat, and it clearly shows that this MMO is doing something right (downloadable characters, tournaments and new updates). New announcements from Project Scorpio and Destiny 2 have gained high spots on websites this month as well as the newly released games Yooka-Laylee and Persona 5. This is fairly consistent with our top 10 PR coverage chart, proving that these websites are continuously updating to give the most relevant content the most up to date position on their page.
MAY 2017 / #3
YouTube Week 12 - Week 15
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*Excludes games released pre January 2017
Mass Effect is the only recent release to feature this month. Persona 5’s inability to share content will have massively hindered its chances of appearing here, but with the ban now lifted we may see its views spike into next month’s chart. The rest of the chart features titles popular with Key Influencers; Playerunknown’s being the most obvious example, an early access game that has been adopted by the
MAY 2017 / #3
10 Lego City Undercover Remastered 20 Million Views
8 Horizon: Zero Dawn 20 Million Views
Injustice 2 22 Million Views
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7 Lego Worlds 21 Million Views
5 Destiny 2 33 Million Views
Ark: Survival Evolved 64 Million Views
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 71 Million Views
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Ultimate Epic Battle Simulator 20 Million Views
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Mass Effect Andromeda 72 Million Views
Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds 99 Million Views
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YouTube community and seen its popularity increase as a result. Destiny 2 and Injustice 2 have gained quite prominent features this month, with announcement videos for both being released. Showing that Youtube is not just for Key Influencer’s and their Let’s Play videos but can also be a source for news content and updates.
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Monthly Leaderboard Twitter Week 12 - Week 15 *Excludes games released pre January 2017
7
It seems as though Twitter is already looking to future game releases, with half of this month’s chart focused on upcoming titles. Battlefront 2 was only officially revealed the weekend before print at the Star Wars Celebration event but has made quite an impact on Twitter users to make it into our top 10. Announcements about Project Scorpio and Destiny 2 this month have ensured they have both featured highly as peo-
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Injustice 2 18,000 Retweets
9
Star Wars: Battlefront 2 (2017) 15,000 Retweets
8 The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 24,000 Retweets
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Horizon: Zero Dawn 36,000 Retweets
Splatoon 2 38,000 Retweets
4 Mass Effect Andromeda 47,000 Retweets
Project Scorpio 48,000 Retweets
2 Nintendo Switch 75,000 Retweets
Destiny 2 90,000 Retweets
1
5
Persona 5 28,000 Retweets
10
3
ple anticipate their releases. Regulars in the chart Nintendo Switch, Zelda and Horizon show no signs of slowing down, with continuously high user engagement. While recent releases Mass Effect and Persona 5 have done well to compete, it will be interesting to see how Persona 5 continues to perform now that its sharing restrictions have been lifted.
MAY 2017 / #3
Facebook Week 12 - Week 15 *Excludes games released pre January 2017
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Gundam Versus 6,800 Shares
10
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 8,100 Shares
Guardians of the Galaxy: The Telltale Series 9,100 Shares
6
Call of Duty 2017 9,500 Sahres
7
Starcraft Remastered 10,000 Shares
John Wick: Chronicles (VR Game) 15,000 Shares
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Nintendo Switch has continued its success this month dominating the Facebook sharing chart, with a lot of its activity spawning from its recent direct. Newly announced games Shinobi Strikers and the Jak and Daxter collection finish off our top 3 this week, as people get excited about things to come. Franchises like Call of Duty, Starcraft and Destiny have maintained their social presence this month with
MAY 2017 / #3
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Destiny: Age of Triumph 16,000 Shares
Nintendo Switch 46,000 Shares
1
Naruto to Boruto Shinobi Strikers 35,000 Shares
2
Jak and Daxter Collection 29,000 Sahres
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rumours, updates and announcements being shared across Facebook, showing their continued support from fans. Telltale have also seen success this month as their latest series is released, conveniently in time for the film’s cinema release too, it will be interesting to see if they can keep this momentum with each new episode, or if they will be overshadowed by more established titles.
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MAY 2017 / #3
S G N KO
D N A S D S R I T B A , B S D R N A E A B S D M R O A Z FR I L TO
I
t’s tough to take one look at Playtonic’s adorable looking platformer and not instantly think of the Nintendo 64 classic Banjo-Kazooie. You wouldn’t necessarily be blamed either, the team helming Yooka-Laylee consists of a number of ex-Rare employees responsible for the bear and bird series, along with Donkey Kong Country and Diddy Kong Racing. In fact upon the game’s initial reveal the message was very clear in what Playtonic intended to achieve through their new project - create a spiritual successor to the much loved Banjo-Kazooie and in turn capture that same feeling gamers had for platformers during the days of the Nintendo 64. With every new trailer, piece of information and screenshot released it seemed Playtonic were on track to accomplish that goal. Eyes were placed on inanimate objects in typical Rare fashion, the gibberish speech was back and even music composer David Wise (responsible for the sublime soundtrack in the Donkey Kong Country series) would return. It seemed the developer was on to a winning formula and fans were lapping up every crumb. Of course Yooka-Laylee isn’t the first Kickstarter suc-
MAY 2017 / #3
cess story to grab headlines, Shovel Knight is a prime example of how nostalgia can be an excellent tool for any developer eager for attention. It is however just another exhibit in a rapidly growing pile of evidence proving the effectiveness of not only Kickstarter but also appealing to an individual’s sense of nostalgia. After all video gamer’s are among some of the most passionate of any group out there and will defend and fight for what they want to see tooth and nail. Sure Yooka-Laylee isn’t the most ambitious sounding title on paper, but that doesn’t matter. It gives fans another taste of what they so sorely miss, the memories of genre types long passed. Banjo-Kazooie is a much loved Nintendo 64 title and when Nuts and Bolts made its debut on Xbox 360 it was hard to ignore the disappointment from fans in its change in creative direction (not to say it was a bad game, I for one had a great time with it). But it wasn’t the platforming experience fans wanted. Now Yooka-Laylee has finally hit stores and for good or bad has delivered what fans have asked for, a true Banjo-Kazooie-like game.
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FUNDING SUCCESSES PRODUCT FUNDS PR Shenmue 3
$6.3 Million
4.2K
Bloodstained ROTN
$5.5 Million
2.1K
Mighty No. 9
$3.8 Million
5.3K
Wasteland 2
$2.9 Million
4.3K
Yooka-Laylee
$2.6 Million
5.1K
Star Citizen
$2.1 Million
4.7K
$2.1 Million
7.8K
Bard’s Tale IV
$1.5 Million
0.6K
Shovel Knight
$0.3 Million
3.1K
Elite: Dangerous
Kickstarter has given us a number of huge stories since its 2009 debut. In fact in its lifetime the company has reportedly received nearly $2 billion in pledges from just under 10 million backers. And while this isn’t entirely focused on the video game side of things you do find it is the latest titles that grab the headlines over and over. So why has this been such a successful way for developers to turn their visions into a reality? Video games are a business and any smart business will want to find the safest way to turn a profit. It’s the reason we see a new Call of Duty or FIFA product hit stores every year. They’re relatively safe bets. It’s the same reason we see these same companies release fewer new IPs. They’re performances are often unpredictable. Kickstarter eliminates the decision making process of the higher ups and takes the idea directly to the most important people, the consumers. Of course crowdfunding isn’t always a guarentee for success, after all a bad idea will always be a bad idea wherever you present it, however it has proven a smart move especially in the cases seen above.
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It’s interesting to note that around half of the list illustrate titles that continue or at least spiritually continue a series or genre that has struggled. Mighty No. 9 a spirtiual successor to the once popular Mega Man series, Bloodstained a call back to the old 2D Castlevania adventures we haven’t seen since the DS days and Shenmue 3 a sequel to an old SEGA Dreamcast franchise. These games exist on Kickstarter from smaller developers because publishers like CAPCOM, Konami and SEGA have shown no signs of taking the risk themselves. The Mega Man series has been placed on the side-lines in favour of more profitable franchises for years now (which is understandable to a degree) but Kickstarter has not only offered a way for creators to carry the torch but also provides evidence that the audience is certainly there making over $3.8 million. Would a game like Yooka-Laylee have been possible without the use of Kickstarter? Perhaps. Without the twoplus million dollars Playtonic raised on Kickstarter it certainly would have been tougher that’s for sure.
MAY 2017 / #3
This public awareness applies to the press too, big Kickstarter titles often find themselves among the most featured on gaming websites. Yooka-Laylee for example the week before launch received the third highest coverage of any gaming product putting it ahead of big AAA releases like Persona 5 and Prey. As it stands the game is also performing well during its launch week currently sitting in the top ten most featured titles once more. In fact when you reflect on every game in the list on the previous page, nearly all are seeing activity count in the thousands with future and recent releases like Yooka-Laylee and Shenmue 3 guaranteed to rise even further. Similarly the social activity for these games are just as strong, unsurprising given their very existance is down to the public showing their support from the get-go. Bigger publishers are also showing their support toward these smaller titles - Team 17 is handling distribution of Yooka-Laylee for example while SIE played host to the debut of the Shenmue 3 Kickstarter back at their E3 press conference in 2015. Shovel Knight has also seen its IP spread far and wide with multiple expansions, an eventual physical release, toys and even an Amiibo. It’s likely given the support and mainstream appeal of Playtonic’s title that a similar story will unfold here too. Yet despite all the buzz and hype surroung Yooka-Laylee the critical reception appears middling, the game averaging at 74% from 100 reviews. Not a bad score by any means, but when you see them range from anywhere between 100 and 30 you get the picture that this style of game may has taken a few bumps in its tansition from the late 90s to present day. Will it hurt the game’s chances? Definitely not. Yooka-Laylee is a game made with the fans in mind first and foremost and this large group will be more than pleased. A quick glimpse on Amazon and other stores also shows the physical version on all systems either awaiting new stock or ranking high - always a promising sign for
any new release. Let’s not forget the Switch will also see its own version later this year, a platform that arguably contains perhaps the strongest share of fans for these types of games. While many see Yooka-Laylee as an attempt to revitalise the 3D platformers of the 90s, the genre looks to have some strong retro and innovative representation this year overall with Sonic Mania, Sonic Forces, Mario Odyssey Crash Bandicoot, Cuphead, Freedom Planet 2 and A Hat In Time (the latter also with Kickstarter origins) all still to come. Look at Yooka-Laylee instead then as a fresh new IP for a genre that has often been dominated by a hedgehog and plumber. One that latches onto that sense of nostalgia rather than leaves it behind. One that’s bulit for the fans. If it can continue to deliver that then I expect we’ll be seeing plenty more of Yooka and her female bat companion Laylee in the upcoming years. Ryan Janes
MAY 2017 / #3
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Review Rundown Mass Effect Andromeda Publisher Electronic Arts
Developer BioWare
Genre RPG
Formats XBO, PS4, PC
85% 83%
75%
80%
97%
91%
89%
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Horizon: Zero Dawn
NieR Automata
72% 71%
Worldwide average review score and by territory
Top three reviewed March releases
69%
71%
71%
71%
73%
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017 Yearly March average review scores
What the press love...
What the press hate...
Series best for combat and exploration.
Weakest in the series for story.
Excellent sound effects and design.
Multiple technical issues.
Interesting self-sufficient multiplayer.
Too many side quests. Lack of new races or real variety of characters.
Mass effect Andromeda has been receiving PR for over 283 weeks, has gathered over 25,000 activities and was anticipated to revive the Mass Effect series. Although it has reviewed reasonably well, averaging 75%, it appears Andromeda didn’t quite match up to expectation. Reviewers are split on whether it is the best in the series or not, many argued its exploration-orientated structure was what fans have been waiting for, but that its story and character design let it down. Although some reviewers did enjoy the storyline, the vast majority found it to be dull with a lack of conflict that contained too many side quests which never seemed to progress you forward. The biggest complaint of all, agreed by all reviewers, was the technical issues. For a AAA game, particularly from a franchise such as this there were just too many to ignore. From the poor facial animation, to glitches and frame rate drops it seemed everyone who reviewed this game encountered a problem. While some defended Andromeda and praised it in other areas, many found that these technical faults were too much to ignore, finding the game difficult to play as a result. It seems as though Bioware have finally created the world Mass Effect fans have been waiting for, but in doing so have forgotten some of the key elements that people have come to expect from a next generation game.
MAY 2017 / #3
Persona 5 Publisher Deep Silver
Developer Atlus
Genre JRPG
Formats PS4, PS3
95% 94%
94%
93%
94%
81%
79%
Persona 5
The Sexy Brutale
Lego City Undercover Remastered
93% 92%
Worldwide average review score and by territory
Top three reviewed April releases
67%
73%
72%
71%
68%
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017 Yearly April average review scores
What the press love...
What the press hate...
Fantastic visual and musical style.
Share function disabled.
Well written storyline and characters.
Story loses momentum towards end.
Great interface design.
A lot of dialogue to read.
Simple but rewarding combat.
Some predictable story elements.
Persona 5 has been a game long in the making, after several delays and over 378 weeks of PR it has finally made it to consoles and to much critical acclaim. Reviewing on average at 94%, with over 20% of reviewers giving it the maximum score, it seems that Persona 5 has been worth the wait. Reviewers consider this to be one of the best JRPGs out there, with impeccable style, well-rounded characters and an engaging story. While some grumbled that the story was slow to start all agreed that it is one of the best in the series and praised the freedom with which you can fill your in game time whether it be after school clubs, hanging out with friends or even doing homework. Some reviewers felt that the story lost momentum towards the end, but that this didn’t detract from their overall enjoyment and didn’t stop them from immediately wanting a second playthrough. In general there were few complaints; the biggest was the inability to share. In a bid to prevent spoilers for other players Atlus have removed the ability for players to use screen capture technology via their PlayStations. This is a commendable effort, particularly as the game is entirely story driven, but it has angered a number of players – now the game is out worldwide some of the sharing capabilities have been put back in. Persona 5 has been a huge success, helping PlayStation retain their streak of well-chosen exclusives, and its difficulty to get hold of a copy only proves how underestimated the audience for JRPGs is.
MAY 2017 / #3
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KPI
What Statics are Vital? A journey through the minefield of setting campaign KPI’s
DOES THE PRODUCT HAVE A BRAND?
FIFA has increased 34% YOY in PR activity since 2013.
HAS THE PRODUCT ANY HISTORICAL BENCHMARKS?
In 2016 174 products launched with a recognised brand.
ARE YOUR OFFICIAL CHANNELS PERFORMING?
HOW MUCH COVERAGE SHOULD THE TOP SITES GENERATE?
Subsciber numbers on YouTube for official channels increase by 1,300 each day. Up to 15% of all coverage comes from top 10 media partners.
ARE YOU GENERATING ENOUGH CONTENT? Top games of 2016 posted 104 videos on their official YouTube channels during their campaign.
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MAY 2017 / #3
DO CERTAIN TERRITORIES PERFORM BETTER THAN OTHERS?
CAN THE CAMPAIGN BE A REASONABLE LENGTH?
On average top games of 2016 have 150 weeks of exposure.
Generally a top performing game gets 12,000 tweets from media partners of the last year. DO YOU GET SUFFICIENT SUPPORT FROM YOUR MEDIA PARTNERS?
APRIL 2017 / #2
Each top game has secured over 400 front page positions.
ARE FRONT PAGE PRIMARY OR SECONDARY HIGHLIGHTS IMPORTANT?
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Choosing
G o with the Crowd
ses is in the build The peak time for video game relea November you will up to Christmas, from September to returning franchises start to see the big AAA titles and the release of both appearing in stores. It has also seen soles in 2013. So the Xbox One and Playstation 4 con release slot? why is everyone so keen to meet this en to work. prov n bee The answer is simple that it has t willing to mos are Now is the time of year consumers it makes sense to spend their money. Commercially stmas, but not so release your game just before Chri it in time. The buy to close that people will struggle onwards release is other advantage of a September ple are spending less the nights start getting shorter, peo for entertainment time outside and more time looking sales for all games indoors. In fact looking at week one h year 58% of eac in the UK 2012-2016 of the top 10 for ober and December. those were released between Oct you might struggle The disadvantage of this slot is that Take Titanfall 2 for to be heard in the sea of releases. didn’t see many example, a well-reviewed game that during this peak sales. You may think that releasing when you release but ess, period is a guarantee of succ est FPS franchisyour FPS within a week of 2 of the bigg ite Warfare, you’re es, Battlefield 1 and Call of Duty: Infin sales. In their effort going to have a hard time garnering themselves in the to release in the peak period EA shot competitors their t foot and barely sold a tenth of wha timing really is managed in week one. Proving that PR team is. everything, no matter how good your
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ith winter finally over and spring starting to kick in everyone is already looking forward to summer. Preparations are well underway for E3 and we’re all keen to see what new games are on the horizon, but what do we have to look forward to in the meantime? With the dust finally starting to settle around the Switch it seems that the gaming landscape has started to slow down. But this is not unusual, over the summer game releases can be few and far between. While I don’t claim to know all the answers I can show you that there is definitely a trend in the yearly release of video games and how you might be able to use this knowledge to your advantage.
When it comes to deciding on really only 2 options: go with
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here is no perfect release slot, and no one formula that will work for all games. Consumers are very rigid in their economic habits but there are examples that buck the trend. The summer wasteland could prove to be an independent game’s dream: no competing larger titles and more scope for publicity, but there is always a risk that your audience isn’t as readily available. An autumn release
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Number of Monthly UK Releases 2012-2016 MAY 2017 / #3
your release slot ales Release Months of Top 10 Week 1S 2012 -20
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Q1 JAN-MAR 12% Q2 APR-JUN 12% Q3 JUL-SEP
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your release date there are the crowd or go against it...
G o against the crowd Post Christmas
December to February, we’ve just had the influx of new games and a Christmas break, releasing games in this period can be risky as peo ple are less likely to have disposable income for luxu ries like video games, but they do still have time to play them. Resident Evil 7 proved that a winter release can work, it consistently topped the PR and Social cov erage charts and was the bestselling game in Januar y, selling nearly five times more week one than its closest competitor. Proving this release slot can work as the re is less competition enabling you to dominate the marketplace, but you can risk missing out on those gam e of the year awards as early releases tend to be ove rlooked.
Summer Wasteland
has been proven to succeed time and time again but has also been proven to fail as the marketplace becomes saturated with too many releases. Timing is everything; you want to reach the maximum audience whilst they have disposable money but you also want to ensure they have enough time to play your game before something new arrives. This might explain why March is seeing more and more releases as publishers begin to look for new gaps in the market; trying to avoid the summer but also give their game a fighting chance outside of the end of year rush. Nintendo have certainly proved that a March release can be just as successful as November, and this success could encourage others. But ultimately it comes down to habit and expectation, consumers expect games at certain times and are hard wired into their habits; as far as publishers are concerned “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it”. But change can be a good thing and the potential for summer sales is definitely there, it just takes for someone to lead the way. Katie Gibbs
APRIL 2017 / #2
The summer is that time of yea r we all look forward to and unsurprisingly vide o games releases tend to dry up, the assumption being that people don’t want to be indoors play ing games when it’s sunny outside. Now is also the time of year the summer blockbusters are released into cinemas, hoping to capitalise on the school holiday s and the assumption that people want to go out, eve n if that means sitting in another dark room. The gam ing and movie industries tend to work alongside each oth er, as one picks up the other quietens down, the reason ing being that they are generally competing for the sam e audience. In the build up to, and period after, E3 releasing a game can be risky as people are already focused on what’s next and saving up for their inevitable big spends come September. But that isn’t to say you shouldn’t release your game. The highly anticipated Middle Earth sequel has been slated for rele ase in August, hoping to catch the crowds just before pea k season and avoid being swept up in the influx of other big releases. A technique that has been pulled off in the past with games such as The Last of Us and Super Mario Galaxy 2. Just because no one else is utilis ing this time slot doesn’t mean you shouldn’t, in fact it can even pay off to release to an emptier slate.
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DC’S BRAWLER LEADS A STRONG SUPERHERO LINE-UP ALSO... MARIO KART 8 DELUXE RECEPTION OUR E3 PREDICTIONS A LOOK BACK ON PAST E3 EVENTS THE FUTURE OF COMIC BOOK GAMES 24
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